Bennie did a full analysis of Hi Marley’s benefits offerings. The consulting team analyzed the company’s needs and must-haves to create a solution that resulted in a much better selection of benefits plans that were less expensive for the organization and employees. They could now offer quality benefits and pass on those cost savings to their employees. Employee premiums are now half of what they were on the PEO plans. Hi Marley also introduced a fully-employer-paid option for employees who wanted a high deductible health plan.
How Bennie Helped Hi Marley Transition off a PEO to Lower Costs and Improve the Benefits Experience
Case Study Fixed Navigation
Industry
Insurance
Employees
87
Headquarters
Boston, MA
HR Leader
Kay Coolican
HR Challenge
High Benefits Costs, Insufficient Support, Lack of Autonomy
Results
Lower Costs with Better Plans, Full-Service Support & Consulting
About Hi Marley
Our Customer
Helping Carriers Make Insurance More Lovable
Hi Marley is the only AI-enabled collaboration platform built for the P&C insurance industry. Headquartered at Post Office Square in the heart of Boston, MA, their mission is to transform the insurance industry one conversation at a time - and they are having fun and learning along the way! As of June 1, 2022, they have almost 90 employees and continue to grow.
Built by people who know and love insurance, Hi Marley’s SaaS platform enables hassle-free texting across the entire ecosystem, empowering insurance professionals and delighting policyholders. Hi Marley’s industry-leading analytics deliver novel insights that fuel continuous improvement. The solution is built for the enterprise – fast to deploy, easy to use, and seamlessly integrates with other core systems. Hi Marley is empowering the world’s leading insurance carriers to reinvent the customer and employee experience.
OUR HR LEADER
Kay Coolican, Accounting & Financial Planning Analyst
Kay had a strong interest in psychology and originally wanted to pursue counseling. While she minored in psychology and went to a counseling school, she ultimately made the switch to finance, which is closely intertwined with HR at Hi Marley, specifically with payroll and compensation. Kay is someone with a chronic illness and is passionate about advocating for employees with chronic illness, as well. Along with benefits, she’s also interested in where automation will take the HR space and looks forward to seeing how it makes processes easier for HR and employees.
HR Challenges
The Hi Marley HR team is committed to providing a full suite of high-quality benefits offerings for their employees. They were not only dissatisfied with their options, but they were also not getting the personalized consulting and support they needed from their Professional Employer Organization (PEO).
In addition to having high-cost health plans that weren’t customized for their population, the PEO wasn’t providing quality support for the People team or the employees. Whenever they had a question that needed an expert’s answer, they’d get inconsistent, generic responses that didn’t resolve the issue.
1. Competitive Benefits
High Benefit Plan Costs
The benefit plan options that Hi Marley had under their PEO were not only expensive on the company’s end, but employee premiums were also high. The team knew that in order to offer truly competitive benefits that met the needs of their team while also being in line with their budget, they needed to look at other options.
2. HR/Employee Support
Insufficient Support
One of the big challenges of working with the PEO was that there was no direct point of contact they could turn to when they needed help; they’d communicate with a different representative each time. When employees had benefits-related questions, the Hi Marley People team would go to their PEO for answers. However, they were often left feeling unsure if the information they received from the PEO was correct - and the answers were often given in a way that was not digestible or easy to understand.
3. Improve Process
Lack of Autonomy
Hi Marley didn’t have much choice or autonomy over their processes and the kind of plans they could offer employees. They received a list of available options to choose from, but these plans were not customized to fit their population’s needs, and the choices were also incredibly expensive while not necessarily high-quality. The People team wanted to make decisions that were right for the Hi Marley employees, and not have to choose from limited options.
Bennie’s Job Duties
Strategic Benefits Consulting
Personalized Benefits Plans That Saved the Company Money
“We’re able to pass on the brunt of that cost saving to our employees.”
HR Technology Guidance
Bennie’s Partnerships With HRIS Platforms Takes Manual Work Off HR’s Plate
“They were able to just take it away and figure it out as a collective group.”
Service & Support
A Dedicated Healthcare Advocate for Employees & HR
“Ask Bennie has taken on a lot of the questions that we would normally have to handle as the People team.”
Strategic Benefits Consulting
Personalized Benefits Plans That Saved the Company Money
“We’re able to pass on the brunt of that cost saving to our employees.”
Hi Marley Could Now Offer Better Benefits Plans for a Lower Cost
The Hi Marley team no longer had to deal with copy-paste, generic answers. Now, they had a responsive, dedicated consultant from Bennie who listened to their questions, did the necessary research, and came back with answers that were correct and easy to understand.
HR Technology Guidance
Bennie’s Partnerships With HRIS Platforms Takes Manual Work Off HR’s Plate
“They were able to just take it away and figure it out as a collective group.”
HR Tech Consulting That Provided a Smooth Transition to a New HRIS
As Hi Marley came off a PEO, they had to find a new HRIS and payroll platform, which can be tedious. However, as Bennie provides HR tech consulting and partners with a variety of HR tech platforms, they could match Hi Marley with the right solution that had all the features they needed. That partnership also allowed Bennie and the HRIS provider to communicate directly, making the transition seamless with less work for the Hi Marley People team.
Service & Support
A Dedicated Healthcare Advocate for Employees & HR
“Ask Bennie has taken on a lot of the questions that we would normally have to handle as the People team.”
Hi Marley Now Has a Healthcare Concierge for All Benefits-Related Questions
With the Ask Bennie feature available to employees and HR, the Hi Marley team has an expert to turn to with their benefits questions, big or small. This provides significant support to the People team with researching and finding answers to sometimes complex benefits questions.
The People team experienced how helpful the feature is first-hand when they had billing issues with their insurances. They were happy to see that when they contacted Ask Bennie, the advocates immediately got in touch with the insurance company, and resolved the issue quickly.
Ask Bennie
Healthcare Concierge
Ask Bennie’s dedicated service aligns with Hi Marley’s philosophy of approaching employees with extra care. For team members who manage chronic health conditions and frequently utilize their healthcare plans, this level of personalized care is especially impactful and takes away a lot of the stress of dealing with insurance companies and claims.
A Trusted Partner That’s There for Hi Marley Every Step of the Way
The Results
Less Manual Work, Lower Costs & More Time for Other HR Projects
The challenges that Hi Marley had with their PEO have been resolved through working with Bennie. They now get true benefits support; the People team knows that they can reach out with questions or concerns and their consultant will do whatever they can to help. There’s peace of mind knowing they don’t need to chase down representatives and constantly follow up.
Not only are the benefits plans personalized to fit Hi Marley’s needs, but even the benefits materials Hi Marley receives for their employees are tailored to the organization (and simple to understand).
But the benefits of Bennie’s products and services aren’t just limited to Hi Marley’s HR team. From a financial side, the organization has also benefited. They now have access to higher-quality plans that they can provide at a lower cost than before. Previously, they were paying more for benefits through the PEO because of the administrative fees - but they were lacking real support. Now, through Bennie they do get support; many administrative tasks are handled for the HR team and taken off their plate - without those extra fees.
Since many of the tedious benefits-related tasks are now taken care of by Bennie, the People team can focus on strategy, building new things for their employees, and focusing on what really matters.
“We’re able to pass on the brunt of that cost saving to our employees.” - Kay Coolican
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