Originally published in TimeFlip June 18, 2024
Managing employee benefits can be a time-consuming process for HR managers and administrators. When going back and forth between payroll systems and carriers, keeping information up-to-date and accurate can be a real challenge.
However, by leveraging benefits technology solutions, organizations can reduce processing errors, minimize administrative burden, and improve compliance. All while empowering employees to take control of their benefits.
Common challenges organizations face when it comes to benefits administration
Although benefits administration is a core functionality of many businesses, this doesn’t mean it’s an easy process to manage. Depending on complexity of the benefits being offered, there are a number of challenges that can get in the way.
Time-consuming manual processes
Without the right tools or solutions in place, organizations often rely on outdated processes to administer their employee benefits. When being overly reliant on manual data entry, organizations often spend more time than necessary to complete administrative tasks. This can also lead to many more administrative errors, which take even more time to rectify.
Difficulties managing complicated benefits
Some organizations put a lot of effort into making their benefits as comprehensive as possible. While this is great for employees, it can also cause major headaches for HR managers when their current tech can’t flex to support unique benefit rules.
Navigating compliance requirements
It’s important for businesses to stay on top of important regulatory standards when it comes to data management and benefits administration protocols. Incorporating important regulations like COBRA or ERISA can require quite a bit of industry knowledge and can be hard to implement without the right solutions in place.
Lack of employee engagement
Not all employees are well-informed when it comes to how to get the most out of their benefits coverage. This can lead to a lack of use of benefits, which can be a negative return on the business’ investments in their employees. Many times, this is a result of a lack of benefits education, which can be hard for HR teams to help with when their attention needs to be focused on more strategic initiatives.
Effective ways to use technology to streamline benefits administration processes
Over the years, many businesses have recognized the need to streamline HR processes. One way to do this is to utilize more best-of-breed technology solutions to help them handle all of their employees’ benefits processes.
Implement a benefits administration platform
Start the process of implementing a benefits administration platform by researching all of the best-fit solutions for your business. There are various solutions available that can help automate your HR processes, but you’ve got to cut through the noise to find them.
Leverage mobile applications
An important part of helping to simplify benefits enrollment and usage for employees is thinking about your staff’s user experience. Today, many benefits technology platforms have native mobile applications to make the process easier for enrolling or getting information about the coverage they need.
Automation
Since all of your systems – such as your HRIS or HCM, insurance carriers, and payroll — stay interconnected, any changes that need to be made synchronize across your entire digital ecosystem. This can save literally hours of time by eliminating the need to navigate to each separate platform to make adjustments.
Provide educational resources and support
Employees often have questions when it comes to how they can use their benefits or when making changes to existing coverage. Benefits technology platforms with decision support tools help give employees the benefits of education they need to make informed decisions.
Many benefits technology solutions have specialized tools designed to help employees get the most out of the benefits on offer. This includes features such as FAQs and embedded employee support tools to help navigate the benefits process.
Start simplifying your benefits administration processes
Having a streamlined benefits process can be an absolute game changer for HR teams and employee experience. By investing in the right technology solutions, HR managers can simplify BenAdmin.
