While it’s known that offering a stand-out employee benefits program is essential to attracting and retaining top talent, employers must not lose sight of the fact that simply providing benefits isn’t enough. Organizations must continually assess the effectiveness of their benefits plan to ensure it meets the needs of employees while aligning with organizational goals.
That’s where data analytics comes in. When measuring your benefits program, the collection and analysis of data plays a crucial role.
Types of Employee Benefits Data
With the vast amounts of data available, it can be difficult to determine what your organization should focus on. To narrow your scope, consider honing in on the following four key data types. Employee data, benchmarking data, utilization data and claims data are all essential pieces of the analytics puzzle that will come together to help you measure and optimize your benefits plan.
Employee Data
As you begin collecting and analyzing data, take an in-depth look at your employee population. Demographics data, such as the life stages your employees are in, can provide valuable insight into which benefits may be the best fit for your plan. Younger employees, for example, may value family-building and fertility benefits. Older employees, on the other hand, may find offerings like retirement or caregiving benefits more valuable. By understanding the demographics of your workforce, you can better understand which benefits will yield greater participation and why certain offerings may have lower utilization.
Benchmarking Data
Benchmarking data is one of the most effective ways to measure your employee benefits plan and determine how your offerings stack up against your competitors’. By comparing what you’re offering — and what you’re paying — against organizations of similar size across your industry, you can identify opportunities for cost savings, as well as ways in which your offerings can be enhanced to boost employee recruitment and retention efforts.
Download CBIZ’s Annual Benchmark Report today to gain access to a wide range of employee benefits benchmarking data.
Utilization Data
If you’re wondering if your employees are actually using the benefits available to them, dive into utilization data. Maybe your employees don’t find a particular offering useful, or they simply aren’t aware of how it could be of value to them. Whatever the case may be, utilization data can help you pinpoint which benefits are worth the investment and which ones you might want to forgo in the future.
Claims Data
Claims data offers key insights into whether your employee benefits are adequately meeting your employees’ needs. If you’re seeing a high rate of insurance claims for a particular procedure, treatment or medication, it may be worth determining whether your benefits plan could be adjusted or enhanced to reduce those claims going forward.
The Power of Automated Data Analytics
So, you’ve identified what information you want to analyze. Now, it’s time to collect and organize the data. Unfortunately, manually compiling and combing through all the insights needed to draw informed, accurate conclusions regarding your benefits plan can be a timely and tedious process.
To enhance efficiency and efficacy, more and more employers are leveraging an automated approach to data analytics. Working with the appropriate technology and digital tools can help reduce the risk of human error and speed up turnaround times, enabling your organization to make more data-driven decisions at a faster rate.
Ready to Start Leveraging Benefits Data Analytics? CBIZ Can Help.
Employee benefits data analytics empower organizations to make informed decisions about their benefits plan. By leveraging data, you can create a benefits program that is not only attractive to current and prospective employees but also contributes to the overall success and sustainability of your organization.
At CBIZ, our consultants can connect you with best-in-class employee benefits data analytics to help you stay ahead of the curve, optimize your health care spending and determine ROI. Simply click here to connect with a consultant to get started today.