Employee benefits providers: the four things the word means, and which one you are buying
- Benefits cost per employee a year
- $11,900
- Per employee a month
- $991.67
- As a percent of base salary
- 19.2
The numbers on this page come from the inputs you enter and the method stated: 3,600 seconds to an hour, 52 weeks to a year, twelve months to a year, and nothing else. No industry shrinkage figure, no occupancy benchmark and no assumption about your attrition; every one of those is yours to enter.
Employee benefits providers is one phrase covering four different businesses, and a conversation in which the parties mean different ones by it goes wrong slowly and expensively. The carrier bears the risk. The broker places the plan. The administrator operates it. The platform is software somebody types into. This page separates them, says who is paid by whom in each case, and gives the question that tells you which of the four is sitting across the table, because that answer changes what you should be asking about price.
Open the How much are benefits worth Free to use. No account, no card, no sign-up.
The carrier bears the risk, and its price is the premium
An insurer or a fund is the party that actually pays claims, and what you buy from it is cover at a premium. Its price moves with your own experience, your headcount and the plan design, and it is renegotiated at renewal. Nothing else in this list can change that number much in a single year, which is worth remembering when a supplier in one of the other three categories promises savings.
The broker places the plan, and is usually paid by the carrier
A broker or consultant advises on design, goes to market and negotiates. The important structural fact is who pays them: commission from the carrier is the norm, a fee from you is the alternative, and the two produce different incentives at renewal. Ask which it is and ask for the figure. An employer who does not know how its broker is paid does not know the price of its advice.
The administrator operates it, and should be priced per head
Enrollment, eligibility, carrier feeds, leavers and filings. This is the only one of the four whose price reduces cleanly to a rate per enrolled employee per month, which makes it the easiest to compare and the one most often hidden inside a bundle. If you cannot get a per head figure for the operating work, you are being quoted a package and not a service.
The platform is software, and its job is to be boring
A benefits platform is where enrollment is entered and where your people look things up. It is genuinely useful and it is not a service: it does not notice a missed window or chase a stalled feed unless somebody is paid to watch it. Buy it for what it is, and do not let a platform subscription be mistaken for having somebody operate the package.
Will it do what you need for Employee benefits providers?
Tell us how your team plans its staffing today and where the number gets argued; a person who has built one answers.
Employee benefits providers: common questions
Which of the four do we actually need? A carrier always, because somebody has to bear the risk. The other three depend on whether you want advice, operation, software, or some combination. The mistake is not buying the wrong one, it is believing you have bought operation when you have bought software.
Why does it matter who pays the broker? Because it decides whose interest is served at renewal. Commission from the carrier and a fee from you are both legitimate and they are not the same arrangement. Ask which, and ask for the number.
Can one firm be more than one of these? Frequently, and there is nothing wrong with it as long as each part is priced separately. The problem arises when administration is invisible because it is funded by placement commission, since you then cannot compare it with anything.
Is Orgplanly an employee benefits provider? No, on all four counts. It bears no risk, places no plan, administers nothing and sells no enrollment portal. It keeps the headcount plan the package is budgeted inside and works the cost per employee from your own numbers.
Orgplanly Pro
Keeping what you make
The worksheet answered today's question. Pro keeps the answer: the plan you just worked saved against the team it belongs to, re-opened at the next review instead of rebuilt, branded and exported for the budget meeting.
- Download the finished checklist or intake form as a file the client accepts
- The paperwork goes out clean, without the Kickoffo watermark
- Re-use the checklist for the next client instead of rebuilding it
- Your firm's logo on every checklist and form you send
- Export every client's onboarding at once when the account review or the buyer asks
- Send the plan for review from the record, not a spreadsheet
- Not part of Orgplanly today; your billing stays where it is
- Not part of Orgplanly today; your ledger stays where it is
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