Benchmarking and Plan Design Consulting
Benchmarking is the utmost strategic tool to regain your competitive edge.
Benchmarking is the process of studying industry or competitive practices, functions and products and finding ways to meet them or improve upon them. Companies from all different industries and provinces use benchmarking to gauge their successes, pinpoint their shortcomings and identify new trends. The general process of benchmarking involves identifying problem areas and product prevalence, selecting top competitors who excel where a company falls short and making the necessary adjustments.
4 Advantages of Benchmarking and reviewing regularly your group benefits program:
One objective of industry benchmarking is evaluating operational efficiency to make sure plans run smoothly and costs remain affordable. For instance, implementing cost containment measures ensures your plan remains competitive from a cost perspective and ensures long-term stability.
Companies and associations can use industry benchmarking to make improvements in various areas of their businesses. For example, if competitor companies offer more flexibility in their plan design choices, different solutions can be recommended to align the employee benefits offering with market practices.
Organizations use benchmarking to gain the upper hand on top competitors. For instance, virtual care or telemedicine services made their appearance in Canada around the year 2016. Many pioneering companies implemented such services in order to gain a competitive edge.
Organizations need to make sure their current program is compliant with legislative and regulatory requirements. For example, the waiting period for the Employment Insurance (EI) program was reduced from two weeks to one week in 2017, most employers needed to modify their disability coverage to align payments with the new government program and continue to qualify for EI premium reduction.
This strategic tool can be used on a national, provincial or industry basis to compare the performance of your group benefits plan with the group benefits plan of other companies inside and outside of your industry.
BFL CANADA’s strategic benchmarking report will help you compare your benefits plan against those of other companies and provide you with expert advice that is both cost effective and of high value to your employees. This will enable you to identify if your current benefits plan meets the needs of your business goals or if certain aspects need to be revisited and updated in regards to your employees’ coverage.
With our experienced benefits consultants and in-house actuarial services team, we can evaluate your organization’s group benefits plan design versus the competition and ensure you attract and retain the best talent and gain a competitive edge, while managing your benefits costs.
