Human resource leaders had to reexamine their employee benefits offerings amid the pandemic, with greater emphasis on improving employee health and well-being instead of boosting productivity, a recent
It’s not that HR leaders don’t have the data to create benefits programs that help them stay ahead of the curve. In fact, they have a treasure trove of data, from healthcare claims data to employee risk scores, health assessments, absenteeism, point solution performance and more. The problem is that they struggle to find insights within the data that lead to clear action. More than half of benefits leaders surveyed also don’t trust the accuracy of the data they receive from health plans or vendors, while one in three struggle to connect the data they receive from various sources.
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“It is challenging to piece together a story from the bits of information our vendors give us,” says Hassan Azar, a national benefits leader and consultant. When data isn’t consistent, thorough, and easy to access and analyze, “We run the risk of missing a key insight,” he says. “Benefits leaders aren’t willing to act on a hunch — they need access to best-in-class analytical support to make data-driven decisions.”
With one-in-four HR leaders saying benefits data is extremely important in developing an effective benefits program — up from 13% a year ago, according to the benefits leaders survey — how can organizations strengthen their ability to actually make data-informed decisions? Here are three key insights.
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Ramp up investments in data analytics. Two-in-three benefits leaders plan to increase investments in healthcare data analytics in 2021, survey results show., However, many self-insured employers are relying on internal capabilities for data analysis. For instance, while most benefits leaders say advisors are crucial partners for decision making, 72% say they only tap advisor expertise during open enrollment or to evaluate new benefits programs. This could be a missed opportunity: Those who only draw on outside expertise during these key moments also are more likely to believe they are “falling behind” their peers when it comes to innovative benefits design.
To build confidence in benefit offerings during the pandemic—when more employees than ever are
- Which employees are most in need of assistance?
- What types of programs, benefits and health-and-wellness partnerships could provide the most value?
- How can they accurately plan and budget for upcoming benefits spending?
By drawing on outside expertise, HR leaders also could gain a better sense of how their benefits programs stand up against the competition and the types of offerings that could better enable organizations to attract and retain top talent.
Develop at-a-glance tools for visualizing data insights. No HR leader wants to be in the uncomfortable position of being asked a question by the C-Suite that should take just two minutes to answer, but instead takes two weeks. This is unfortunately a common experience; for many, it takes far too much time to connect the dots and find answers. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that nearly half of employers cited the ability to see all data in one place as one of the top features they seek from a data analytics or warehouse solution.
The best tools enable teams to analyze information across their different vendor partners (e.g., medical claims, prescription claims), point solutions, employee feedback, disability, employee wellness surveys, and more in a consistent manner. Other key features desired in a dashboard solution include:
- Ease of use
- Data visualization tools
- The ability to share data and collaborate in developing insights
- Benchmarking capabilities
- Tools to support and inspire action
Employers and benefits advisors evaluating data solutions should look for a partnership that prioritizes these features and is purpose-built for benefits data.
The ability to turn disparate data into trusted insight. More than anything, benefits leaders say they seek high-quality information from the tools they use to improve employee health and well-being, satisfaction, engagement, and productivity. Most look to data warehouse solutions to help sort out inconsistencies in data coming from multiple sources so that the data they use for analysis is clean, robust and highly reliable.
A smaller proportion of respondents — just one in five — also cited the need for data enrichment. These leaders are likely to come from smaller organizations (fewer than 25,000 employees). Small organizations also are more likely to need solutions that help perform complex analyses, such as pinpointing where opportunities to reduce expenses or improve employee risk scores exist. Data enrichments can help organizations of all sizes move from insight to action by calculating overspending, finding gaps in care or coverage, and identifying new programs to meet employee needs.
Here’s a good example from our work with Josh Smith, Head of Products at Portico Benefits Services. His team provides benefits for rostered ministers, church workers, and other employees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In looking at trends in mental well-being, Portico found that members needed more support. They used Artemis to justify the need for two new programs and roll them out to members.
Moving from reactive to proactive benefits design
The challenges of providing the right benefits for the right employee populations likely will increase in a post-COVID-19 environment. As employers seek to offer benefits packages that are high-value and highly competitive, elevating the ability to make data-informed decisions will strengthen the health of an organization’s workforce and create better, more efficient programs for employees and their families.
