Performance standards are not “happiness indicators.” They set a standard below which providers typically pay a penalty to the plan sponsor. Add to that the fact that performance standards measure average performance over a period of time while the problems are usually outliers, and you can see why simply meeting performance standards does not necessarily equate to plan sponsor satisfaction.
If you’re not happy with your provider because of service issues, Hager Strategic can diagnose the service problem(s) and develop a remediation plan. If the problem is related to relationship issues, we can help get the relationship on track: we have a proven track record of objective and effective mediation between providers and plan sponsors.
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The root cause of errors can often be difficult to diagnose, especially when your staff is caught up in the day-to-day details of administration. Possible causes may include data issues, manual interventions, process flaws, and communication issues – and are often a combination of many factors. We often find problems are due to gaps and/or errors in the way your provider configured their system for your requirements during implementation.
We know how HR, benefits and payroll processes are supposed to work. We will evaluate problematic processes from the beginning to end, analyze the manual interventions, and observe the communications between you and your provider to diagnose potential issues. We are objective. We listen to both our client and the provider to make sure we understand the whole story. We will find the source of your service problems, develop a remediation plan and see it through to closure.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
If you’re generally happy with your current provider and would be interested in extending or renewing your agreement if you could be assured that your new terms were competitive, Hager Strategic can help. Using our HagerSourceTM database, we will compare all aspects of your agreement – terms and conditions, scope of services, service level and fees – to market standards to identify opportunities for improvement. We will then leverage our provider relationships and market knowledge to help you negotiate market-leading terms for your new agreement, allowing you to renew with the confidence that you’re getting a good deal. If your current provider is not meeting your needs or if you are required to solicit competitive bids to meet procurement requirements, then issuing an RFP is your only option.
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Most RFP projects typically take between three and four months to complete, not including contract negotiations. But the process can be accelerated if you have pressing business needs. Contracting time can vary widely based on your internal structure and the provider you select, but one to two months is a good benchmark. And don’t forget about the time you’ll need to transition to a new provider, which could range from nine to 18 months based on the complexity of your programs. In other words, you should ideally start the RFP process at least one if not two years prior to the expiration of your current contract.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
Without a doubt, yes. The HR, benefits and payroll administration market has evolved significantly in the past several years, and the quick pace of change will continue. To remain competitive, providers continually enhance their service offering while maintaining or even lowering their fee structure. For due-diligence purposes, you should review the administrative services market every three to five years to compare the specifics of your services to current standards.
Providers will work very hard to keep your work. They know that keeping your services and fees aligned with the market is critical to their long-term success.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
Several questions must be answered first. If you’re outsourced now, is your provider capable of supporting the plan design change in the manner you want and within your required time frame? If you’re in a co-sourced or in-sourced model, do you have the systems and resources to move forward efficiently and with confidence? What other administrative systems and procedures will be affected by this plan change, and do you need a strategy to deal with those?
We can help you understand the choices available to you, how your overall administrative model may be affected, and assess your options for moving forward.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
A lot depends on the administrative model you have in place today, and the resources and systems you will have after the spin off. If you are outsourced today, is your current provider capable of supporting the spin off process and provide ongoing administration at a reasonable price? If you are in-sourced or co-sourced, will you retain the system and resources in place today once you are spun off?
After the spin off, you will most likely be a much smaller company. Fees for maintaining the status quo on HR and benefits administration may very well be prohibitive, forcing you to review the market for competitive pricing. We can help you understand your options for moving forward, and the provider market best suited for your newly independent company.
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Implementing a new provider can be a daunting task. If you’re already outsourced and are replacing your current provider, you have to coordinate the transfer of massive amounts of data from one provider to another, and try to instill knowledge of your plans, processes and culture to your new provider. Another set of issues and concerns arise when you’re outsourcing or co-sourcing for the first time.
Hager Strategic has seen many clients through successful transitions, and can serve in several capacities – from acting as your dedicated project manager through managing facilitating the testing process. We know your requirements (in most cases, we helped define them through the provider evaluation process), we know how the providers work, we can be an added resource for your internal team and we are effective and objective advocates for both parties.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
It is not unexpected that a costly upgrade or other compelling event may cause you to stop to consider other options for delivering HR/PR administration. Is outsourcing any or all of your administrative functions financially and culturally feasible for the long term? We can help you understand your options and evaluate the business case – financial and organizational – to determine the most feasible service delivery model for your HR and payroll administrative functions.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
Absolutely. Organizations who, for financial, cultural or other organizational reasons, are interested in outsourcing targeted functions have many options. More and more, outsourcing providers are able to offer some of their services as point solutions – e.g., check/advice printing and distribution, learning administration, payroll tax filing, etc. Hager Strategic can help you determine which functions are best to outsource and help you with the search and evaluation of providers who offer the solutions you need.
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Often, our clients’ IT department warns them about making any administrative changes during an HR/payroll system upgrade or replacement. But we counsel our clients to move forward with benefits administration provider changes if they have a pressing need to make a transition. Changing a benefits service provider typically has very little impact on the HR/payroll system, other than changing the interface to and from the HR/payroll system. In fact, in most cases, the existing interfaces can be used.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
Using our HagerSourceTM database of provider capabilities and pricing, we can efficiently and thoroughly benchmark your fees and services against today’s market. Our detailed analysis will tell you exactly how your provider stacks up against the market on fees, scope of services, key contract terms and service level agreements.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
Using our HagerSourceTM database of provider capabilities, we can efficiently and thoroughly benchmark your services against today’s market to determine whether your service package has kept pace with the market as new innovations have been introduced. Our detailed analysis will tell you exactly how your provider stacks up against the market on scope of services, fees, key contract terms and service level agreements.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
Hager Strategic can provide a “reality check” on the fees, scope and timing proposed in a change order. We maintain data on major providers’ pricing and scope of services in our HagerSourceTM database, and we regularly review change orders for administrative services. We would discuss the scope of requested changes with you, taking into account any unique circumstances that may affect your provider’s proposal (e.g., client data issues and/or resource constraints, manual processes, etc.) to ensure we have the full picture before providing commentary on reasonableness.
Hager Strategic services to meet your needs:
Yes, Hager Strategic can provide objective guidance through the entire testing process. We can create your testing strategy, prepare and execute test plans, manage the testing process and your internal resources assisting with testing, and provide a readiness assessment of your provider’s system.
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