Costs continue to climb for employers
Whether it means providing traditional employee health and benefits programs, or an evolved plan that includes well-being initiatives, flexibility, and choice to attract, retain, and engage their talent.
No matter the program type, there is an increased focus on cost containment and simplification. In fact, 70% of human resources and risk managers feel strongly that governance and financial risks related to their people pose a serious threat to the business, as noted in The Five Pillars of People Risk 2021.
Errors or poor decisions around design, financing, administration, and vendor management can have substantial implications for the business. Claims frequency and cost are rising, while employers have little visibility around what’s driving this cost, and have other fiduciary or compliance obligations to meet.
Pension benefits, in particular, can be onerous to administer and manage – especially where dynamic investment strategies are in place – and many defined benefit plans are now legacy arrangements.
MMB can help you
Companies are increasingly looking to centralize decisions to improve visibility, reduce risk, and ensure agility in their local execution of their global benefits strategy that is aligned to their mission and values.
Mercer Marsh Benefits can work with you to:
- Review all policies and guidelines and map responsibilities for benefits decision making to key roles.
- Analyze previous benefits usage and claims data to identify key cost drivers and use predictive analysis to see how costs may rise in the future.
- Examine provider, employee, and leadership behaviors that may be driving benefit cost increases.
We also can support the introduction of a multi-year and multi-pronged cost-containment strategy, which might include measures such as self-insurance, program harmonization, or global benefits management.
Though these actions to simplify HR administration, you will be able improve visibility, reduce risk, and ensure agility in your employee health and benefits program.
