For Brian Ward, managing director of investments at Ward Financial Advisory Group of WellsFargo in Nashville, Tenn., the main attraction of working in employee benefits stemmed from his strong entrepreneurial spirit and the industry's revolving and strategic nature. Ward wanted to make a difference in people's lives, and the benefits industry offered just that opportunity.
"I help clients achieve goals by what I call the 'benefit bang for their buck,'" Ward says. "I love the challenge of creating unique life solutions and helping clients understand the ease of use of their benefits. A lot of this is difficult for people to understand, so we help our clients implement programs by educating their employees."
To help employees better understand their benefits, Ward, who is responsible for approximately 250,000 lives, focuses on employee engagement, and that starts with interactive education. Between traditional medical plans, consumer-driven health plans, ancillary products and all other types of benefits, there is a lot of information for employees to keep straight.
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For instance, when it comes to retirement, the old philosophy encouraged employees to save to their matches. However, the most common 401(k) match is 50 cents to $1 up to 6 percent for an income when it is recommended that employees put away 12-14 percent of their salaries during their working years to have an income replacement ratio of 70-80 percent.
"Your company may be willing to help you, but you have to do more to get to where you need to go," Ward says. "You have to hold employees accountable. That doesn't mean slap their hands but give them the education and show them that it's a two-way street. They also have to pull the rope."
Transparency also plays a major factor in Ward's business philosophy. In this uncertain economic climate, employers are struggling to reinvest in their resources and stay competitive by attracting and retaining employees. To remain strong, employers must make the right benefits choices and fully understand the products they offer.
"Transparency is really something we've been focusing on for the last seven years," Ward says. "Rather than just selling your clients a product that they don't know about, you need to help them understand what they're paying for, the products' pros and cons, and how the plans work. Let's talk about everything openly in a partnership to get where we need to go."
In Ward's experience, transparency is an especially important component of his business model, given the unknown future of health care reform, he says. Many HR departments are overburdened in today's business environment and need their brokers to act as trustworthy, knowledgeable partners, which is a role Ward embraces.
"I find it personally rewarding to know at the end of the day we are helping people and truly helping those people attain lifelong hopes and dreams for themselves and their loved ones," Ward says. "That's important, and our clients appreciate knowing we care about them as people. I take my responsibility seriously because when you're working with such a broad client base, you're affecting a lot of people's lives."
Photo by Jeff Frazier
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