Benefits Influencer

In this episode, Dennis Carlson speaks with Adam Moise, Principal, Employee Health and Benefits at Marsh & McLennan Agency, about alternative funding strategies for employer healthcare. Tune in to find out about how: Alternative funding is a smart way for companies to reduce benefits costs while delivering a richer package to employees Many employers are missing opportunity to significantly reduce pharmacy costs, but can dramatically cut that expense by engaging with experts who understand the complexity of pharmacy contracts. Employers have an opportunity to utilize big data to identify the most cost-effective network with the least employee disruption.  

Dennis Carlson gets tactical and actionable insight from Jennifer Benz, SVP Communications Leader at Segal Benz, about how to successfully communicate employee benefits. Jen is a leader in the Employee Benefits Communication space.  As the founder of Benz Communications, which merged with The Segal Group in 2019 to create Segal Benz, Jen led one of the largest women-owned firms in the San Francisco Bay Area. This ideas shared in this episode are applicable to any Benefits Advisor, employer, or HR/Benefits professional that is looking for a framework to better engage their employees and improve the overall health of the population they manage. Jen will be presenting her employee engagement and communication strategies at the HR Executive Health Benefits & Leadership Conference April 24-26, 2019 in Las Vegas.  

Dennis Carlson speaks with Eric Silverman, founder of Voluntary Disruption.   Eric shares why employee benefits brokers should begin using 'enhanced benefits' instead of 'voluntary benefits'.  This isn't simply a change in vocabulary, but rather a change in mindset. We also discuss how brokers can expand their services and offering by partnering with a carrier and platform agnostic firm. Eric shares some great strategies for getting employer buy-in when it comes to enhanced benefits. Books you should read: Breaking the Status Quo featuring Eric Silverman Giftology by John Ruhlin The Go-Giver by Bob Burg Get in touch with Eric: Voluntary Disruption Eric Silverman on LinkedIn This season is sponsored by PlanSource. For a free Benefits Trends white paper visit: https://plansource.com/pod

Everyone in employee benefits and HR knows that data matters.  On this episode, we talk with insurtech leader and President of Selerix, Lyle Griffin. Lyle shares why the move from legacy EDI feeds to plug-and-play API technology is the future of insurance benefits enrollment and eligibility data. This move helps employers and brokers go from a weekly "fire and forget" model of data exchange to a real-time data synchronization model.  Reducing errors and saving time.  Lyle also unveils a new data standard known as WBEDX that he has been working on with LIMRA that will be rolled out in early 2020 to the entire industry. To keep up with the WBEDX LIMRA standards progress visit: limra.com For more info on Selerix and to connect with Lyle Griffin visit: https://www.selerix.com/ Lyle Griffin - LinkedIn  

What does the employee benefits agency of the future look like? Mike Sullivan, as Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of One Digital -the largest company focused exclusively on benefits and HR - considers this question. He shares what One Digital looks for when acquiring agencies as well as how to separate fact from fiction in terms of what success looks like. We also discuss strategic partnerships and what they can mean for any size agency.

In this episode, Jenn Walsh, Founder at GenuineShift tells employee benefits brokers, benefits advisors, practice leaders, and agency owners how to get 'unstuck'. With her background as not only a producing broker herself but also a benefits practice leader for a large insurance brokerage, Jenn brings firsthand experience in what it takes to run a successful and revenue-driven employee benefits division. Jenn shares what to measure and assess and which metrics to use to gauge success. She also provides invaluable insight as a consultant who helps organizations choose their next benefits broker. Find Jenn on LinkedIn here. For more information on GenuineShift click here. For the Broker Selection Case Study Jenn refers to, click here.

Cerrina Jensen is an AVP in the Employee Benefits division at CoreMark Insurance Services in Sacramento, California. In this episode, Cerrina shares how understanding that there is a human on the other side of that benefits enrollment form can make all the difference in how you approach your role as a benefits advisor and broker. To get in touch with Cerrina or to learn more about CoreMark visit: LinkedIn - Cerrina Jensen CoreMark Insurance Services  

Melissa Burkhart, President of Futuro Solido USA, shares best practices for benefits communication, education and enrollment for Spanish-speaking populations at US companies. She shares why professional translation is a must and will save you time and money, how to get Spanish-speaking advocates in employer groups to assist, and the best way to assure that benefits education materials work for everyone. For more info connect with Melissa on LinkedIn or visit the Futuro Solido USA website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-burkhart-52b6949/ http://www.futurosolidousa.com/  

So much of HR and Employee Benefits is about managing change for employees.  But for employee engagement platform Glint this is more relevant than ever given that they were recently acquired by LinkedIn. In this episode, Dennis chats with Alex Coonce, Glint's VP of People & Culture. Alex shares some practical advice on how to manage change (both big & small) in an organization. We talk about the importance of understanding what's important to the people impacted by the change, how to get champions involved early, when and how to communicate change, and how to define goals that lead to success. And we talk about how to do it all while remaining human . . . even with a distributed workforce. For more on Glint go to https://www.glintinc.com/ To connect with Alex Coonce go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcoonce/

Ryan Miller is a speaker, coach, consultant, and former successful employee benefits broker. He shares his insights into how he leverages his knowledge and experience to help agencies develop both their overall marketing strategy and coach their sales leaders to create a framework to develop future sales rockstars. We talk about how having "great salespeople" isn't enough to grow an agency in this current environment.  Ryan shares some practical ideas on how to develop and enhance the "personal brand" of Employee Benefits leaders - starting with being who you were created to be. We also discuss how important having a content strategy is if you want to elevate your profile as a benefits broker. The book Ryan recommends everyone check out: Grit - Angela Duckworth website: Ryan James Miller LinkedIn: Ryan Miller