Impacted by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid advances in technology, benefits administration is changing. Now’s the time to embrace the future of benefits administration.
How Will Benefits Administration Change?
Some aspects of employee benefits administration will stay the same. Benefit administrators still need to verify who’s eligible for benefits, handle enrollment, and comply with various regulations. These core goals are unlikely to change any time soon. However, the daily tasks of a benefits administrator are evolving.
Remote Work Will Make the Office Less Central
Remote work has taken off like wildfire and will continue to reshape the workforce in the years to come.
Now people have proved they can work remotely, many never want to return to the office. A 2023 poll from Pew Research Center of U.S. workers found that 35% of employees who can work from home do so all the time and another 41% have embraced hybrid schedules that have them working from home most or some of the time.
This is already having a tremendous impact on employee benefits administration. With fewer employees at the office, benefit administrators need to find new ways to reach out to workers to help them understand and enroll in their benefits. Furthermore, many benefit administrators are also working from home. Although they can easily handle many benefits administration processes from anywhere, some processes require new tools. Mail sorting is a prime example. Benefit administration can involve a lot of mail, including both paper checks and letters that require a prompt response. Outgoing mail presents a similar problem – home offices aren’t set up for secure printing and mailing.
Since remote work does not appear to be a temporary fad, workers will need to adjust. Benefit administrators who are working from home will need to find new ways of handling incoming mail, such as lockboxes, virtual mail, and print fulfillment solutions.
Compliance Will Become More Complicated
Regulatory compliance has always required careful attention to details, but as more laws are passed, compliance will become increasingly complicated.
For example, the Center for American Progress says 11 states have passed family and medical leave laws. Some states have also developed new insurance programs, like the WA Cares Fund that uses payroll deductions to provide workers with long-term care insurance in Washington and the California State Disability Insurance Program.
Companies that operate in multiple states have to deal with an especially-complicated compliance picture, but, thanks to the rise of remote work, even companies with locations in only one state may have to deal with the rules for multiple states. SHRM has warned that out-of-state remote work can create tax headaches for businesses.
Regulations won’t become any simpler. As the tangle of state and federal laws grows, benefit administrators will need efficient systems to help them stay in compliance.
Technology Will Open New Doors
Benefits Pro says that, despite current limitations, ChatGPT could reshape benefits administration by facilitating benefits analysis, research into competitors’ offerings, onboarding, and benefit surveys.
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have shown how fast technological progress can be. For benefit administrators, this is just one way emerging technology is changing the nature of work. From online benefits enrollment to virtual mail services that digitize paper mail for delivery to your email inbox, new technology is everywhere in benefits administration.
The Future Is Here
It can be interesting to speculate on what the future of benefits administration will look like, but the truth is the future is already here. Remote work is already commonplace; compliance is already a complicated headache; game-changing technology has already arrived.
Some benefit administrators are still clinging to the old ways. However, in doing so, they’re missing out on tools that could make their jobs easier while increasing efficiency and reducing human error.
If you’re still sorting paper mail and checks the old-fashioned way, it’s time to embrace Travisoft’s modern lockbox, virtual mail, and print fulfillment services. For incoming mail, lockbox services process paper checks, whereas virtual mail services turn paper correspondence into digital documents you can access from your computer. For outgoing mail, print fulfillment services handle branded and customized printing and mailing of your notices and other correspondence. These services enable remote work while boosting efficiency and simplifying compliance.
Are you ready for the future of benefits administration? Request a demo.