costly and time-consuming. Benefits outsourcing important business issues 1. Evaluating internal factors
- Consider your desired customer service model. Do you currently have the internal staff to function as a call center to ensure employee matters are being resolved in a timely manner?
- Do you have the internal staff or the budget for outside counsel to answer specific benefits questions about rules and changing regulations?
- Will you need to purchase new software? Consider the cost and demands to maintain it, such as IT support if you are planning to run it internally.
- Consider your finance and accounting team. Does your finance team like paying 15 benefits invoices a month, or perhaps they prefer just one payment once a month to the outsource partner?
- Think about your strategic goals. What is the best use of your staff's time?
2. Deciding what to outsource
COBRA administration3. Re-organizing your team
4. Getting started
- Financial strength & security of the candidate company
- Commitment to customer service
- The breadth of their benefits plan options
- Their service and cost structure
- Industries and professional services
- Administrative and management expertise and competence
- How employee benefits are tailored
- Technology usage, experiences and innovation
5. Moving forward
Bradley Taylor is the executive vice president of business development at PlanSource. He founded and led Next Generation Enrollment, a leading provider of benefits administration technology services, which was acquired by PlanSource in 2016. Prior to Next Generation Enrollment, Bradley was a group sales representative at Unum, one of the largest insurance carriers in the world. Bradley has helped thousands of companies build effective benefits strategies and implement programs that have created a better benefits experience for administrators, employees and their families.
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