Bottom line, my employer cares about me. Obviously, they care because they want me to be productive at work to help them be successful. But, perhaps more importantly, they care about me as a person.
How do I know? Through their attitude and actions — things they do that help me work better, live better and be successful, both at home and at work. I'd describe my employer as paternalistic, which really comes down to their culture and actions. Things like education, personal development, empowerment and work-life balance. But, it also includes employee benefits.
Now, it's no secret that benefits play an integral role in an employment experience. But, done right, they contribute to a paternalistic culture.
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Given your role, you're in a perfect position to help clients achieve this kind of culture, not only with the value benefits provide to employees, but also in how this can be an advantage to the employer over the long term.
What can you learn?
We can learn a lot from paternalistic employers. According to an analysis of paternalistic employers by Principal®, this approach results in companies keeping employees on the job longer and experiencing an overall boost in business performance.
The research tells us one major characteristic of paternalistic companies is that their employee turnover is lower. It makes sense — if employees feel well taken care of by their employer, they tend to stick around. And when it comes to employee benefits, according to the research, paternalistic companies differ from non-paternalistic ones.
Paternalistic employers are more likely to:
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Offer multiple lines of coverage for their employees
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Pay for 100 percent of disability coverage
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Offer employer-paid and employee-paid life
How can you use this information?
Look at it from two perspectives.
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Employers: Your employer clients can lower costs by leaning toward the paternalistic approach. Turnover is lower and, therefore, costs associated with hiring and training new staff go down. And the solutions you offer help make that possible. Talk with your clients about the value of putting the employee first by offering quality benefits. Not only will they help their employees have a more secure financial future, but the employer will likely see improvement in employee turnover, not to mention a general boost in productivity, loyalty and their brand.
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Advisors: Seek out paternalistic clients. These employers place a high value on the solutions you offer. They talk from the heart and genuinely care about their staff. They're an ideal target market with a propensity to offer more benefits and to pay for them. And if part of your value proposition is administering their benefits for them, their lower turnover will be easier on your resource pool.
Work with carriers who make it easy for you by shaping their offerings to meet the needs of paternalistic employers. These carriers may optimize marketing strategies, pricing, sales ideas and servicing plans to appeal to your paternalistic clients.
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