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Lots of companies say they offer “great benefits.” They validate this assertion based on information obtained by brokers, partners and other executives. While this information is a good start, there is much more to do in order to create a truly “great” benefits package.
The 2011 Survey
At Mediafly, we survey our team regularly. This provides us with a great report card. Based on % of Strongly Agree or Agree we can more or less tell how well we are doing. Our team provides us with excellent feedback and great context in comments sections. As a result, we not only see how well we are doing at that moment in time, but also see where we do better – giving us a roadmap for the appropriate initiatives to take on for maximum improvement.
In 2011, only 60% Agreed or Strongly Agreed with the statement My benefits package is competitive. Unfortunately, this was a surprise to management. Mediafly had always provided – and paid for – a blue chip medical plan. How could the staff not at least agree?
A Fact-Finding Mission
We set to work to learn more about this disconnect and it quickly became clear that we needed to make a number of changes. Our team simply did not know the benefits package. Even more disconcerting, however, was that people weren’t using the insurance, didn’t know how much they were paying – and, therefore, didn’t perceive the benefit of what management thought to be a generous benefits package.
So we conducted a new survey. Given financial limits: Which of these is most important to you? Which is least important to you? Some glaring holes became apparent. Our well-educated team wanted retirement savings. While virtually no one wanted short term disability, almost everyone wanted life insurance. Armed with this great information, we had our roadmap and started developing the plan: maximizing the benefit of great employee benefits.
The Outcome
We spent a year with a new health insurance broker redesigning our medical plan structure. The final package still offers a gold-plated plan for those who want/can afford it, but we now also provide a less-expensive, more tax advantageous HSA-compatible plan. We restructured the “fringe” benefits to increase “bang for the buck.” We added a generous retirement savings plan. Perhaps most importantly, however, is that every year we spend time educating. We have the right partners, we dedicate an All Staff meeting to our Open Enrollment and any plan changes and we make ourselves available to talk individually to the team, allowing them to raise concerns and ask questions. The effort has paid off.
In the Mediafly 2013 Culture Survey, we are absolutely thrilled that 100% of our team selected either “Strongly Agree” or “Agree” with the statement My benefits package is competitive.
Mediafly offers our team a unique benefits package because we spend the time to learn what our staff want and need. We’ll continue to work every year to make sure they understand the constraints and final plan design. Whether facing the rising costs associated with the Affordable Care Act or the changing tax law, Mediafly will work hard to ensure that every one of our Flyers can say “We have a GREAT benefits plan!”
About the contributor:
John Evarts is the COO/CFO of Mediafly, Inc. an enterprise mobility software provider based in Chicago, Illinois. John serves as Executive-in-Residence for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and speaks regularly on topics in small business strategy and operation. Recently, John has had the opportunity to speak at the SAP SME Summit (November 2012), serve as panelist with SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (January 2013) and has been quoted by the Economist (Scaling SME’s: Building a flexible platform for growth, February 2013).
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