At Launchways we take a drastically different approach to
benefits and human resources. We believe that we do best for ourselves by doing
best for our clients and that our clients thrive when they do right by their
employees. We know that benefits and effective HR are some of the best tools
that growing businesses can use to attract, engage, and retain the talent they
need to not only survive but thrive and grow.
By taking a personalized approach, we can find unique
solutions that reduce costs while actually improving the value that our clients
provide for their employees. Our team is deeply involved in our clients’
business and that’s why we act as partners and problem solvers instead of
salespeople. Which has not only helped us rapidly grow our business but also
makes it genuinely rewarding to come into work each day.
Here’s how we do things differently at Launchways to ensure
we’re always doing what’s best for our clients:
A consultative sales process means we find the solutions that work best for our clients
We help people first to empower business results
Our team becomes an extension of our clients’ teams so we act as experts not only in benefits and HR but also in our clients’ industries
Constant innovation helps Launchways and its clients thrive
Scalable solutions mean that we build long-term client relationships
Consultative Sales: Finding the Solutions that Work for
Clients
One of the best things about what we do at Launchways is
that we get to be problem solvers instead of salesmen. Our business thrives by
always providing our clients with the solutions that best meet their specific
needs and budgets. That means that we take a consultative
sales approach with our clients.
What does a consultative sales process entail? Essentially,
it means that we are selling solutions instead of products. Our sales team
members serve as consultants for our clients, guiding them towards the
insurance plans, benefits, and technology partners that will work the best for
them and their businesses.
We use our industry experience to advise our clients about
which options we think are right for them and build connections with premier vendors
to provide our clients with the best possible options. This unique approach
means that we don’t bring our clients “out-of-the-box” packages and ask them to
pick one. Instead, we craft custom, strategic solutions that are tailored to
each client’s unique needs. While we have formed numerous strategic
partnerships with insurers, benefits providers, and technology companies, we
don’t pitch our clients on their solutions. Instead, we leverage our
partnerships to deliver unique savings, greater support, and customized
solutions to fuel our clients’ businesses.
Helping People First to Deliver Business Results
Our business model is based on the essential truth that a
company is only as strong as its people and that businesses perform best when
they do best by their employees. Growing businesses might come to Launchways to
control costs, increase employee productivity and retention, and achieve other
business results, but our solutions are ultimately grounded in helping our
clients build and maintain a team that fuels business success.
What does that mean for Launchways? For one thing, it means we
are extremely strategic in the way we help our clients control costs at their
businesses. Reducing costs is important for most of our clients. But we understand
how to balance cost cutting with maintaining employee happiness and building an
attractive employer brand.
Growing businesses can often achieve the cost-savings they
need by reducing bureaucracy, rather than reducing the quality of employee
healthcare. We streamline processes, generate savings through strategic plan
design, and identify real employee healthcare needs to increase the benefits
that matter most to employees while eliminating waste.
A Business of Partnership: Consultants and Advisors not
Brokers
Launchways is a growing business that understands the pain
points that our fellow scaling businesses face. We understand that benefits and
HR are very personal topics and should be addressed with personalized
solutions. Launchways takes a uniquely boutique approach to benefits and human
resources. Our team serves an extension of our clients’ human resources and leadership
teams, helping steer their companies towards sustainable growth and scalable
solutions.
Under this approach, our advisors serve as partners and
problem solvers. Our team embeds itself in our clients’ businesses to create custom
solutions for unique challenges. We get the opportunity to work not just for
Launchways but for each of Launchways’ clients.
Constant Innovation
Because of our dedication to doing everything possible to
help our clients and their employees succeed, Launchways is always searching
for new ways to empower our clients’ benefits and human resources. Whether it’s
a new benefits management software platform, unique wellness benefit,
telehealth program or innovative approach to prescription savings, our job is
to find out what the cutting-edge solutions are and determine how we can
leverage them to help our clients.
At Launchways, we always have our eyes on the horizon so we
never get stuck in a rut. We are constantly pushing forward, never content to
rest still and implement the same solutions over and over again until they
become outdated.
The focus on innovation to fuel client results fundamentally
changes the nature of our organization and how we operate. From our trendy office
space at the heart of Chicago’s startup district, our work-life balance, and
even the way we handle our internal communications, Launchways lives-and-breathes
like a tech startup rather than a traditional benefits broker.
Human resources and benefits should be exciting and
rewarding. The Launchways approach cuts through the usual bureaucracy to bring
the focus back on people and innovative problem-solving.
Scalable Solutions Mean Long Term Relationships
Businesses’ needs change as they grow, their employee
demographics and priorities change, and the market shifts. And the solutions
available to address business challenges are changing just as quickly.
So while Launchways is dedicated to implementing solutions
and strategies that can scale with our clients’ growth, we know that truly
scalable solutions require continuous feedback and revision. We know that we
won’t do right by our clients if we just sell them a new benefits package and
then move onto the next account. Instead, we forge long term relationships in
which we make our expertise, resources, and strategic partners available to
meet any issues that our clients might face. Ongoing service and consultation are
an integral part of our business at its core.
Key Takeaways
Launchways was founded to provide a better model to tackle
the benefits and human resources challenges that growing businesses face. Our
mission has led us to take an unconventional stance for a successful benefits
broker: we always do what’s best for our clients and their employees. This has
a ripple effect that changes just about everything about how we do business,
including:
Our sales team takes a fully consultative sales approach that focuses on building solutions, not selling products
We get to help people because we know that businesses succeed when they help their employees succeed
Launchways’ benefits advisors become an extension of our clients’ teams, getting to know their businesses and working for them as much as for Launchways
Technological advancements and changes in the healthcare market mean that Launchways is constantly innovating to deliver the best results possible
There is no one-off solution for benefits and human resources challenges, so we take a long-term approach to our client relationships that makes our work more productive and rewarding
Do you like the sound of doing what’s best for your clients,
forming deeper relationships with clients’ teams, and developing solutions that
help people? The Launchways model has proved successful and we are expanding
our team to meet the growing demand for our business model. Check out the open
positions on our careers page.
Growing companies are increasingly turning to diversity and inclusion, or D&I, initiatives to fuel their success. People are the ultimate drivers of business success and having the widest range of perspectives available to tackle business challenges is an invaluable asset to companies of all sizes. But small-to-mid-sized businesses are particularly strongly defined by the makeup of their employees.
Many businesses have D&I policies and procedures as a matter of course and treat it as a compliance issue or silo it in HR. But others are starting to put the principles of diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything that they do. And they’re seeing real results. Recent studies show that greater gender and racial diversity each are directly correlated with increased profitability and value creation. And companies with the most women and minorities in leadership positions are between 20-30% more likely to achieve above-average financial performance.
One of the companies that have gone above and beyond in their D&I efforts is Launchways client Tandem, a consultancy that focuses on developing custom software solutions for growing businesses. We spoke to Tandem CEO, JC Grubbs, about how and why he has tried to foster diversity at his startup and how these efforts have contributed to his business’s phenomenal success. As it turns out, businesses looking for ways to stand out from competitors and fuel innovation within their organization have a lot to gain from the lessons that Tandem has learned.
Why D&I Is A Top Priority for Tandem
Before delving into the business advantages of having a more diverse and inclusive team, it’s worth spending some time to consider the moral forces that influence businesses like Tandem to focus so much effort into D&I. Generally speaking, many employers feel a moral responsibility to take care of the employees who dedicate so much of their time and energy to growing their company, and that includes making sure that all employees feel welcome and receive fair treatment regardless of their backgrounds or demographics. Diversity and genuine inclusion are important elements of the positive company culture that so many business leaders want to maintain.
For JC, though, his moral obligation to promote a diverse and inclusive workplace at Tandem goes beyond these general principles. As a member of the LGBTQ community who has experienced first-hand both inclusive and non-inclusive environments work environments, he sees it as his duty to make sure that everyone feels welcome and included at Tandem.
Beyond moral considerations, D&I is just good business for companies like Tandem. The studies showing how diversity contributes to profitability and value creation are grounded in business realities that JC has seen at his company. Since starting the company in 2011, he has seen how Tandem’s products and the ways that the company executes its work dramatically improve as the team becomes more diverse. As JC says, “It has happened over time but as I look at the way that we’ve run engagements with clients, I see a continual improvement in that. Part of that comes from learning and process improvement but I attribute a significant portion of that to our efforts in bringing more diverse voices to the table in how we deliver work to our clients.”
So how has JC built such a diverse and productive team? A lot of it has to do with the way that Tandem brands itself and crafts its company culture.
Importance of Employer Branding
Authentic branding should represent who you want to be as a company not just how you want to be seen. With that principle in mind, Tandem recently underwent a significant branding effort, including adopting the name Tandem in place of DevMynd, to put the principles of diversity, inclusion, and human connection at the very core of the brand. This new brand emphasizes the company’s focus on the human side of software development: getting as many diverse voices and perspectives involved as possible to create unique solutions that fuel innovation.
A significant part of the D&I branding effort has focused on how Tandem features their employees on their website. The “Team” page plays a much stronger role in the site than for most companies, and Tandem has done several things differently to foster a sense of diversity and inclusion. The first thing that visitors will probably notice is that the page isn’t organized with the C-Suite at the top and lower-ranked team members as you scroll down. Instead, everyone is mixed together with the CEO and COO right in the middle so that leadership at the center, rather than the top, of the company. And each employee profile features an in-depth bio that helps potential clients and employees get to know the team, plus three photos including one featuring the employee’s favorite hobby to further humanize the team members.
It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of employer branding and featuring employees so heavily on the website. In fact, according to JC, branding and highlighting his team members has been the number one contributor to the increase in diversity at Tandem. One of the first things that people from underrepresented communities look at when they’re considering a potential employer is what the team looks like. As JC puts it, “When they go to your site and see people who look like them and when they read their bios, they read things that feel like them, it immediately puts them in a different frame of mind in terms of how they view you as an employer.”
The benefits don’t stop at attracting diverse and talented employees, either. Another driver for Tandem’s focus on their Team page and D&I branding is to celebrate their success in that area and the success of their team. Small-to-mid-sized businesses are ultimately just a conglomeration of their employees and it’s important that both potential employees and clients see the people they’re going to be working with and get a sense of what voices are going to be in the room. This can not only lead to productive partnerships but also prevent damaging missteps as it can drive away employees or clients who aren’t a good fit. As far as Tandem is concerned, they don’t want to work with employees or clients who do not want to work with a team like theirs, so the more public they make their diversity the better.
Tailoring the Employee Benefits Package for D&I
But branding can only go so far; the real measure of a business’s diversity and inclusion is how they treat their employees. For growing businesses, especially in the tech field, who lack the resources to compete with major companies in terms of salaries and bonuses, this means tailoring their benefits packages to attract talent and build a diverse and inclusive team.
At Tandem, this started with a comprehensive and fully employer-paid insurance package that provides 100% coverage for employees and their families on all major health aspects: medical, dental, vision, and more. Just last year, they added a telehealth program so that employees can get access to medical advice more quickly and easily; a benefit that especially appeals to employees with children.
Tandem tailored its other benefits to accommodate people who have responsibilities that aren’t tied to work, such as being the caretaker for aging parents or being parents themselves. They implemented a flexible time policy that lets employees set their own schedule as long as they are in the office for core work hours from 10:00am-4:00, give employees the option of working remotely one day a week, and allow employees to work from home on other days whenever the need arises. Despite being too small to be required to offer maternity leave under FMLA, Tandem also offers 8 weeks of new-parent leave for natural births and adoptions, on top of standard PTO. Having that flexibility and making sure that the flexibility is integrated into company policies and processes is an important step to support a diverse set of outside of work needs; another key element of D&I.
Tandem isn’t ready to stop there, either. They are already exploring two new potential benefits to better foster diversity and inclusion: fertility and gender transition support benefits. While they are still looking into costs and proper structures and have not pulled the trigger yet, they believe that it is important to think ahead and look beyond traditional benefits to see what you can and should do to support a more diverse set of employee needs.
Ongoing D&I Efforts and Accountability
The final lesson that growing businesses can take away from Tandem’s D&I success is that diversity and inclusion is a constantly evolving process and that it is important to reevaluate current practices to see if you’re doing the right things and if are there new areas that you should explore. In fact, Tandem’s CEO went so far as to say, “If I had any advice for other growing businesses it would be that D&I is not a one-and-done, ‘check all the boxes’ and then move on type of issue: you need to reexamine it on a continuing basis.”
So what should growing businesses who are dedicated to promoting D&I do to monitor and reexamine their efforts? Tandem conducts bi-annual employee satisfaction surveys and the CEO has a one-on-one with every employee at least annually so that Tandem can be sure that it is maintaining its culture, that its employees feel engaged and included, and that any issues can be identified and corrected. JC also decided to create a Culture and Inclusion committee made up of a wide range of employees that meets every quarter to review current practices, discuss possible initiatives, and generally steer the direction of the company’s D&I efforts.
This committee has been central to the successful integration of D&I into Tandem’s brand and operations. It was responsible for raising the possibility of providing fertility and gender transition support benefits after it worked with Launchways to determine what the current insurance covered and what opportunities for improvement were left on the table. It also looks at the public face of the company to see if it is sending the types of signals to job candidates, such as reviewing job descriptions to see if they appropriately emphasize inclusion or use language that can be interpreted as exclusionary.
Tandem also recently completed an ADA study of their physical office space to get a sense of what they need to do to support people who need access to the building in different ways. And Tandem is planning on publicly releasing career paths, complete with requirements to move up to each position and salary ranges for every position, to encourage transparency and fairness both internally and for potential employees. This is significant, because transparency is absolutely vital to fostering true diversity and inclusion.
Key Takeaways
Every company is unique, and its approach diversity and inclusion should be as well. But Tandem provides a compelling model of how companies can put the principles of D&I at the heart of their employer brand, benefits strategy, and processes to build a diverse and innovative team. Hopefully, you can apply some of the lessons that Tandem has learned to fuel your business’s growth. Just remember that:
• In addition to being morally right, diversity and inclusion is just good business and results in increased profits and business results
• Your employer brand defines how potential employees and clients see you, so making sure that it aligns with and celebrates diversity and inclusion can help you build an innovative workforce and productive partnerships
• Benefits are often the most concrete tool that employers have to foster D&I by accommodating a wide range of employee needs
• D&I is an ongoing process that requires constant reevaluation, accountability, and transparency
Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are now becoming more and more engaged in the HR function, and ensuring that each and every aspect of HR is reviewed carefully and regularly is an important step forward for any organization.
Data from a Robert Half survey shows that HR is the top area where CFOs have expanded their reach over the last three years (39%), largely because CFO involvement in HR allows them to address staffing challenges from a financial perspective.
As CFOs continue to put more time into HR, it’s first crucial to understand the major areas in which CFOs should begin their assessments regarding whether an organization has a sound HR operating structure in place. In this post we will overview the main areas of focus a CFO should assess to ensure a healthy HR function.
HR Areas of Focus for CFO Assessment
Company Culture
Company Culture Audit Company culture is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a competitive modern workplace. In a study conducted by RippleMatch, company culture was the leading reason that a candidate decided to accept a job or not, with almost three quarters of respondents (who were 700-plus recent graduates) reporting that this consideration was the most important. When it comes to auditing your organization’s cultural health, measuring employee satisfaction is key.
Employee Satisfaction In HR’s current “war for talent,” with the unemployment rate the lowest it’s been in decades, it’s more important than ever to create a solid recruitment strategy that’s complemented by employee satisfaction as a serious driving force. CFOs looking to assess the current health of the HR department need to put time into assessing employee satisfaction, whether by: • Implementing regular employee satisfaction surveys • Inviting employees to join company discussions or meetings • Gauging interest in benefits like company events, outings, professional development opportunities, and work-life balance benefits • Ensuring a sound manager-employee review system is in place that happens at least once or twice per year
Addressing Critical Culture Issue Areas Another aspect of a company culture audit is identifying the most critical issue areas. To really have a complete, successful HR program, any company culture problems must be proactively addressed. Critical issues often include that the company has no clear values that employees can recognize and thus cling to; that leadership isn’t accessible or transparent; or that there are no long-term goals in place.
If these three common issues can be recognized and addressed by CFOs, company culture will be on the path to being revamped and competitive.
Compensation and Rewards
Of course, another important aspect of HR is compensation and benefits. And part of staying relevant is ensuring that you’re offering competitive salaries and benefits packages to employees.
Benchmarking Salaries Especially with top-level talent and executives, it can be challenging to know if an employee will be tempted by a better offer within a competing organization. One way to ensure you remain competitive and retain this top talent is to benchmark, which means assessing your own compensation structure and comparing it to other companies within your industry. Then, salaries can be updated if necessary (or, benefits can be improved to balance out any salary discrepancies).
Bonuses and Incentives It’s common knowledge that employee satisfaction increases when employee contributions are overtly recognized and celebrated. This is why bonuses or performance-based incentives can be impactful in HR retention strategies. CFOs should try implementing an incentive that’s based on an employee’s performance, giving them something to work towards and thus improving motivation. Year-end bonuses can also help employees feel recognized and satisfied with their jobs. While a simple “thank you” may work at times to encourage and inspire, HR and CFOs should work together to create an incentive program that the organization can afford and which motivates employees.
Benefits Package Similar to compensation benchmarking, CFOs should do their research to ensure that the company’s benefits package is competitive and updated regularly. This means knowing what modern top talent is looking for. According to Harvard Business Review survey data, the most desirable employee benefits are: • Health, dental, and vision insurance • Flexible hours • Vacation time/paid time off • Work-from home options • Unlimited vacation • Student loan assistance • Tuition assistance • Paid parental leave
One of a business’ largest expenses is the annual dollar amount spent on employee benefits. CFOs should make sure that benefits dollars and being invested wisely into crafting a thoughtful, impactful benefits package.
Technology and Data
Another big consideration for HR departments and CFOs alike is data. With the rise of automation and machine learning, businesses can now streamline processes and analyze large amounts of data to make future plans and projections. And these changes apply to HR efforts, such recruitment and retention, which now depend on sophisticated data and a method in place to analyze it, such as a useable online dashboard.
According to a report from KPMG, 92% of strategic HR functions now see automation as having a significant impact on the HR function, and 66% of organizations are putting a greater focus on the automation conversation within their company.
However, actual strategies are still lacking in HR, KPMG data also shows. While around two thirds of HR executives recently reported to believe that HR is undergoing a big digital transformation, only 40% of these leaders said they have a plan in place at either the enterprise or HR level. So, putting these considerations at the top of the priority list could give your business a significant competitive edge.
Assessing the Existing Technology Stack First, CFOs should start by assessing their HR department’s current technology utilization. Is there a method in place to not only gather data, but to analyze it and incorporate it into a long-term strategy? What databases and dashboards are being used, and are they successful? And of course, cost is an important factor in implementing new technologies, so CFOs are encouraged to always consider technology ROI in terms of process improvement.
How to Find the Right HR tech for Your Business Every organization has different needs and trends, so it’s important for you to help your HR department figure out which technologies will best meet your business’ needs. Some important considerations to keep in mind include: • How automation will impact the need for long-term HR staff • Training for HR staff to be able to properly use technology to handle and analyze data • Implementation processes and timelines for new technology
Key Data Metrics to Track Over Time So what metrics should your HR department care about most? Here are some of the top data metrics for HR to track and use for future planning: • Cost-benefit analysis: tracking the benefits of a program weighed against the cost (such as a benefits package) • Revenue per employee/productivity: tracking the total amount of company revenue divided by the number of employees so that efficiency and productivity can be measured via human capital • Recruitment: tracking how long it takes to fill a position, and how much it costs • Turnover: tracking how long employees stay at the company and which departments see the highest turnover, in addition to the cost of turnover • Retention: tracking the company’s actual ability to retain key talent
Hiring and Retention
Next, CFOs should analyze hiring and retention strategies, one of the most important parts of the HR function.
Recruitment Tactics How is the HR department currently approaching recruitment? This includes considerations like where job advertisements are being posted, whether recruiters are engaged with platforms like LinkedIn or other social media outlets, and whether competitors’ job posts are being assessed and incorporated into the company’s own job ad approach.
Depending on your industry, recruiters should be involved in researching and reaching out to top talent who they find would be great candidates. This could be through networking events or via online platforms.
Hiring Processes It’s also important to consider the efficiency and effectiveness of hiring procedures, such as: • How resumes or cover letters are received (email, online application, etc.) • How long it takes HR to respond • How the interview process works (i.e., phone interview followed by two in-person interviews) • How job offers are relayed (email, formal letter)
Onboarding and Training A good onboarding strategy can make or break recruitment efforts and retention strategies. It’s important to set up a welcoming, informative program that educates new hires and aims to integrate them into company culture by involving multiple departments and individuals. These early connections are important for any new hire to feel like they made the right decision in accepting a job.
Just as important is training and development that new hires will need, so each department should have its own system in place in addition to the overall HR employee training program. These are important considerations: 69% of employees have a higher chance of sticking with a company for three years if they have a great onboarding experience.
Identifying and Addressing Turnover Issues One of the biggest threats for modern businesses is high turnover. The Center for American Progress says that on average, the cost of turnover is 22% of an employee’s annual salary.
The first step in addressing turnover problems is figuring out when employees leave—if it’s near the start of their tenure at the company, greater focus is needed for onboarding and training, perhaps. If it’s later in the employee’s tenure, the reasons could be related to company culture, benefits, compensation, management, or room for growth within the company. All of these considerations deserve a detailed plan from your HR function.
Compliance Review
CFOs play a major role in HR compliance, since penalties or legal issues could be involved if required policies and procedures aren’t followed. Here are the top areas for CFOs to review regarding compliance.
Employee Handbook Every HR department should create an employee handbook that lists all policies and procedures. This levels the playing field so that employees don’t think one worker is getting special treatment. The handbook should be updated as the industry changes or as new laws and regulations are put into effect, and it should include things like benefits, leave policies, dress code, flexible working opportunities, tuition reimbursement, and more.
Employee Files CFOs should take a look at how employee files are currently handled. There are many records that need to be kept confidential, so it’s crucial to ensure that there is a security system in place for these sensitive records.
Benefits Compliance Review There are important acts and laws for every HR professional and CFO to understand and ensure compliance with. Some of the most important include: • Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): related to required time off for new parents, health issues, or family issues • Fair Labor Standards Act: overtime regulations, minimum wage, etc. • Disability coverage regulations for employees • COBRA: required continued insurance offering after an employee leaves the company
An important aspect of the HR function is ensuring all of these important regulations and policies are followed and applicable requirements are met.
Strategic Alignment Evaluation
Because HR is such a crucial part of company operations, it’s important that the department is aligned with other areas across the organization. HR is often the first point of contact for job candidates, so HR professionals have a unique obligation to reflect company values as well as the positives of working at your business.
Aligning Finance, HR, and Company Goals Part of the CFO’s involvement in HR is to ensure that practices are aligned with finance and overall company goals. Some of the HR metrics to track that were described earlier will apply here, since they’ll be important in determining cost-benefit ratio, the cost of recruitment/new hires, and other HR finance considerations.
Company goals and values should also align with HR for the reasons previously mentioned: HR is often the face of the company during recruitment and hiring, so it’s crucial that these professionals reflect the organization’s mission, vision, and goals. Leadership from each of these areas within the company should meet regularly and discuss any issues so that key team members are aligned across the board.
Long-Term Workforce Planning Many of the considerations already discussed are necessary for efficient workforce planning. This means integrating a company’s goals and mission while ensuring that the organization has the human capital it needs to succeed. HR professionals, in conjunction with the CFO, need to evaluate both current and future needs in personnel and departmental structure, and figure out how to make these efforts cost-effective.
Another consideration here is the professional development and training that will keep personnel effective within the given industry. As mentioned, in regards to technology, systems and processes are constantly changing, and companies have to ensure that they keep up by educating employees, ensuring they can operate with the most cost-effective and efficient tools in place.
Key Takeaways
In today’s workforce, CFOs are tasked with ensuring that HR not only functions as it should on the appropriate legal and financial level, but also that it is making successful efforts to integrate technology and implement high-impact recruiting and retention strategies.
When assessing the current state of an HR department, CFOs should remember to look at the following key areas:
Company Culture
Compensation, Benefits, and Incentives
Technology and Data Strategy
Hiring, Onboarding, and Retention
Compliance
Strategic Alignment and Workforce Planning
Only after reviewing these key aspects of HR can CFOs better make decisions about personnel, policies and procedures, cost considerations, and departmental structure that will drive the business forward.
No organization can survive, thrive, or grow without great talent. With that said, unemployment is at its lowest in nearly 40 years, which means difference-making employees have greater power and more opportunities to pick their landing spot of choice than ever before.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the highlights and main ideas of the webinar, including:
• The role of employer branding in talent acquisition
• How to create winning recruiting and hiring practices
• How to use the interview process to find the best talent
Mindful Employer Branding Bringing great talent into the fold and retaining them over time requires having a business that feels inviting, functional, positive, and drama-free. In the past, employees were willing to put up with more due to the perception that there were a limited number of “good jobs” at strong companies, but in today’s environment, hiring and holding onto business-driving team members requires more than the offer of a “good job.”
Now, businesses of all sizes and industries must actively and thoughtfully brand themselves in order to create an identity that is attractive to top talent and invites them to buy into corporate culture. In fact, everything should flow backwards from the brand.
Understanding Your Existing Standing and Perception No business can leverage their workplace culture – even if it’s a great one – if they don’t fully understand it themselves. Small and medium-sized companies often grow so quickly that mindfulness of company culture gets lost in the shuffle as operations scale up. On the other hand, for large enterprises, there’s often so much distance between leadership and rank-and-file employees that a culture gap – or, more precisely, a gap in understanding of culture – can easily form.
Before any business can create a talent-centric culture initiative, they must form a rich understand of both their existing internal culture and the perception of the organization within the talent marketplace. Tools like employee surveys and Glassdoor can be incredibly useful in informing this work.
Once that understanding of existing culture and perception are in place, organizations can begin the work of identifying culture targets and planning initiatives to get them there.
Articulating a Great Culture Branding in a way that speaks to top talent requires identifying what is special or unique about an organization and building out from there. In order to achieve that, each organization must articulate what they value from both the business and humanistic sides of workplace culture and consider what’s really special about who they are, what they do, where they do it, and how they do it.
The better an organization can articulate why employment is a positive and valuable overall experience that will improve each employee’s life and not just a “job,” the better they are able to attract great thinkers and workers without needing to jack up compensation. Once those value-based pillars are in place, the next step is to plan how the organization will staff, train, and develop to foster, reinforce, and maintain that culture.
One important note about establishing and building an effective culture: it requires patience. As soon as you and your core leadership team are sick to death of discussing culture goals and articulating what your organization is all about, that information is probably just starting to sink in at the individual worker level. Once you have buy-in at that level, however, promoting your thriving culture becomes much easier.
Web Presence The internet provides businesses with a powerful, mostly free space to spread the word about their brand identities and individual corporate cultures. A strong, positive web presence helps an organization seem modern with a unique personality and relatable set of values. A weak or negative web presence, on the other hand, will prevent many potential superstars from even applying to work at a company.
For those reasons, digital marketing should be a top priority for organizations of all sizes and ages, not just for lead attraction but also for talent attraction. When an organization’s footprint on the web feels responsive, looks professional, and contains well-planned and well-written content, it gives job seekers an increased sense of confidence and makes a workplace seem future-facing and attractive.
Remember, there are more top jobs out there than top talent, so there’s no incentive for any of those professionals to even consider working in an environment where they don’t have great confidence they will succeed, grow, and build a happier life.
Let’s take a closer look at two of the biggest and most crucial online platforms for businesses trying to establish a strong culture and brand identity: • Glassdoor – Thanks to social proof, if a business has a great team and a thriving culture, Glassdoor can be one of their greatest hiring tools. If the ratings are low, however, it can become a struggle to even create a viable applicant pool for an opening. The more authentic, positive reviews a business can build on Glassdoor, the more attractive they seem to outsiders and prospective applicants.
• LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the ideal social media platform for organizations looking to share their company culture with the world and invite others to join the conversation. Using LinkedIn, business entities and their individual leaders can increase brand awareness, build thought leadership, and share company successes – both business and humanistic – with a wide community of industry professionals. A strong, active LinkedIn presence helps an organization present their values and meaningful work side by side, creating a brand identity that attracts great talent.
Recruiting and Hiring to Win Once businesses have established a talent-centric culture and leveraged online platforms to start circulating that message throughout the industry in a way that attracts talent, they are faced with an equally important next step: actually hiring the right people.
Here are a few guidelines that organizations can use to create an effective recruitment and hiring strategy to ensure they land the right talent.
Have a Plan Building a great team in the office is just like building one on the athletic field: it’s a process that takes multiple years, requires several key acquisitions, and must be dictated by an over-arching plan or strategy. Hiring employees on a purely ad hoc basis is a recipe for disaster, and signing on new hires without an eye toward cultural fit, values, or long-term potential can be destructive as well.
Each organization can empower themselves and simplify their hiring processes by articulating an organizational philosophy on and approach to hiring. While this seems like a huge responsibility up front, it’s the most direct way to measure twice and cut once.
“Always Be Hiring” Growing organizations frequently make the classic mistake of building exactly the team they need in the moment. While that sounds like an ideal situation, it’s actually a liability because growing organizations must be able to grow, and with a goldilocks-sized staff, that potential for instant growth is limited, creating the possibility of backslide.
Organizations who don’t want to miss out on great talent are always hiring because that superstar difference-maker might not be searching for a job the same week the office has an explicit need. By always remaining open-minded about the possibility of bringing on the right new team member, businesses maintain their ability to grow and leave the door open to for the right voice to come on board at an unexpected moment.
One of the worst things a business can do to itself is to get put in a position where a hire must be made under duress or an unexpected exit sends work grinding to a halt. When organizations are proactive rather than reactive, however, they protect productivity and provide themselves with more opportunities to connect with great talent.
Fill the Pipeline Of course, the “Always be hiring” philosophy requires a steady influx of talent and C.V.s, but embracing that constant flow of talent opportunities is a good thing. When a business is constantly talking about new talent and staying in touch with the talent marketplace, it builds organizational confidence that the business isn’t over-reliant on current team members and keeps everybody up to date on talent trends.
One way organizations can keep themselves plugged into the talent market is to set aside one day each month to interview attention-grabbing or potentially intriguing candidates, regardless of specific “needs.” This practice keeps businesses open to great potential opportunities and invites both applicants and leadership to discuss goals, culture, and market trends in a way that helps both sides gauge the potential value of a working relationship.
Never Settle! Talent acquisition isn’t called “worker acquisition” because, in a business setting, it’s much more important to hire the right person than it is to put a body in the chair. In order to win with top talent, organizations must accept nothing less. Nobody should ever be hired just because a position needs to be filled, and no prospective employee who isn’t a strong fit in terms of culture or skill should ever be hired just to end the process.
Conclusion/Takeaways: Attracting and hiring great talent is more complex than ever, but with a clear approach in mind, the use of the right marketing tools, and a strong understanding of itself, an organization of any size can build a brand, culture, and hiring process that ensure they wind up with the best talent possible.
Remember: • Branding is essential to attracting the best talent o To create a successful brand, organizations must articulate, achieve, and maintain a strong, positive workplace culture -That culture should reflect what’s unique, exciting, and humanistic about the work at hand o Web presence (particularly on LinkedIn and Glassdoor) is essential to establishing that brand awareness in the talent market • Recruiting and hiring should be guided by an over-arching plan and approach but also remain flexible so businesses never miss out on great talent in an unexpected moment or find themselves talent deficient after a sudden exit
These are just a few of the ideas explored in Launchways’ webinar “How to Win the War for Talent: Actionable Strategies to Attract and Retain Top Talent at Your Business.” To gain more incredible insight from our roundtable of talent acquisition experts, watch the free recording of the webinar now!
Choosing a new health insurance broker to manage your employee benefits can be an overwhelming task. Health insurance and employee benefits are a large part of your payroll expenses, so picking your broker is a high-stakes affair. The quality of your new insurance broker can make the difference between having an engaged team of high-quality talent that fuels your growth or watching your best team members leave for employers who provide benefits which meet their needs.
In this article, we’ll take a comprehensive look at the process of choosing a new health insurance broker, including:
• Why your health insurance broker matters
• How to start the process to find a new health insurance broker
• What to look for in a new employee benefits broker
• How to tell if an insurance broker can really deliver value to your business
Why Your Health Insurance Broker Matters
Why is it so important to be strategic when it comes time to choose a new health insurance broker? Employee benefits, particularly healthcare, are enormously powerful tools in your arsenal to attract, retain, and engage the talent that you need to grow and sustain your business. Companies of all sizes are struggling to build and maintain effective teams as the job market encourages employees to switch jobs more frequently and Millennials make up a greater share of the workforce. And the challenge is greater for small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs), who are at a disadvantage compared to their larger counterparts with deeper pockets.
It used to be that a good salary and solid benefits were enough to win an employee’s loyalty for years or even decades. That started changing in 2008 as the job market became less stable and accelerated as the economy recovered and more Millennials entered the workforce. Not only has it become a job seeker market, but what employees are seeking from their jobs has changed. Work and salary are no longer ends in themselves but need to be means to something greater for employees to stick around. Many, particularly younger employees want personal development and meaningful work. As a result, people are staying in their jobs for 2-3 year stints before moving onto the next position that offers them an opportunity for growth and fulfillment. They want workplaces where they feel supported and cared for, otherwise they will leave for somewhere that provides that for them.
And employee benefits are a vital part of any strategy to meet those needs to attract and retain talent. An Aflac survey found that most employees would change jobs for a lower salary but better employment benefits. Unsurprisingly, the same survey found that 80% of respondents believed that their employee benefits plan influences their engagement in their jobs. Competitive benefits are a necessary component for an effective strategy to build and engage your team so that you can grow your company. But how can small businesses who lack their competitors’ resources offer benefits that will make potential hires choose to work for them or stop current employees from jumping ship?
The answer is to develop a careful employee benefits strategy which minimizes costs while maximizing the impact on employees. And to craft and implement an effective strategy, small businesses need a dedicated benefits broker who understands their unique needs and is willing to be deeply involved in their business. Growing companies cannot afford to pay employee benefits broker commissions to major brokers in exchange for out-of-the-box solutions. They need customized solutions and a small-business approach.
So how do you find the insurance broker who will meet your unique needs? Well, let us outline the basic steps to finding a new health insurance broker and what to look for when choosing your new employee benefits partner.
How to Start the Process to Find a New Health Insurance Broker
What an Insurance Broker Is and What They Do
It’s time for a quick definition, in case this is the first time you are shopping around for a new benefits broker. What exactly is the difference between a health insurance broker and an insurance agent? Well, an insurance agent is employed by a specific insurance provider and is the point of contact between the insurance carrier and the plan purchaser. They might be able to offer discounts and assemble a specific group health insurance plan for employers, but they won’t be able to shop around between different providers to deliver the best results.
An insurance broker, on the other hand, is the representative of the employer rather than of the insurance carrier. They are empowered by the employer to negotiate on their behalf with any and all insurance providers. This means that they can get the best rates in the market rather than from a given carrier and can put together a specialized employee benefits package from multiple providers that meets both the employer’s and the employees’ needs. They can also serve as a benefits consultant to help their clients develop effective benefits strategies.
How to Tell if It’s Time to Find a New Insurance Broker
The first step in your journey to find a new employee benefits broker or insurance broker is to decide whether or not you need a new broker. We’ve covered this topic extensively in a previous article but here are some clear warning signs that it’s probably time to start your employee benefits broker search:
• Renewing the same employee benefits package year over year with little consideration for a long-term benefits strategy
• Receiving less guidance or a lower standard of customer service from your insurance broker
• Going several years without reexamining the benefits broker relationship
• Finding it difficult to determine ROI that justifies investment in your current health insurance broker
How to Start the Search for an Insurance Broker
Once you’ve decided to find a new employee benefits broker, you should define your goals for your benefits plan. This will help you find a partner who will work with you to meet those goals. Do you want to reduce costs for your existing healthcare benefits so that you can expand other benefits your employees value like dental or vision insurance? Or do you want to completely restructure your entire employee benefits plan?
Based on these goals, set the criteria to define promising health insurance brokers based on these goals and your knowledge of the market. What does your ideal employee benefits broker look like? What do you not want in your next insurance broker? These criteria will also tell you what questions to ask a new benefits broker.
If you want to be extremely thorough, you can input the criteria you identify into a benefits broker Request For Proposal. Think of the benefits broker RFP as a formalized job description for your next benefits broker. Your benefits broker RFP should include a statement of your benefits and health insurance needs but leave room for brokers to “wow” you with additional services. You can then share your broker RFP with brokers who seem promising during your research so that their representatives can tailor their proposals to your unique needs.
What is more important than the procedure for starting your search is knowing what to look for in a broker. You want to set the right goals for your business, identify accurate needs, and put together criteria which will be genuinely useful in choosing a new health insurance broker.
What to Look for In a New Health Insurance Broker
Size and Customer Service Approach
Generally speaking, you want to work with a boutique broker that specializes in SMBs. This is relevant because large brokers will often prioritize their big accounts over your business. Smaller insurance brokers will treat you as a priority no matter how big your business is because every account is an important account for them. An SMB health insurance broker will be much more willing to offer more customized solutions which are tailored to your specific needs. And they won’t have had a chance to develop the bureaucracy which makes working with the largest benefits brokers so frustrating
In addition to overall size, another thing to look for is the benefits broker’s approach to customer service. You should work with an insurance broker who will provide you with a dedicated account manager, access to key players in their organization, and continued support after setting up the initial insurance plan.
Minimizing Expenses While Maximizing Value for Employees
Your new health insurance broker should do everything in their power to minimize your expenses while maximizing value for your employees. Far too many insurance brokers focus on the former and neglect the latter, but both are vital for a successful benefits strategy.
The best employee benefits brokers are proactive in their approach to insurance challenges. First, they identify demonstrated employee needs by conducting health-risk assessments (or HRAs) and other employee surveys to find out what benefits your employees really need. Then they create an employee insurance package which meets those needs while cutting costs from lower priority benefits. These steps are absolutely necessary to effectively minimize costs and maximize impact.
What should the resulting insurance package look like? An effective health insurance broker will put together a flexible and creative company benefits plan. Often, the package will include a tiered insurance structure which allows low-risk employees to choose cheaper plans and other employees to take on more expensive plans in exchange for more comprehensive coverage.
The foundation of the tiered approach for small businesses will be high-deductible health plans (HDHP) paired with health savings accounts. These plans allow employees to take on more responsibility for and control over their healthcare expenses. They provide a much higher standard of care than the ‘catastrophe insurance’ which is becoming popular but at a low cost to both employer and employee. And thanks to a brand new IRS rule, HDHPs can now offer more preventive care at low-deductibles to reduce your business’ healthcare expenses in the long-term.
Ask potential insurance brokers what they can do for your business. If they answer in terms of both what they will do to help your bottom line and what their plans will do to help your employees stay happy and healthy, odds are that they will be a great partner for your growing business. If not, they’re almost certainly not the right choice for you.
Creative Employee Benefits: Wellness Benefits and More
A great health insurance broker won’t stop at the conventional. They will be at the forefront of the benefits conversation, offering uncommon benefits which will help you stand out in the competitive employer marketplace. And one of the biggest areas which your new employee benefits broker should cover is wellness benefits. These benefits include smoking-cessation and weight-loss programs, gym memberships and nutritional programs, and other ‘lifestyle’ benefits.
Your insurance broker should not just want to put out fires after they’ve started, but rather should head off expenses at the pass. Wellness benefits can prevent healthcare expenses from lifestyle-related illnesses, which represent a full 70% of all healthcare costs. That’s one reason why wellness benefits have an average ROI of 3:1. Plus, they do a great job of making employees feel valued, taken care of, and engaged in their work at the same time as they are saving your money.
Employee Benefits Technology
Another important factor to consider when choosing an employee benefits broker is what employee benefits technology they offer. Generally, brokers will offer two different kinds of technology: benefits enrollment technology and telemedicine.
Benefits enrollment technology is software which can be used to facilitate the benefits experience for your HR team and your employees. The best employee benefits brokers will offer top-of-the-line enrollment software to streamline open enrollment and record the necessary compliance information. They may also offer a company benefits portal which allows employees to review and manage their benefits, request time off, and learn about their healthcare options.
On another note, telemedicine is transforming the way that employees access healthcare. Allowing employees to consult doctors digitally keeps them healthier, reduces costs for everyone involved, and reduces absenteeism. Other software solutions can offer pharmacy discounts, notify employees of nearby providers, and otherwise streamline the healthcare experience for your employees.
How to Tell that a Boutique Health Insurance Broker Can Deliver the Goods
Proven Track Record of Success
Actions and results speak much louder than words and results are the best way to measure the worthiness of a potential health insurance broker. A benefits broker worth their salt will be able to provide you with evidence of past success with clients who are like you. You should look at their website to see if they have published any client case studies. If they do, that’s a great sign in-and-of-itself because it shows that their clients are happy with their results. But you should also take the time to read through the case studies to see if the insurance broker provided their client with the kind of services that you are looking for at your business.
The greatest test of a broker, though, is whether they will let you talk to any current clients to get a truly unfiltered perspective on what working with them will look like. Giving access to their clients is a real sign of trustworthiness and a testament to the kind of relationship that a broker has with their clients. As an employer, you ask for a list of references from any potential hires. You created a job listing with your benefits broker RFP, why shouldn’t you ask for references as well?
Key Takeaways for Finding an Insurance Broker
The decision of how to choose a new health insurance broker is a pretty big deal. The right broker can help you cut costs, provide more value for your employees, and win the war for talent by attracting, retaining, and engaging the talent your business needs to succeed. This can sometimes seem like an overwhelming task. Hopefully, this article has given you a good idea to start. Just remember: • Decide what you want to accomplish with your health insurance plan and employee benefits package so that you know what to look for in an insurance broker • Put together a benefits broker RFP to help define what you’re looking for and solicit proposals • Boutique brokers will make growing businesses a top-priority and provide more customized, hands-on service • Questions to ask a new benefits broker include whether they provide wellness benefits, tiered benefits, and benefits technology • Pick a broker who takes an approach that both minimizes expenses and maximizes impact for employees; focusing on just one isn’t enough • Brokers with a proven track record of success and provide case studies or even direct access to clients are a much safer bet than unknowns
Are you interested in working with a more proactive broker who helps you maximize the human potential of your business? Learn more about Launchways today.
