BENEFITS HQ

 

Benefits HQ Technology Platform:

Benefits HQ is an online enrolment platform that automates plan administration for you and your employees.

One online platform handles enrolment for all providers – benefits, digital health + wellness products.

Put plan administration on autopilot with automated taxable benefits reporting, NEM automation, late enrolment reminders, employee leave management and post-employment conversion of benefits.

Switch insurers at renewal with no re-enrolment; giving us more power at renewal to negotiate best rates.

Employee self-serve portal and benefits dashboard.

As your Advisor we have a birds-eye-view of how your plan is being administered, access to census reports and insights that can help us understand how we may help you tailor your Employee Benefits Plan

You have the option to convert Benefits HQ into Collage HR and Payroll to get all-in-one functionality over all your HR and compensation functions and reporting.

Collage HR:

With the ever-increasing complexity of managing your Human Resources and maintaining Compliance with Federal and Provincial legislation, having a practical and easy to use tool is vital. 

Canada’s top employers use Collage HR to Manage HR, Payroll and Benefits in their business.  

Collage HR product features include:   

  • Digital Employee Records 
  • Onboarding and Offboarding 
  • Time off/Absence Management 
  • Digital Benefits Management 
  • Applicant Tracking System 
  • Performance Management 
  • Training 
  • HR Reporting 
  • Managed Payroll 

The savings in time, complexity, and effectiveness in managing the HR function is incalculable.  Integrated with our Payroll function and you will truly possess a powerful tool in unlocking productive time and effort in your business. 

Structuring Your Benefit Plan:

There are 2 fundamental ways to set up your Group Benefit Plan:

  1. An Insured Plan
  2. An Expense Reimbursement Plan

Incorporating the 2 Claims payment options there are 4 ways to manage benefits payment and administration:

    1. Fully Insured Plan: The Insurance Company handles everything, both Claims Risk and Administrative Management and you just pay the negotiated premium monthly.
    2. A Third-Party Administrator (TPA): A third party handles all the administrative tasks, and the Insurance Company absorbs the risk of claims. Again, you pay the negotiated premium monthly.
    3. Administrative Services Only (ASO): The Insurance Company handles all administrative responsibilities and you, the employer, pay the claims and except for catastrophic claims you absorb the risk.
    4. Claims reimbursement: You the employer establish a maximum dollar limit of risk and the insurance company offers a catastrophic claims coverage benefit as well as an administrative service. This is commonly known as a Health Care Spending Account

Setting up your group benefit plan requires you to ask some fundamental questions.  1. How do we want to pay claims?  2. What level of claims risk exposure do you want?  3. What percentage of payroll would you like to allocate to benefits?  4. Will there be a shared cost with your employees?  5. Do you want a shared cost containment feature?  6. How do you want to competitively position your benefit plan?  7. Do you want to tier your benefit plan to accommodate giving different employee groups or levels of responsibility? i.e., management/staff.

These questions are not meant to be exhaustive. Rather they are to help you think about benefit design. A qualified benefits professional can assist you in establishing a Group benefit Plan which is a compliment to your business and appreciated by your valued employees.

Still Curious?

Now is the time to speak with a qualified professional. 

May we invite you to give us your contact information so that we may continue the conversation. 

Employee Benefits Coverage Options:

What are Employee Benefit Plans?

These are a non-cash compensation an employer provides employees in addition to their salary for the purpose of protecting the employee’s health and welfare. There are 5 main categories that can create a comprehensive employee plan: Medical, Dental, Life, Retirement and Disability Income Protection. 

What are Medical Benefits?

Medical benefits are insurance for the cost of medical treatments. These plans can be customized to suit an employers cost based on the types of treatments they choose to offer coverage for. For example: an employer may choose to offer coverage for extended health services such as massage therapy, physiotherapy, or acupuncture. Additional options may include prescription drug coverage, vision, hospital stays and out of country medical expense coverage. Employers can offer this as single cover (employee only), or extend the plan for dependants (spouse, children). Typically, employers cover all family members. 

 

What are Dental Benefits?

 Virtually the same as Medical Benefits, Dental Benefits establish a reimbursement account for each employee and their family members to pay for dental expense completely or partially. You can set the maximum reimbursement levels and establish the extent of what procedures are covered. For Dental Benefits procedures are grouped into categories. They are Basic and Preventative; Major; and Orthodonture.  

What is Life Insurance?

This is a policy to insure the life of the employee whose death would cause economic loss to their beneficiary(s). Traditionally offered to employees as a multiple of their salary, however an employer can also choose a flat amount. This is a group term insurance policy allowing for lower rates compared to purchasing the same coverage as an individual. Dependant Life coverage for Children and a Spouse is also included. Dependent Coverage is typically for a fixed flat amount. 

 

What is Disability Insurance?

This is a policy that guarantees an income if an employee cannot work due to illness or accident. There are two main portions of this policy, Short-Term Disability (STD) and Long-Term Disability (LTD), as well as Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D). 

Short-Term Disability (STD):

 is a disability insurance policy that provides an employee income who has suffered illness or injury preventing them working. There is usually a waiting period of 0-14 days before an employee is placed on STD. That timeframe would have been pre-set by the employer when choosing a plan. Payment structure is another option predetermined by the employer. A common example might be the scaling formula which could look similar to the following: 14 day wait period; Employee is paid their salary at 100% for the next 6 weeks; Employee is paid 75% of their salary for the next 6 weeks; Employee is paid 55% of their salary for the remainder of their time on STD to a maximum of 1 year (this could be 2 years depending on how the plan is structured and when an employee is officially considered to move to the LTD portion of the plan, if necessary) 

Long-Term Disability (LTD):

is insurance coverage that is extended beyond the STD period because of prolonged or permanent illness or injury sustained by the employee. LTD policies can be set up with an end period, or, be set up to last until retirement. This is predetermined by the employer when setting up their plan. Payment for LTD varies between 60-80% of an employee’s salary and is paid monthly. LTD coverage will have a monthly maximum benefit amount. Simply the LTD Benefit is designed to give a Disabled Employee most of their after-tax take home pay.

Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D):

 an insurance policy that pays the death benefit upon the accidental death of the insured, or a set amount if the insured sustains a catastrophic injury resulting in the loss or use of; a limb, vision, hearing or speech. This policy is also purposed to supplement the life insurance as there are limitations with certain types of accidents. 

Optional Life and Critical Illness:

Optional Life and Optional Critical Illness Coverage can be made available at the employees’ cost, but at a reduced rate relative to individual coverage. For Critical Illness Insurance the policy protects the person from loss or costs associated with the diagnosis or occurrence of a covered health condition. Covered condition can include Cancer, Heart Attack, Kidney Failure, Stroke etc. The list is extensive. Optional Life is simply an individual term life policy purchased through the facility offered through your company. For both Optional Life and Critical Illness there will be a maximum amount of coverage available through a company optional plan. 

Why have an Employee Benefits Plan?

Either due to competitive pressure from your competition or because you care about the welfare of your employees and their families, Group Benefit Plans are an excellent way to provide cost effective coverage. Properly, designed and structured, they can be a much-appreciated addition to your compensation program. 

” “I have had my investments with Kevin for over 30 years. Over this time, and my time of need, Kevin has continued to go “above and beyond” to help provide me with the best financial advice and expertise.” 

- Judith A.L (Investment and Insurance Client)

THE BENEFITS OF BENEFITS 

1.   Protect Your People — Benefits provide coverage for people who may unexpectedly face an emergency or critical illness.

2.   Promote Their Health — Benefits promote or encourage an employee to maintain a state of health, wealth, and happiness.

3.   Attract and Retain Talent — A group benefits plan protects employees and their families and is a direct way of showing you are an employer of choice — to the team you currently have, and to anyone considering working for you.

4.   Strengthen Your Business — Access to benefits means employees lose less time to extended illnesses or health concerns, increasing efficiency, and driving a stronger business.

References

 

  1. 4 in 5 Employees Want Benefits or Perks More Than a Pay Raise; Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey (Q3 2015) | https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/ecs-q3-2015/  
  1. Employees will sacrifice a pay raise for better benefits | https://www.benefitnews.com/news/employees-will-sacrifice-a-pay-raise-for-better-benefits  
  1. Sanofi Canada Health Care Survey 2019 | https://www.sanofi.ca/-/media/Project/One-Sanofi-Web/Websites/North-America/Sanofi-CA/Home/en/About-us/The-Sanofi- Canada-Healthcare-Survey/sanofi-canada-healthcare-survey-2019-full-report.pdf?la=en&hash=9594CBE629770C135166181545B8B71D 

 

“Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans”

– John Lennon

If an Employee Benefit Plan is of interest to you, now is the time to talk with a qualified professional.

May we invite you to give us your contact information so that we may continue the conversation.

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