Why Benefits Consolidation Matters: The Case for a Unified Approach to Employee Benefits

Employee benefits have never been more important. 93% of employees consider workplace well-being as important as their salaries, and most want perks and benefits that support this ideology. 87% of workers would consider leaving the company if their employer doesn’t match these strong expectations. 

The fact that employees care about benefits isn’t news to employers—but it does put them in a hard spot. Companies must go the extra mile to create an incredible platter of benefits their employees will love to remain attractive and competitive in the talent market. They might offer health insurance, retirement planning, health and fitness perks, childcare, professional development, travel benefits, and the list goes on. 

The problem? The more the list of benefits grows, the harder they are to manage—both for the administrators offering them and the employees accessing them. Benefits consolidation is the solution. 

What are the advantages of consolidating employee benefits in a single platform?

Benefits consolidation is the practice of combining multiple types of employee perks and benefits into a single plan so you have everything available in one place. Here are the advantages of doing so for both employees and employers alike. 

Better employee experience 

Historically, the relationship between employer and employee has been transactional. Employees did their job, and employers paid them a salary. But the modern working relationship is multidimensional, with more emphasis on providing employees with a positive experience—from their first interaction during recruitment to their final moments during offboarding. 

The right mix of perks and benefits is vital to the employee lifecycle, offering support at just the right moment. But this shouldn’t be too complicated, or it will negatively impact their experience. 

MetLife data reveals that 62% of employees are not completely confident they know all about the perks and benefits available to them. If they’re spread out across multiple different platforms, this is unsurprising. It’s too taxing on the brain for employees to remember what they can use and where to find it. 

Instead, benefits consolidation keeps everything simple for employees. They sign in once to access everything they need. 

Greater participation rates

It makes sense, then, that if employees know where to find everything and only have one platform and vendor to learn, they’re more likely to participate in their benefits program. 

From a benefits administration perspective, consolidating everything into one central location makes it easier to:

• Pull spending reports 
• Track engagement with your benefits program 
• Understand benefits utilization, such as how regularly your employees use their plan or if any unused funds remain 

Reduced administrative burden 

From a backend perspective, managing multiple vendors is a nightmare scenario. Consolidation offers multiple advantages, including:

• Easier employee education: Administrators can select one benefits vendor and provide detailed communication for employees on how to access and use the platform. 
• Simplified customer support: If issues crop up during benefits onboarding, open enrollment, or any other point during the plan year, administrators need only liaise with one point of contact for customer support. 
• Fewer integrations required: Companies with multiple benefits vendors can end up with a patchwork of systems that don’t exactly knit together as expected. An all-in-one suite eliminates the need for multiple integrations, keeping data accurate and streamlined. 

Example: Retail company On had struggled with its previous pre-tax vendor, which didn't integrate with its payroll system, ADP. Every time a new hire joined the company, the benefits admin team would spend hours manually uploading data in both payroll and pre-tax systems to ensure the employees would receive their benefits. 

By switching to Benepass, On now has a modern, consolidated solution saving 3-5 hours of admin time weekly.  

“If On were to triple in size, if you think about the movement of employees and how people are moving all over the country and the world, it’s not sustainable if we were still doing things manually.” - Charles Kramer, Senior Talent Operations Lead

Lower costs 

A consolidated benefits administration system is typically cheaper to run. You’ll only pay one set of platform fees and only have one vendor to negotiate with.  

And, of course, every hour you save internally translates into direct cash savings for your company. Some companies will choose to pocket the money saved and invest it in other areas of the business. Others will pass the money onto their employees, perhaps increasing their stipend allowance to improve their overall experience and create a stronger employer brand. 

Easy scalability 

As your company grows, so will your employee numbers. Each time you hire new team members, and they join the benefits program, everything needs to be recorded by HR and then accurately added to each different vendor platform. 

Similarly, every time you want to expand your benefits package with a new offering, it must be synced to the rest of your internal systems. Consolidated benefits administration allows for easy scalability as new employees simply join one platform and any new offerings are easily integrated into the existing system. This streamlines administrative processes and ensures accuracy across all employee data. 

Example: Mercury, a financial technology company, initially launched a flexible wellness stipend with Benepass that employees could spend on vacations, fitness equipment, entertainment, professional development, pet care, and more. By the end of the first year, 92% of employees had engaged with their Benepass benefits. Seeing this success, the team also moved their non-taxable learning and development benefit onto the Benepass platform and is excited to continue exploring other avenues for consolidation.

“Our long-term goal is to consolidate as much as possible. It’s huge for us to have a vendor that can support multiple benefits rather than having to do wellness through one vendor, learning and development through a different platform, and whatever else through a different platform. I like that Benepass has so many options for us.” - Justine Bufmack, Benefits Lead

How to choose a single benefits consolidation platform

Choosing a single benefits consolidation platform can be overwhelming, but with the right approach, it can dramatically simplify your benefits administration process. Here are some key factors to consider when making your decision:

• User experience: Make sure the platform is user-friendly and easy for employees to navigate. A complicated or confusing platform will defeat the purpose of consolidation.
• Integration capabilities: Look for a platform you can sync seamlessly with other HR systems you currently use, such as payroll or HRIS software.
• Customer support: Ensure your chosen benefits vendor offers strong customer support and training resources to support onboarding and any issues that may arise.
• Pricing structure: Understand the pricing structure for the platform.
• Scalability: Choose a platform capable of scaling with your company as it grows and offers the flexibility to add new offerings or customize plans. 

Consolidate your benefits with Benepass

Benepass is a versatile people-first platform offering a range of pre-tax and post-tax perks and benefits from one central location. Create the perfect consolidated blend of benefits by choosing from:

• Lifestyle Spending Accounts 
• Flexible Spending Accounts 
• Health Savings Accounts
• Commuter Benefits 
• Health Reimbursement Arrangements
• Wellness Benefits 
• Food Benefits 
• Family and Childcare Benefits 
• Professional Development Benefits 
• Remote Work Benefits 
• Rewards and Recognition Benefits 

Benepass users score 4.8 out of 5 with the G2 user community and the following out of 10 for: 

• Ease of Use = 9.7 
• Ease of Setup = 9.7 
• Quality of Support = 9.7 

As one financial services user describes:

‍“Benepass is a fantastic tool for managing benefits, transactions, and reimbursements. The dashboard is user-friendly and makes it simple to track your expenses. The tool also ensures that employees take full advantage of the perks offered by their company by regularly sending email reminders about the benefits. It also simplifies the process of uploading receipts and distributing funds to employees using the desktop version or mobile app. Additionally, the Benepass virtual card can be added to the mobile wallet for tap-to-pay, reducing the need to carry an extra physical card.”

Ready for better benefits with lower overheads? Request a demo or contact our sales team at sales@getbenepass.com.