This time, we’re speaking with Roger Thorpe, President & Owner of Thorpe Benefits. Thorpe Benefits are senior specialists in Group Benefits that help their clients by bringing a new perspective to how we should measure success in a benefits plan. They help HR and Finance teams build awesome benefits programs that employees appreciate, understand, and feel accountable to.
Thorpe Benefits have been in business since 1982 and serve over 150 clients from a variety of industries. In most cases, their clients are mature companies (between 50-500 employees) where HR and/or Finance is empowered to hire and partner with a benefits specialist.
Tell me about Thorpe Benefits and how you serve SMEs.
The old-school client-broker relationship is to set up a plan, answer questions, then hide until something happens. You would visit the client once a year at renewal and that’s about it. At Thorpe Benefits, we serve the client better by building in added-value beyond rate and renewal. We keep an ongoing channel of communication and make sure to touch-in every 90 days.
We help our clients’ HR and finance teams educate their employees on the plan and train administrators on benefits, severance, and extensions. We teach our clients how costs are arrived at and negotiate fairly and accurately with the carrier based on real numbers. We work to build a plan for our clients that provides a good combination of convenience and protection.
We believe in transparency and hold ourselves accountable by way of a service agreement. We include our commission in the agreement so the client knows exactly what they are paying for.
Do you specialize in certain types of business?
Not a type, more of a stage of maturity. Once a company has empowered someone in HR or the finance department to oversee the benefits program, they usually want to work with a specialist like us. Often, the incumbent broker came about because of a relationship with the owner—e.g., life insurance agents, financial planners, and other generalists. The problem is that they don’t have the staff or systems to service benefits and they can’t maintain a high standard of care. We specialize in working with businesses that have decided it’s time to upgrade and are looking for a longer-term approach.
If there is a disconnect between your plan and your company’s vision and culture, that can cause issues.
What approach do you take when it comes to designing a benefits plan?
Our philosophy starts by asking “how do you want to treat an employee? What is your responsibility as an employer, and what is the employee’s?”
If there is a disconnect between your plan and your company’s vision and culture, that can cause issues. We are working to get companies to view their benefits budget as both group insurance and wellness spend. Helping your employees be healthier is a game-changer in the employee relationship and we help our clients strategically build a program that delivers on that. We are probably the only broker that includes a wellness element as part of our advice. There are no ways to shortcut a wellness program—do it right or it isn’t worth doing.
Are there specific moments in a business’s lifecycle where benefits should be a priority?
Usually when you start to think about hiring a senior individual. They’ll expect the plan to protect them or their family to a degree. It will be a deal-breaker if your plan doesn’t. A 25-30 year old person doesn’t prioritize benefits, but an older person with a family will not move without one. It’s too risky.
Can you tell me about the different considerations a smaller start-up might have when they look into a benefits plan compared to a larger, more established company?
By about the 50-person range, changes start to happen. That’s usually when the finance and HR upgrades happen and someone has been delegated responsibility for the benefits plan. The trigger point comes when the decision-maker realizes that they don’t know what they don’t know. Employees are only getting basic information or booklets – but that is the extent of any real outbound or inbound communication with employees.
If companies and employees know what their plan consists of, they’ll appreciate it more and rate it higher. If you pay attention to communications and financial aspects along with policy and procedure, you can maximize the value of your benefits investment. At Thorpe Benefits, we provide a lot of education on how to shop around and find better deals.
If companies and employees know what their plan consists of, they’ll appreciate it more and rate it higher.
Are there special benefits considerations for the tech sector?
We’re increasingly seeing that people are attracted to the claim payment platform—user experience is always talked about. You have to be careful of product bias and not to focus too much on the platform. There’s so much more to your benefits plan than that—you need to balance price, protection, and user experience. The platform is one thing, but you have to pay attention to the advice from your advisor. The advice is a very small percentage of the budget, but makes a big difference.
What’s involved in getting the right benefits package for your business?
It starts with the broker. You’ll want to find out what the business model of the broker is. How equipped are they to deliver on it? Do they have the resources to follow through? If they don’t have the staff or resources to focus on benefits, they won’t get you the best result. You also need to understand who owns the client relationship. There’s so much consolidation in the industry that clients don’t know where the commissions go. Realign yourself with a vendor who stays close to their client.
Getting the right package means doing some philosophical work on the front-end. Most clients tend to focus on product and pricing but you also need to think strategically about building the benefits package, how it fits within total compensation, and how it gets communicated.
Do you have a rough budget metric for business owners as they are projecting their expenses?
Employers should budget between $2,000-$3,000/year per employee. There might be some premium sharing with employees—generally, if employers are paying 75-90% of the plan, employees don’t mind paying a portion. Companies should budget for a 5-6% increase on average per year.
If a company really cares about its employees, putting a comprehensive benefits plan in place is one of the most effective ways to support them
Is there anything else you would like the reader to know?
If a company really cares about its employees, putting a comprehensive benefits plan in place is one of the most effective ways to support them—especially if you can protect them from something catastrophic. If there are holes in the plan it could lead to staff resentment and you might never know it. A good benefits plan could be the difference in someone deciding to stay or go.
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Learn more about Thorpe Benefits on their website — https://thorpebenefits.com/
You can reach Roger directly at roger@thorpebenefits.com or 416-966-9229 x124or connect with him on LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/rogerjthorpe
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