How software firm Macadamian harnesses technology to improve the employee benefits experience
In many ways, paper is passé. Pretty much everything can be done online in transactions that often take just a few clicks. Yet, in the world of workplace benefits, there can be a notorious lag between the digital products on the market and their availability to users. Software and design company Macadamian is working to change that by offering its employees a more streamlined and paperless experience.
The Quebec-based company—which also has offices in Ontario, the U.S., Armenia and Romania—started using technology in its benefits administration two years ago, when it replaced one-sizefits- all benefits with flexible benefits for all of its Canadian employees.
Enrollment is the most important area where technology has led to better outcomes, says Virginie Bastien, director of HR at Macadamian. “Employees receive a specific budget, and they can shop for all of their benefits,” she explains. Macadamian’s flex offerings include various insurance plans (drug, dental, vision and disability benefits), a group RRSP, a healthcare spending account and non-traditional benefits, such as parking and public transportation passes. “Employees can select the benefits that are close to their lifestyle,” she adds.
Need for Speed
Before the move to flex benefits, Macadamian’s employees had to sign up for benefits by filling out paper forms. (The benefits enrollment period starts in November and lasts two weeks. New hires can sign up during their first month.) “Having employees in different geographic locations, it’s always a challenge when the time comes to register them for new benefits,” says Bastien. “[Technology has] reduced the mistakes, it’s sped up the process, and it’s allowed employees to have more choices.”
The use of technology has also given Macadamian access to useful data. “We have access to better reporting now,” Bastien explains, which allows the organization to see if there’s a high utilization rate for certain benefits or a low rate for others. “It’s helped us make better management decisions. We are spending dollars in the right places, [and] it also allows us to be a competitive employer,” she adds. “Now employees have more ownership and control of their benefits. They understand the value of what is offered to them, and we know they appreciate it.”
Administering these flex benefits without technology would be unthinkable because of the management efforts and the large workload involved, says Bastien. “The [notion] of flexible benefits is also driven by the idea that employees must have an opportunity to evaluate scenarios before they select their benefits—see how much something costs, see what the benefits plans are [and] discuss it with their partners,” adds Scott Hunter, senior vice-president of employee benefits with Jardine Lloyd Thompson Canada Inc. (JLT), Macadamian’s flex benefits provider. If employees did all that on paper, they would have to make many calculations, and there would be significant room for error. Bastien says this approach would go against the firm’s philosophy that a benefits program must adapt to the needs of employees, rather than employees adapting to it.
The Hard-to-crack Nut
Being software and design specialists, Macadamian’s employees have high expectations of the technology they use. But currently, they face limitations. They don’t have a single sign-on platform for their flex benefits and RRSPs because those are administered by different providers. Linking all of these platforms when employers use different providers is virtually impossible for now, says Hunter.
He believes the benefits industry’s main obstacle is privacy concerns, since employees submit information to insurers that is extremely personal and protected by strict security guidelines. “Single sign-on requires the security system of each of the [providers] to approve the flow-through [of personal information],” Hunter explains. “It’s really got a lot to do with a legislative concern about privacy.”
Another limitation is that employees can shop for their benefits on all platforms, but the system isn’t optimized for phones and tablets. “The platform that the benefits industry is offering is designed to be on a [computer],” says Bastien. “When [employees] try to do it on their phone, it’s not user-friendly, so we had to manage those expectations. We had to be honest and open.” Blame this on screen size. “One of the challenges is the real estate available to deliver the necessary information for a member to make an informed choice,” Hunter explains. “In the tablet environment, there’s very much a great push right now toward resolving the issue.”
To this end, Macadamian’s employees have actually designed and developed an upgraded version of their flex benefits platform, which will be rolled out during the next enrollment period this November, says Bastien. The new platform—which JLT will use for other customers, too—is more compatible with tablets and phones and is more userfriendly, with “easy steps to follow and easy access to information,” says Bastien. “Sometimes you go on a website and you have a hard time finding the information—that’s a bad design. With a good design, [things] will just flow.”
“Like” That?
Of course, communication is critical whenever employees must make benefits decisions. Macadamian spreads the word through emails, face-to-face presentations and frequently asked questions on the company web page. Also, soon after the benefits technology was introduced, JLT held meetings with employees and answered questions.
Macadamian also sees value in soliciting employees’ opinions. “After each enrollment session, we sent surveys to employees to get their feedback and to make sure they were engaged in the system,” Bastien explains. “And, actually, their [benefits] satisfaction rate has increased from 80% to 87%. They strongly agree that their benefits meet their needs.”
Going forward, Macadamian is looking at expanding its communication campaign to include social media. The company is not using Facebook yet—even though the average age of its workforce is 34, a group believed to be made up of avid Facebook users. One reason is the organization’s smaller size (it has 100 employees in Canada). “But now that we’re growing, we see the value of putting it on social media,” explains Bastien. “This is something that we are considering for the next enrollment.” However, like many companies, Macadamian wonders if employees will embrace it. “Not everyone wants to use Facebook or share their Facebook [presence] with the organization,” Bastien adds. “They want to keep it personal.”
While most Macadamian employees are satisfied with their benefits, the benefits industry at large still has room for improvement. Bastien says it needs to adopt the digital solutions that are already out there fairly quickly. “Things are moving fast in the new technologies world. And if we don’t keep up with those changes, the gap will just increase and we will be even further behind.”
Yaldaz Sadakova is associate editor of Benefits Canada.
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