Development is the result of society’s capacity to organize resources to meet challenges and opportunities. Society passes through different stages in the course of its development. They have been classified as nomadic hunting and gathering, rural agrarian, urban, commercial, industrial, and post-industrial societies.
But another word for development that has come to be used quite frequently is disruption. What has been considered to be traditional has been met with the radical. I liken this to a child completely taking apart a Lego set and recreating something similar, yet brand new. We have seen this in the airline industry where traditional airlines have lost significant market share to more efficient and cheaper airlines that provide better service (Southwest, JetBlue, Virgin America). We have also seen this in the transportation industry where a completely new business model has been created through companies like Lyft and Uber.
But what about the area of employee benefits consulting? Having met with hundreds of employers throughout the country, I am always astonished at how they gush about their employee benefits broker. When asked what made them special, many replied with statements like: we just love our broker, our broker saved us a lot of money last year, our broker solved a large claim problem, our broker pays for a lot of things. I think these are all good things to consider. But at the same time, they are frankly rudimentary and whose utility has come and gone. The reason for this is that health insurance trend continues to rise and companies are also struggling to keep employees engaged. In a recent study by Milliman, the average cost for insuring a family of four in the US is $25,000 a year. The cost of health insurance over the past three years has risen on average 7% a year. That’s still double the rate of inflation. And according to a recent Gallup poll, 70% of US workers are not engaged at work.
Insurance brokers and consultants are praised for good service, but the outcomes are still the same…pathetic…. the fact of the matter is, brokers are merely selling products and servicing the byproduct of poor health, rather than contributing to the root causes of poor health and lack of engagement, much less looking at what the future of employment is going to be like. So where is the disruptive force that is going to change what broker consultants do? Perhaps the answer is found in asking, what should the employee benefit consultant of the future bring to the future of employers?
Employers of the future are going to have to adopt Wellness 3.0 or what some forward thinking companies understand things to be complete employee health management. Poor health and lack of capable management has led to unsustainable health insurance pricing increases, a growing number of employees who have co-morbid chronic conditions, and a population that is becoming less productive because of its inability to manage stress. In order to address this coming dilemma, employers will need a paradigm shift in the services they receive from their broker consultants. Providing assistance with claims, open enrollment meetings, and communications is going to be (and should be) considered standard. The consultant of the future must have the capability of knowing more than just to sell and service a product, but he/she must be able to help employers increase the productivity of their workforce. I liken this to a great car dealership who not only sells you the car, but they service the car at no additional charge so that your vehicle maintains its high performance throughout its lifetime, providing you, the owner, maximum value in the investment you have made.
Employers must, and will be viewing their employees as an investment whose health must be managed so that maximum performance and maximum return can be received. The days of expecting employees to just clock in and clock out of work are over. Employers and employees exist and work based on a purpose. Culture is king and is a differentiator in recruiting for top talent. Gamification in jobs as well as selection of job tasks could be very well in play for the employee of the future. Greater social elements that have yet to be discovered are in store for the future workplace.
How HR executives and their respective management teams view their future, is what they should be looking for in a business partner for their employee benefit needs. And even in employee benefits, changes will occur so that the transactional pieces occur more quickly, leaving those who rely on the “traditional” standards of service, likened to those who are still using a fax machine as a means of sending and receiving correspondence.
Alan Wang is the President of UBF and serves as the lead consultant. He has delivered the UBF solution set throughout the world and is highly regarded for his areas of expertise. You can follow him on Twitter @UBFconsulting.