Group Benefits

Whether you are looking to implement a benefits program for the first time or looking to improve the management of your current program, MB Secure Financial is the right choice for you.

As an independent advisor, we have access to a wide range of providers and their products, which equips us to provide the right solution for your needs at the right price. This serves you better as you receive representation from the entire market and not just from a few preferred favourtes of an advisor.

Our ultimate goal is to earn your trust and demonstrate, over the course of our relationship, that we have you and your employees’ best interests at heart.

Most organisations overpay for their benefits coverage but are unaware of this discrepancy. One common solution often provided to these organisations is to “shop” their benefits plan in order to reduce costs. In reality, these savings are artificial, and temporary, as the provider seeks to recoup investments made to win your business at the first renewal. This often results in a significant premium increase, which frustrates decision makers, because they did not receive the proper advice about the process in the beginning.

A second common solution provided to these organisations to reduce costs is to reduce the coverage offered to their employees. In many instances, the decision makers are not wanting to reduce coverage, but seek advice to improve plan management.

MB Secure Financial takes pride in being transparent with our clients and explaning how insurance pricing works. As risk management experts, our goal is to provide the appropriate pricing for the risk. Our proprietary process of risk management has resulted in initial premium savings of approximately 15%. More importantly, pricing in subsequent renewals has remained stable, representing additional year over year savings when compared to their previous arrangement.

We provide strategies that may influence employee behaviour which has been proven to reduce claim dollars and improve plan longevity, without reducing coverage.

Plan Administration

Get your time back! Having MB Secure Financial support your plan management allows the plan administrator to focus on other tasks to support the business. Ultimately, this improves overall productivity and efficiency. Further, in our support of the plan administrator, we review best practices which helps to mitigate corporate liability that can result in expensive legal action if left unchecked.

Wellness

A healthy work environment and workforce are critical to the success of your business. What steps are being taken to create, improve or maintain the health of your entire organization? There are many options available to address Wellness and to evaluate them can be overwhelming. An option that is most often overlooked can be to utilize the value added products available with your current provider at no additional cost. Other options may have significant price tags that could deter further investigation just because the offering is not fully understood. The return on investment for some of these products could justify the expenditure for some organizations.

Let us discuss whether your organization is ready to take those first steps into the Wellness environment and what those steps may be. If your organization already implemented a program, we can work together to ensure momentum is kept up as Wellness is an ongoing focus.

Disability Management

Absenteeism can be a significant cost driver to both the benefits plan as well as to your organisation’s bottom line. It is important that your organisation have protocols in place on addressing both Short Term and Long Term absences.

Management of a disability claim goes well beyond adjudication. Case managers need to be actively involved with the claimants on a regular basis to provide the support necessary for the claimant while they seek treatment. The goal is always to have your employee return to your workforce in the quickest, safest manner possible. Working with the case manager to develop a return to work strategy is an integral part of the process. Diligence is required as statistically, the longer someone is off work the less likely they are to return.

As part of our role in supporting you, we would review the plan design to determine the adequacy of the income replacement ratio. In many instances, premium is paid for a benefit amount that, in reality, cannot be received by the employee in the event of a claim. Are employees limited to coverage equivalent to the Non-evidence maximum? If so, this could be creating a liability for the employer that should be immediately addressed.

Let’s work together to minimize any gaps that may exist.

Education

Education is a critical component to the success of any benefits plan.

Employees should understand most aspects of their benefits plan. To facilitate this understanding, regular communication needed. This can be accommodated through avenues such as lunch & learns, corporate newsletters, e-mails, or an intranet site. The more an employee understands, the less likely they are to engage the time of their plan administrator. Education goes beyond advising what coverage they have. It should promote smart consumerism to assist in maintaining the ongoing viability of the program.

Attract and retain talent

Top talent is hard to come by. Salary alone is no longer enough to win their services. Regular questions asked in interviews by the candidates include, “Do you have a benefits program?” and “Do you have a pension program?” Being in a position to answer yes to either or both questions is to your advantage.

As an employer, do you want or need to offer a best in class program or is a good program sufficient? We can help strategize to determine what is best for your organization.

For more information about any of our solutions, feel free to contact us today. We can even arrange a complimentary benefits audit to identify any potential inefficiencies in your program. Let’s work together so we can tailor a solution that best fits the needs of your organisation.

Group Retirement

Having a Group Retirement plan can be a key component to a compensation package for attracting and keeping key personnel. Per an article in Benefits Canada (February 2019), 23% of private sector employees in Canada participate in some form of retirement savings plan. That means an astonishing 77% of private sector employees in Canada are left to fend for themselves!

With mandatory retirement abolished in Canada, people living longer, combined with employees not adequately saving for their retirement results in employees needing to work longer. If an employee would rather be retired but cannot afford to, how productive do you think they would be in your business?

For employers that do offer a savings program to their employees, unfortunately many take a ‘Set it and forget it’ approach to the management of the program. One common reason for this approach is a lack of understanding of the how the program works or the perceived complexity of the fund options. At MB Secure Financial, we take the time to ensure administrators understand the program to help maximise employee satisfaction.

In order for employees to value the savings program offered by their employer, they must understand how to maximise their return. If employees do not take the time to learn about the program, or worse, they do not have a resource available to answer their questions, they tend to choose the default option and leave it, or not participate in the program.

Implementing an employee savings program is quite simple and a cost effective option for employers and MB Secure Financial will provide guidance every step of the way.

We will assist our clients to:

• Select the retirement vehicle and plan design that is consistent with their corporate philosophy, financial objectives and needs of their employees.
• Survey the market for the most appropriate provider.
• Arrange and host member seminars to review economic outlook and retirement considerations.
• Review information kits and customer service options and select appropriate investment options.
• Semi-annual review of investment performance and service delivery.
• Individual employee consultation at retirement.