When Brandon Scarborough, co-founder of Power Group worksitedivision and PowerEnroll at Power Group Cos. in Overland Park,Kan., first jumped into the benefits business, it was at HealthcareServices Group where he focused on offering benefits services tohousekeeping and dietary employees in nursing homes. But there wasa problem. Scarborough quickly learned many of these employees madelittle in wages and couldn't afford the available benefits, heexplains.  

“I found out these employees got offered basically nothingbecause they didn't make enough money and couldn't afford benefits,so I made a couple of phone calls to friends I knew were in theinsurance industry to see about figuring out a way to offer theseemployees some sort of benefits,” Scarborough says. “I decided Iknew enough people in the nursing home industry that I could starta company and be successful at offering benefits.”

In 2005, Scarborough founded Benefit Design Group, which allowedhim to focus strictly on providing voluntary benefits to low-wageworkers employed by nursing homes. Scarborough continued hisbusiness until he merged with Power Group Cos. in 2007 when thecompany wanted him to run a new worksite division. 

Enrollment matters

Since Scarborough joined Power Group, enrollment emerged as alarge part of his responsibilities, he says. Setting up theenrollment, working with the carriers and implementing the mosteffective technology are all part of Scarborough'sresponsibilities, which keeps him plenty busy, but he also takesthe time to personalize each enrollment approach. For someemployers, sponsoring wellness fairs and conducting biometrictesting helps increase enrollment engagement while distributingprefilled applications works for other populations. 

“The goal at the end of the day for any employer is to havetheir employees understand exactly what benefits are being offeredand to help them make the educated decision as to what they needand don't need,” Scarborough says. “Enrollment is the time toprovide the right education and communicate in the best waypossible. Every single enrollment is different, and it's so muchmore dynamic now. Having those various enrollment options and beingflexible with those enrollment options has really been adifferentiator for us.”

In fact, Scarborough has seen certain enrollment methods workwell for some groups but cause adverse reactions in others. Whileproviding employees with a benefits statement that outlines howmuch their benefits cost can be an effective way to increaseenrollment engagement, there are some employee populations that areturned off by this method. Rather than seeing how much theiremployer is spending on health care, they'd rather take the salaryincrease. 

Even the employer's industry can impact what type of enrollmentbest suits a client, Scarborough adds. In Scarborough's experience,employees who work in technical industries, such as a softwarecompany or architecture firm, are more open to enrollments thatrely heavily on technology. 

“How involved employees want to get into technology duringenrollment is completely based on how technologically savvy theemployees are within the company,” Scarborough says. “Thosetechnical-focused groups tend to prefer those technical-basedenrollments more than other segments.”

A new approach

Recently, Scarborough and his group tapped into some newtechnology when they conducted an enrollment strictly usingavatars, he says. This group of employees was mostly white collar,comfortable with the technology and seemed to feel they didn't havetime to call in for enrollment. Instead, they preferred to enrollonline as this virtual person explained their benefits to savetime, and the process went smoothly, which even surprisedScarborough. 

“I was skeptical of completely enrolling through avatars, but itwas an extremely successful enrollment,” Scarborough says. “Out of1,500 employees, we probably had fewer than 100 total phonecalls.”

Besides taking a personalized approach to enrollment, having theemployer's support is also important, Scarborough says. Successfulenrollments require that the conditions be right to encourageemployee engagement, and that comes from the employer environment.Without employer support, it can be challenging to promote employeeengagement. 

“You always try to get to know the employees and understand whattheir hot buttons are, but the employer knows its employees muchbetter,” Scarborough says. “We've done all kinds of enrollments,but getting the employer to buy in at the beginning is the No. 1thing I look for when we start enrollments.”

Voluntary benefits are also a large part of Scarborough'sbusiness, he says, especially as group worksite products becomemore available. Worksite voluntary products were first introducedto the benefits industry as individual policies, but this ischanging as more carriers now offer worksite voluntary products asan option to the group plan.

Voluntary renaissance

Employees are showing a greater interest in group worksitevoluntary products, too, Scarborough says. In the past, groupworksite voluntary products, particularly accident policies andcritical illness, served more of a niche market. Most people whoconsidered critical illness had a history of cancer in theirfamilies while those picking up accident policies often hadchildren involved in injury-prone sports, such asfootball. 

But that's beginning to change, Scarborough says. More employeesare now interested in group worksite voluntary products as a way tomanage rising deductibles in a health care landscape plagued withever-rising costs. 

“Those out-of-pocket expenses to reach the deductible havebecome further out of reach, but group worksite voluntary benefitshelp fill those gaps on deductibles,” Scarborough says. “Groupworksite voluntary benefits go along with the health insuranceplan, and they're becoming more looked at as a type of product thatcan help control costs.”

As the health care exchange system is set for implementation in2014, more employers could start turning to ancillary products.Scarborough expects an employer's benefits offering, especiallyregarding voluntary products, to be even more important once healthreform takes full effect. 

Although many in the benefits industry are worrying about thechanges that health reform could bring, Scarborough is taking itone day at a time, he says. The future of health care reform isstill in doubt. While health care reform could go forward asplanned, there also could be some major changes to the currentmodel, or it could even be scrapped completely. Rather than worryabout what implications health care reform could bring, Scarboroughis focusing on staying educated in this unsureenvironment. 

“At this point, there's so much speculation about health carereform from week to week,” Scarborough says. “You're constantlyhearing something different. In my agency, we listen to everythingand get as much education as we can. You just have to keep yourhead down and do your job, which is doing what's right by theclient.” 

To better serve his clients, Scarborough takes the time to helphuman resources managers oversee the enrollment process, he says.HR departments are still running lean, and they no longer have thetime manage the many steps involved in the enrollment process.Between setting up the enrollment, managing the enrollment throughthe various carriers and working on the deductions, HR managers areoverwhelmed, and this is a chance for brokers to prove their valueto clients. 

“Those nitty-gritty tasks that HR managers used to do that wereso time-consuming for them—they don't have time to do thoseanymore,” Scarborough says. “Instead, they're leaning on brokers tohelp them with those tasks.”

Following an open, honest policy is also important toScarborough, he says. Many benefits brokers fail to disclose howmuch they are being paid, but that practice is only a disservice toclients. Scarborough makes a point to disclose all fees he earns,which has helped him separate himself in the industry and evenretain clients.  

“One way you can stand out in the benefits industry is bygetting that reputation of being open and honest,” Scarboroughsays. “It doesn't come over night, and it doesn't come without alot of hurdles, but it has given us about a 97 percent retentionrate. I've made it my goal to retain clients, and I think you dothat by doing more than other brokers.” 

By not disclosing how much he makes, Scarborough believes thatit gives a client a better understanding of the services theyrequest and what is provided by him as the broker. Most clientsdon't truly understand what it is they're paying for, butdisclosing those fees sets a level of expectations. Fee disclosureestablishes what services are available and allows clients to takeadvantage of the services that best suit them.

“So often I see firms that offer various types of services, butthey don't provide them to the client because they weren't askedabout them or weren't required to provide them,” Scarborough says.“They didn't bring them up because these value-added services, suchas COBRA or flexible spending, cost agencies money. There's so manydifferent ways to make extra money if you're a broker, and you canseparate yourself by adding those services or letting your clientsknow all of the services you provide. Give them the choice to takeadvantage of these services or not.”