BenefitsPRO Expo preview: What HR professionals wish brokers knew
As benefits brokers emphasize the role of collaboration within the industry, they may be overlooking input from a key stakeholder.
A big emphasis in the benefits broker community is collaboration. Benefits advisors have never been shy about networking and leaning on each other to explore new ideas and share what they’ve learned, collectively working to improve health care and other benefit solutions for their employer clients.
But in this collaborative environment, benefits brokers may be overlooking a key voice in the conversation: HR professionals.
Be sure to join Valerie Kane of Topco Associates, Misty Guinn of Benefitfocus, Lou Ann Hutchison or Grant Thornton and Emily Buxton Taylor of Wondr Health for the session, “What HR professionals wish brokers knew,” at the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo May 25, at 9:30 a.m.
The dynamic between brokers, employers and HR teams has been in flux in recent years, as more C-suite executives, including CEOs and CFOS, have been brought into the conversation. But at the same time, more HR professionals are also finding a seat at the C-suite table, bringing with them key insights and perspectives.
Related: Employees as assets, the C-suite as investors
At the upcoming BenefitsPRO Broker Expo, we’ll delve into just what brokers may be missing out on. In “What HR Professionals Wish Brokers Knew,” a panel of HR professionals will discuss how their roles are changing, the latest challenges they face and the challenges and opportunities they see in their partnership with brokers and the C-Suite. As compliance issues, technology, DEI and strategic planning become bigger priorities for HR teams, there’s an increasing opportunity for brokers to offer their guidance and help develop employee-centric solutions.
Key topics we’ll cover include:
Mental health: While employee assistance plans (EAPs) have been around for a long time, they’ve seen increased utilization during the pandemic. Renewed attention is also leading companies to take a closer look at the specific offerings of their EAPs to ensure they’re meeting the needs of employees. It’s no longer “Do we have an EAP?” but “What’s in our EAP?”
Worker demographics: Frontline workers came into the spotlight during the pandemic, and as we emerge, it’s industries that have relied on hourly workers that are struggling the most to recruit and retain workers. Tailoring benefits to specific demographic needs has become an important part of the recruitment process, one that brokers may not be quite as in tune with as their HR partners would like them to be.
Finding the right solutions: It’s the job of the benefits advisor to bring new solutions to the table and improve existing solutions. But to what extent are they working to help their clients make the most of existing resources? The relationship between brokers and the HR team is evolving to be less transactional and more strategic, and the implementation of new benefits, tools and technologies needs to reflect this new dynamic.
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