9 ways your benefits administration partner should be supporting you

With 42% of HR teams struggling to keep up with the numerous challenges of their job, actions should be taken to avoid HR burnout. Outsourcing your benefits with an administrator you can trust is a smart way to lighten HR workloads and set yourself up for success. If your current ben admin partner is failing to meet expectations, now is the time to consider switching ben admin providers. Learn more about the nine characters your benefits administration partner should have to support you.

And don’t forget to check out our Benefits Buzz podcast episode on the perks of outsourcing benefits administration:

Deep industry knowledge

Your ben admin provider should be experienced and deeply knowledgeable. If you have a problem, they should be able to face it head-on and use their industry experience to help you solve it. If your current provider lacks the benefits knowledge to help you thrive, HR will only be faced with more work and more problems.  This is especially important as you are implementing a new ben admin provider.  Your ben admin partner should use the implementation process as an opportunity to solve current ben admin challenges you’re facing and ensure they’re building a firm foundation for your benefits administration.

Interest in your success

Do you feel like your provider has a vested interest in your success? Your provider should act like an extension of your company’s HR team, looking around corners for you and always ready to tackle compliance updates, adjust for changing regulations, or stop errors before they occur. It’s vital that each member of your ben admin team is equally dedicated to your success.

A team that sticks with you

If the members of your ben admin team are constantly changing and you’re facing a revolving door of new points of contact, the inconsistency is going to have a negative impact on you reaching your ben admin goals. Having a ben admin team that sticks with you through every step of implementation and beyond means you’ll never have to wonder who to call for help. 

Successful annual enrollment

Is annual enrollment an annual nightmare with your current vendor? If you can’t depend on your ben admin provider during open enrollment, this time of year is always going to be incredibly stressful for HR and participants. When you work with a team that sets you up for enrollment success right from the start of implementation, you’ll never have to hold your breath on your open enrollment date again. 

A configurable system

If your current provider doesn’t have a configurable system, HR is probably still completing manual processes, taking time and resources away from more important strategic work. Working with a ben admin vendor that has a configurable enrollment system means complex processes are automated, creating an error-free flow of information in and out of the platform. That means your ben admin team sweats the details while you can spend your time where it counts, creating great benefits programs that employees want.

Handles complex changes quickly

Complex changes are inevitable with benefits administration, especially in an environment when many companies are in an acquisition mode. It’s important to work with a ben admin system that can handle challenging changes quickly and efficiently, with your best interests in mind. If your current vendor takes months and months to make even the simplest of changes, you’ll never be able to reach all of your benefits goals.

Save money for what’s important

No one likes to be surprised by upcharges. To avoid these unpleasant surprises, work with a vendor that offers a configurable platform that handles most common updates directly in production. And, if change orders are necessary, they should have a transparent process that lets you know exactly what you’re paying for before you get the bill.

Personalized benefits guidance

If your employees make poor benefits decisions, it could lead to significant financial costs for your company. A ben admin provider that prioritizes benefits education should offer personalized benefits guidance, from medical plan selection and HSA contribution to voluntary benefits and others. Benefits personalization helps employees arrive at wise, confident choices and reduces the financial impact to your company.

In fact, when WEX conducted a recent benefits engagement survey with our employer and consultant advisory boards, 53% of respondents said personalized benefits education is one of the most successful measures in shifting employee mindsets from confusion and uncertainty about their benefits to feeling empowered by their benefits decisions.

Reliable customer service

Employee benefits communication is crucial, especially during open enrollment. If your current vendor struggles to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time, you’re looking at a communications disaster. A supportive ben admin provider does everything they can to make sure that you never have an employee calling from an urgent care asking if they’re covered. Not only will they understand their coverage, they’ll have all the information they need to make decisions right at their fingertips.

Ben admin support with WEX

If you’ve come to the conclusion that your current ben admin provider isn’t supporting you the way they should and is only creating a heavier workload for HR, it’s time to find a new benefits administration partner that you can trust right from the start of implementation. If you choose WEX for your benefits needs, our experts make ben admin outsourcing as simple, intuitive and personal as it should be. 

We provide all of our clients with: 

• Transparent partnership
• A flexible, responsive account team
• An advanced, user-friendly system
• Dedicated customer service
• Strategic guidance on best practices
• Cost-saving administrative efficiencies

Benefits are complex, but administration doesn’t have to be when you work with WEX.

Editor’s note: This post was first published in April 2023. It was most recently updated in April 2024.

The information in this blog post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or tax advice. For legal or tax advice, you should consult your own legal counsel, tax and investment advisers. 

WEX receives compensation from some of the merchants identified in its blog posts. By linking to these products, WEX is not endorsing these products.