The interest in an enhanced user experience is important; however, employers are off target in regards to benefits administration technology. Visual information, data placement and aesthetics are all subjective components to a user experience, which is aside from the fact that employees spend a miniscule amount of time interacting with their benefits enrollment system in comparison to their HR department.

Employers must redirect their focus to the functionality and capabilities of their employee benefits administration technology, because the benefits administration features and services offered are what truly harness the talent and effectiveness of their HR department.

The different approach

How many times a year do employees actually need to or desire to interact with their benefits? Perhaps a few days during open enrollment and a handful of other times due to qualifying life events or to simply find out what their benefits are.

Human resources, on the flip-side, interact with their employees’ benefits and third parties (such as carriers and payroll) on nearly a daily basis—roughly 360 days a year. Human resources administrators require a robust, flexible benefits administration solution that will accommodate their unique employee benefits plans, carriers, payroll vendor, and manage employee enrollment, eligibility, dependents, beneficiaries, communications, and more.

A better approach to benefits administration technology attends to the challenges and tasks HR professionals are faced with nearly every day and emphasizes the need for a comprehensive technological solution.

Steve Herman, National Director of Sales at Web Benefits Design, has crafted a different philosophy from his years in the employee benefits technology space, his thousands of conversations with HR professionals, and his understanding of the significance of a pragmatic technological solution to employers’ benefits administration challenges.

HR professionals are constantly being challenged with more and more administrative and compliance duties. Now faced with ACA compliance, COBRA, and HIPPA regulations, they require a secure, unified data management system to track and store their employee benefits and eligibility data, as well as integrate administrative, communications, workflows, billing, and reporting functionalities.

Many versions of benefits administration software lack in administrative functionality, data management, and workflow capabilities, but include an attractive employee visual interface.

“Benefits administration is all about unparalleled access to data reports and employee transactional records, employee communications, COBRA administration, and now ACA reporting,” says Herman.

Employers must shift the focus from the employee user experience to the human resources platform functionalities and administrative tools. A benefits application may be visually pleasing and contain interactive elements, but if the backend HR system features are limited in functionality, it is not a practical or useful technology.

It is not the employee user experience that is going to drive employee participation and education, reduce administrative costs, and optimize the human resources role. It is the ability to leverage technology to handle the time-consuming, manual, data-intensive tasks that are required of HR.

“Employee benefits administration is an everyday reality for an HR professional, but is merely an annual experience for an employee, “says Herman. “While acknowledging that the employee and consumer experience is important, and there is a need for ease of use and support when making decisions, it should not be the core focus.”