Every benefits renewal begins with good intentions.

Leadership teams review claims, discuss premiums, evaluate plan design changes, and establish budgets for the year ahead. These conversations are important. But after more than three decades of working with organizations across Canada, I've noticed something surprising:

Many organizations spend significant time discussing what their benefits plan costs, but far less time discussing what it's actually accomplishing.

That distinction matters.

The Workplace Has Changed

Today's employees are managing challenges that extend far beyond the office.

They may be supporting aging parents while raising children, navigating mental health concerns, dealing with a chronic illness, facing financial stress, or helping a family member through a difficult diagnosis.

HR leaders rarely experience these issues as "benefits problems."

Instead, they often appear as absenteeism, declining engagement, reduced productivity, increased turnover, or employees who seem to be struggling without knowing where to turn.

Yet many benefits plans continue to operate largely in the background, renewed year after year with relatively little discussion about whether they're helping employees navigate the realities of modern life.

Perhaps the more important question isn't what a benefits plan costs, but what role it's intended to play.

More Isn't Always Better

When organizations identify a gap in employee wellbeing, the instinct is often to add something.

A new vendor. A new app. A new program.

But does adding more support necessarily improve the employee experience?

Many organizations now offer extensive benefits and wellbeing resources, yet employees still report feeling overwhelmed, uncertain about where to find help, or unaware of what is available to them.

A benefits plan can look impressive on paper and still fall short when employees need it most.

The challenge may not be the number of programs available. It may be something else entirely.

Awareness and Impact Are Different Things

Most employers invest time communicating their benefits.

Employees receive onboarding materials, emails, reminders, and plan information throughout the year.

But awareness and action are not the same thing.

An employee can know a resource exists and still never use it.

They can receive multiple communications and still be unsure where to turn when a personal challenge emerges.

This raises an interesting question for employers:

How do we know whether our communications are actually helping employees engage with the support available to them?

For many organizations, that answer is less clear than they might expect.

Looking Beyond Cost

Cost will always matter. Every organization has budgets to manage and financial decisions to make.

But cost alone provides a limited view of success.

Two organizations can invest a similar amount in benefits and achieve very different outcomes for their people.

Why?

That question has become increasingly important as employers face increased pressure to attract talent, retain employees, support wellbeing, and demonstrate value from their investments.

The organizations seeing the greatest return from their benefits strategy may not necessarily be spending more. They may simply be approaching the conversation differently.

A Different Conversation at TLOMA

At this year's TLOMA Conference, I'll be exploring questions that are becoming increasingly relevant for employers:

What role should benefits play in today's workplace? How do we measure success beyond cost?  And what changes when we stop viewing benefits as a line item and start treating them as a strategic tool?

During my session, From Line Item to Lever: How the Best Companies Turn Benefits Into Loyalty, we'll examine why some benefits strategies create stronger engagement and loyalty than others, how organizations can evaluate success beyond cost, and what questions leaders should be asking as employee needs continue to evolve.

Because if employee benefits represent one of an organization's largest investments in its people, perhaps it's time to expect more from them than simply paying claims.

Before your next renewal, ask yourself: Are you measuring what your benefits plan costs, or what it accomplishes?

Join the conversation at TLOMA and discover how leading organizations are turning benefits from an expense to manage into a strategic advantage.

Roger Thorpe is President of Thorpe Benefits, an integrated benefits and wellness consulting company based in Toronto since 1982. 

Having joined the firm in 1997 and later acquiring ownership of the company in 2005, Roger has built a team of senior consultants that understand Group Benefits inside out.   Customized solutions are cost-effective, incorporate Wellness and are designed to promote employee health, maintain employee loyalty, increase retention and enhance a company’s culture and overall appeal.

With deep insight into employee benefits, Roger has chosen to challenge existing benefits consulting models. Full transparency of fees and measured delivery of service is backed by a signed Service Agreement with clients. Thorpe Benefits is changing the "old-school" broker model where commissions are hidden and service is reactive.  

Roger is passionate about high performance living where training and improvement never stops.