EBAs annual Workplace Benefits Summit, held last week in Boca Raton, Fla., included a celebration of our Advisers of the Year, strategy and marketing tips from benefit professionals, and the presentation of our inaugural Most Influential Women in Benefit Advising awards. In case you missed the event, heres our coverage:
Once a heavily male-oriented field, the benefits business has not only embraced female brokers, but women have become an integral aspect of the industry and are changing it for the better, according to a panel of some of EBAs inaugural group of Most Influential Women in Benefit Advising who were honored at EBAs Workplace Benefits Summit.
Every broker says they provide good service and most provide the same examples of what they provide, said George Reese, founder and CEO of Employee Navigator at EBAs Workplace Benefits Summit in Boca Raton, Fla. While insurance agents are great salespeople [they] sometimes lack strategy, he added.
A majority of employers focus on employee demographics to evaluate voluntary benefit offerings, but benefit advisers using data analytics and analysis to more specifically target their clients employee groups and individuals could find better success in creating an appropriate voluntary package.
The complexities of the Affordable Care Act continue to confound employers and their employees, which is why communication between your employer clients and their staff will be more important than ever during the upcoming open enrollment season and into 2015. Listening is more critical than ever, Teresa White, executive vice president and chief operations officer of Aflac Columbus, said during her keynote address at the conference.
A well-run benefits firm that stands apart from others will offer clients and prospects solutions for employee engagement, according to Brian Drummond, a broker at Walton Insurance Group in Jackson, Miss., told conference goers.
Consumers shop online for nearly everything nowadays health care coverage included. That means a different approach is needed for selling insurance, says Wendy Keneipp, partner and coach at Q4intelligence. The Web has completely changed the way that we buy, Keneipp said during a session at EBA's Workplace Benefits Summit.
The Affordable Care Act has presented employers plenty of new challenges to grapple with when it comes to offering health care coverage, and, many say, has expanded the critical role of benefit advisers who heed the call.
With the Affordable Care Acts employer shared responsibility reporting requirements for 2015 quickly approaching, benefit advisers should already be working with employer clients to implement benefit administration systems to ensure compliance with the law, industry experts say. And those advisers who havent had this conversation with their clients need to do so now, they caution.
