Issues

Sibson Consulting can help employers with a variety of problems and challenges that arise in the course of managing benefit plans. Below are some suggestions for actions you may want to consider when facing some of these issues.

Issue: New legislation regarding pay equity increases your risk of pay discrimination claims

Have you considered...

• Examining your compensation process to make sure you have a clearly defined compensation structure with equitable pay levels.
• Evaluating your performance management process to ensure that you have proper feedback and data collection mechanisms, performance calibration, and clearly documented criteria on the relationship between pay and performance.
• Assessing your HR policies to ensure that compensation and performance management policies are documented, clear and easily accessible by employees.
• Conducting an analysis to identify areas where there are differences in pay across demographic groups.

Learn more:

• Pay Equity

Issue: Health care costs are going up, making it more expensive to provide health coverage for your employees

Have you considered...

• Reevaluating your plan design
• Negotiating discounts from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and other vendors
• Negotiating with your insurance carrier regarding your plan rates and contractual arrangements
• Implementing a consumer-driven health plan, which encourages employees to make smart choices about how they use their benefits
• Identifying which conditions and employee groups are responsible for the bulk of your claims, and using a disease management system to improve this group's health and reduce claims

Learn more:

• Vendor Competitive Bidding and Renewal Negotiations
  
• Prescription Drug Benefits
• Consumer Driven Health Plans
• Data Mining
• Total Health Management: The Future of Health Care Cost Management? - July 2006 Perspectives

Issue: You're having trouble supporting health benefits for retirees

Have you considered...

• Developing plan designs that include multiple options for medical coverage with different premium rates for retirees
• Implementing a retiree health VEBA, which is a trust that is established to provide tax-free retiree health benefits to current and/or future retirees
• Reviewing and revising eligibility rules
• Developing new ways to coordinate coverage with Medicare, including a supplemental approach
• Encouraging retirees to become better health care consumers

Learn more:

• Retiree Health and VEBAs
  
• Data Mining and Benchmarking
  
• Options for Managing the Cost and Risk Associated with Retiree Health Coverage, Including Remarks on the Current Interest in VEBAs - December 2007 Spotlight

Issue: Administrative costs are eating up a large chunk of your budget

Have you considered...

• Searching for a third-party administrator or reevaluating the one you currently have
• Holding seminars, distributing materials, or creating a Web site to educate employees about their benefits and reduce individual information requests

Learn more:

• HR Technology and Automation
• Employee Communications
• "Threading Your Way Through the Ins and Outs of Outsourcing to Build an Effective HR Solution" - January 2008 Perspectives

Issue: You're getting low returns on your investments

Have you considered...

• Reexamining your investment strategy
• Searching for a new investment manager
• Launching an investment education campaign for employees if you have employee-directed investment accounts

Learn more:

• Developing Asset Allocation and Investment Strategies*
• Selecting Investment Managers*
• Employee Communications

*These services are provided by Segal Advisors, The Segal Company's SEC-registered investment consulting affiliate.

Issue: You're not sure how new legislation and regulations affect your benefit plans

Have you considered...

• Conducting a compliance review to make sure you are in compliance with the law
• Consulting Sibson's compliance publications: Capital Checkup and Compliance Alert
• Subscribing to Sibson's publications to learn about the impact of new legislation and regulations on employers

Learn more:

• CrossCheck^SM
• Sibson Publications
• Register for Sibson Publications

Issue: You're having trouble retaining good employees

Have you considered...

• Reexamining your employee value proposition to ensure that you are offering an attractive total rewards package
• Benchmarking your compensation against your industry
• Designing new compensation models that fit the needs and desires of your employees
• Communicating the value of your total rewards package to employees
• Developing career models to promote career development within your organization

Learn more:

• Employee Value Proposition
• Retention Management
• Broad-Based Compensation and Rewards
  
• Employee Communications
• Organization and Talent

Issue: Your organization isn't working at top efficiency

Have you considered...

• Identifying gaps or surpluses in your workforce and deciding which areas are of highest priority
• Identifying barriers to full employee engagement
• Reexamining the way your organization is structured

Learn more:

• Strategic Workforce Planning
• Healthy Enterprise Initiatives
  
• Organization Design and Assessment
  
• Human Resources Functional Effectiveness

Issue: Your organization does not have the talent needed to execute your business strategy

Have you considered...

• Identifying gaps or surpluses in your workforce and deciding which areas are of highest priority

Learn more:

• Strategic Workforce Planning
• Talent Management, Standards, Development and Succession
• Strategy Execution