Benefits Benchmarking

Staying current on benefits trends and legal changes can be a daunting task for any benefits professional, but you don’t have to tackle these challenges alone. MRA’s benefits professionals fill a variety of benefit roles to meet your company’s unique needs.

We can assist onsite with interim help during a leave of absence, after a sudden staff departure, and to complete special reports or projects.

We also help you achieve your strategic benefits goals and can help:

• Develop and document procedures and processes.
• Assist with analysis of your vacation and PTO plans.
• Evaluate your welfare benefit or retirement plan designs.
• Administer your FMLA and other leaves of absence programs.
• Administer and improve your open enrollment procedures.
• Coach and develop your benefits personnel.
• Conduct a dependent audit to verify group benefits plan eligibility.
• Conduct a benefits audit of practices and procedures.

We work directly with your team at your location. It couldn’t be any easier. So let MRA's benefits professionals help meet your challenges with a variety of value-priced services.

Government regulations require ongoing benefits plan changes in order to remain compliant. It may feel like an impossible task to stay on top of these continuous changes, but you can rely on MRA experts to support you with multiple resources on important topics such as FMLA, HIPAA, COBRA, health care reform, ERISA compliance, and time-off regulations.

Want to become the expert? Training courses, workshops, seminars, and webinars are available on a variety of benefits topics. Search for a benefits training program and register today. All sessions are led by MRA experts and professional partners.

MRA is pleased to partner with the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) to offer MRA members e-Learnings at a discounted rate, using promo code 'MRA33.'

According to a 2018 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employee benefits accounted for 31.7 percent of employee compensation costs paid by employers. With nearly one third of employer compensation costs dedicated to benefits, how are you communicating this critically important element?

Communicating the ever changing benefits regulations to employees can be a challenge. Communication, however, is the key to creating informed benefits consumers. Our experienced professionals provide a fresh approach to training and benefits communication.

Total Compensation Statements
Total Compensation Statements are an excellent way to communicate the total value of the compensation package your organization provides to your employees.

Whether your company has 10 or 1,000 employees, MRA can provide statements that highlight your benefits and compensation programs and communicate the significant cost your organization pays each year to provide these programs to your employees.

Benefits Communication Resources

Find best practice articles, sample policies, and forms in our HR Resources. Or get expert-led training and onsite assistance to meet your needs.

Contact us to effectively share the total value of employee compensation.

Looking for a second opinion? MRA’s benefits professionals offer solid recommendations that enhance your organization and culture through:

• Individual benefits review of HIPAA, Flexible Spending Accounts, or COBRA.
• In-depth evaluations to determine where you stand against the competition by comparing your plan with industry-specific, regional, national, or custom survey data.

MRA’s National Policies & Practices Survey and National Benefits Survey allow you to see how you measure up and how your organization compares to other companies of your size and in your industry.

• Obtain data on five key innovative health plan strategies that you should consider, such as eligibility audits, spousal carve-outs, spousal surcharges, opt-out waivers, and tobacco use surcharges.
• Study the latest trends in cost containment and wellness strategies.
• Measure your vacation, PTO, retirement, and health-care benefits against those offered by your peers.

A well-designed time-off plan is an instrumental component of your total rewards program that can help recruit and retain top talent. In a recent employee job satisfaction and engagement survey conducted by SHRM, time-off plans were ranked as the most important employee benefit.

Regulatory Landscape

The design of time-off plans has become increasingly more complex, with the current regulatory landscape mandating paid sick leave. Approximately 37 city, county, and state laws and ordinances are in place throughout the country in addition to Executive Order 13706 for Federal Contractors.

Specific ordinances include Chicago, IL, Cook County, IL, Minneapolis, MN, and St. Paul, MN.

How MRA Can Help

MRA provides a range of services to support the effective design and implementation of your organization’s time-off plan:

• Develop an appropriate strategy and plan design to support your specific business environment.
• Benchmark your plan’s market competitiveness.
• Ensure compliance with the various time-off regulations, including sick leave.
• Develop employee communications, including policies and employee handbooks.