WHAT IS THE BENEFITS EDGE?

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The Benefits Edge provides tangible insight, in-depth analysis and practical advice focused on real bottom-line business results. It is not a just a benefits book. It is a business book about benefits. The principles and ideas contained within are designed to help you find the right direction toward making a more strategic investment in employee benefits — one that drives business success
regardless of the prevailing economy.

You'll learn how to:

• Identify your company's profile on the benefits landscape
• Assess the competitiveness of your benefits program
• Reorient the benefits discussion for senior management
• Craft actionable solutions for challenging economic times

THE STRATEGIC BENEFITS FRAMEWORK

A uniquely differentiating benefits environment begins with an innovative framework that takes the fundamental benefits categories and transforms them from:

• Medical coverage to Health & Well-being
• Retirement accounts to Financial Security
• Time-off policies and voluntary benefits to Life Balance
• Benefits administration to an all-encompassing element of Employee Experience

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Every company can create a system of benefits that fits both its budget and its culture. Based on resources, priorities and current programs, the four benefits strategies can be adjusted to different levels of implementation to serve a company's specific situation most effectively.

EMPLOYER PROFILES: ORIENTATION ON THE BENEFITS LANDSCAPE

Each of the four employer benefits profiles reflects the attitudes and solutions that characterize the current approach a company is taking to benefits planning compared to their competition. Like the risk profile of an investor, the benefits profile anchors investment choices in the realities of today serving as a barometer to guide which benefit choices make the most sense given business realities.

Roll over the graphic below to learn more about each employer profile.

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Traditional — Preserving Commitments: Traditionals typically fund core benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans as fully as possible and consider it part of their obligation to employees, maintaining current levels of employee cost-sharing to the extent possible. Standard — Providing the Basics: Standards typically provide access to basic benefits, and are more likely than any other employer profile to offer benefits to active employees only, rather than extending benefits to spouses, dependents, or domestic partners. Flexible — Finding the Balance Between Choice and Cost: Flexibles often operate within moderately constrained budget limits, requiring them to make careful and deliberate benefits investment decisions. For the most part, they are cognizant of their competition and make benefits choices by considering the tradeoff between offering choices and shifting costs. Progressive — Innovating for Competitive Advantage: Progressives view the richness and the diversity of their benefits platform as providing a competitive advantage. They are driven to find or create innovative approaches to benefits that go beyond the basic health and welfare offerings by focusing on the diverse needs of their workforce.

Locating your company's place on the landscape can help you define your current approach to benefits, so that any strategy you adopt can be grounded by insights from your profile that realistically reflects where you are today.