Since your C-suite manages the money and understands your business inside and out, they should be included in the conversation with your advisor to develop your benefits strategy. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Health benefits have traditionally been treated as a burden rather than an opportunity. Many business owners see them as just another huge expense that gets bigger every year, and because they feel powerless to change it, they let HR handle it to help their annual renewal happen as quickly and smoothly as possible.

This way of handling the benefits conversation may be the status-quo, but it doesn't help your business. In the hands of a great advisor, your benefits plan can be a powerful strategic tool that can help your company grow, and in order to maximize that positive impact, you'll need to get the powerful people in your business involved in the discussion.

Related: Are you giving employees the benefits experience they want?

Here's why you should always have your C-suite work with your benefits advisor:

Going beyond benefits

Your benefits plan can transform into a strategic opportunity for your business if you have the right people working together. Having an HR representative chat with a traditional benefits broker is fine if all you want is to sign off on another increasingly expensive renewal, but if you want more from your plan, you'll need to team up with a great advisor and have them discuss your business' potential with your C-suite.

Your advisor can manage the health care supply chain to help you save money on your benefits, leaving you with more to spend on things like:

• Employee perks such as bonuses and increased wages
• Investments in new materials and products
• Employee recruitment and training

Since your C-suite manages the money and understands your business inside and out, they should be the ones talking with your advisor to develop a strategy that can maximize your plan's positive impact on your company.

A year-round conversation

If you're working with a traditional benefits broker, the annual conversation about your renewal is likely to be a quick one. Your broker will inform your HR representative about the inevitable price hike on your plan (probably between 3 and 5 percent, according to a late-2018 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation), and your HR representative will sign off on it. Unless you change the way you approach your benefits plan, this process will repeat every single year, with you spending more and more for equal or lesser-quality benefits.

Your benefits plan can and should be more than just a mandatory annual expense, though, and the opportunities it can offer your entire business make it worthy of a year-round discussion between your advisor and your C-suite. The leaders of your company have the most knowledge about how your business is evolving, and they can work with your advisor to determine the best way to adapt your benefits plan to the changes in your company. A quick, one-off annual renewal meeting may be the easiest way to handle your plan, but an ongoing conversation with your C-suite will enable your advisor to help you use your plan as a tool to help your business grow.

A great and powerful expense

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that employers will spend an average of $10,000 on benefits per employee in 2019. That means if your company has just 30 employees, your plan could cost you $300,000 this year alone. With an expense this big, you can't afford to leave your company's leaders out of the conversation, and yet, so may business owners make this exact mistake.

A great advisor can team up with your C-suite to ensure that the money you spend on your benefits plan doesn't go to waste. While HR may not want to rock the boat, your company's leaders will be focused on using your advisor's tools to find every available opportunity to help your business grow. When hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line, the people at the head of your business should be involved as much as possible.

A conversation for your company's leaders

Your HR department is a crucial component of your business, but when it comes to benefits, your C-suite should be having the in-depth conversations with your advisor. Given the potential for growth your plan offers your business, the necessity for a year-round discussion about how your benefits should evolve with your company, and the sheer cost of benefits, your business will get more out of your plan if the people at the head of your company are more involved with your benefits.

Read more:

• 3 questions to help find a benefits advisor that matches your business
• Delivering a values-driven, cost-effective benefits experience
• How small businesses are keeping pace on health benefits, costs

Jim Blachek is co-founder of The Benefits Group.