Group Employee Benefits Consulting - Edmonton & Area

Like many other industries, group employee benefits insurance has become very specialized. This is largely a result of how the group benefits insurance industry is set up. Though there are some fundamental common conventions, each insurance company comes up with their own cost structure, using their own metrics, for five or more benefit coverage categories under one group benefits policy. Add to this a changing legislative landscape, taxation, new technology, and the increasing need for HR related liability protection, and you can see why enlisting the services of a benefits specialist is smart business.

When it comes to high-quality employee benefit plan advice and expertise, primarily life insurance generalists have effectively had their day; attempting to be all things to all companies is now impractical and costly to the company's they are servicing employee benefit plan's for. This is easily borne out in any review analysis done by an experienced employee benefits specialist. As with many industries, you can choose to be really good at one thing, or be mediocre at many... we choose the first approach.

We Can Negotiate Significant Group Employee Benefit Savings For You

Many company's looking for employee benefits coverage think they can simply call an insurer and request a plan quotation, like getting a quote for hardwood, inventory items, etc. The reality is, you will always be referred to either an internal direct representative (as with Alberta Blue Cross) or a preferred group employee benefits broker that works with that particular insurer. And, unless the broker you're put in touch with has the tools, experience and expertise to be able to provide you with a proper, apples-to-apples, plan comparison from every relevant group benefit insurer, you will end up getting five+ different plan designs, with different cost structures, from five+ different insurers. For this reason, and many others, it is strongly advised that you enlist a knowledgeable and experienced group benefits broker from the start. A skilled and experienced group benefits broker will be able to provide you a true apples-to-apples quotation from all relevant group insurers, as well as common sense & current era alternate plan options which you may not have considered.

As a general rule, no nationwide group employee benefits insurer will quote directly to companies. Alberta Blue Cross, a provincially based group employee benefits insurer, has direct representatives, but they still incorporate a standard advisor compensation fee structure into their rates for the sales employee generating the quotation . Why would you limit your options by only dealing directly with one insurance company option, when you could get access to the entire group insurer marketplace by dealing with an established employee benefits brokerage advisory?

Furthermore, group employee benefits insurance is really the only financial or insurance service that can still be effectively negotiated in a way that yields significant savings because of the many variables in play that impact the pricing of the various coverage's provided, but it takes the technical tools, experience, expertise and connections of a credible employee benefits broker to do so.

At HFI Benefits, we start with a group employee benefit plan review

Allowing us to complete a no obligation 'lay of the land' benefit plan review is the simplest, easiest, no-risk way to determine where you currently stand, so we can advise you on any changes or additions that should be considered. All we require is an electronic copy of your most recent renewal report and the plan summary or booklet. No letters are signed, nor any phone calls made to any supplier at any level. If you don't currently have a benefit plan, all we need is an employee census data sheet and a general idea of what coverage options you're looking for in order for us to secure quotations for you.

MORE INFORMATION: See our benefit plan review page for more details.