2015 Group and Worksite Benefits Conference (U.S.)

Join us as the conference begins to meet and greet peers while you share ideas and common experiences. Enjoy a beverage as you renew old friendships and make new acquaintances.

In just five short years, the 80 million Millennials (ages 18-33) in the U.S. will make up more than 50 percent of the U.S. workforce. And in 10 years, Millennials are expected to make up 75 percent of the workforce — and, more importantly, become a significant force in leadership. As more and more Boomer leaders are retiring, Millennials are leapfrogging over the 40 million Gen X’ers (ages 34-49) to take on leadership roles. As carriers, we need to be ready for this generational swing and understand the impacts of the Millennial employee and Millennial senior leader. We know that the benefits brokers are grappling with the issues of recruiting new talent and retaining young employees, as well as selling to the Millennial customer. We know that our employer customers are challenged with managing employee productivity and satisfaction across several fundamentally different generations. And, we’ve all finally recognized that the one-size-fits all approach to employee benefits communication is a thing of history. But are we ready for 2020? This session will feature practical steps to help prepare for “GenY2K20.”

Through the use of insights and analytics, how can companies predict what buying behaviors and product preferences are most likely and time them so that the product offerings are aligning with consumers personal expectations? Attend this session to:

• Understand how companies are using predictive modeling to determine consumer buying patterns
• Learn the fundamentals of analytics and how to mine your data in the most effective ways
• Gain a better understanding of how insights can become actionable through the use of non-traditional data sources

Looking for distribution perspective on future growth opportunities? Join us for a panel discussion with senior distribution leaders to address key opportunities and challenges to growth including:

• Achieving sales growth in a constantly changing business environment
• Evaluating and identifying new distribution channels
• Predicting the changing role and responsibilities of the group sales representative

You built it, they came…Now what do they think? Attend this session and learn how employees and HR leaders view the initial rollout of insurance exchanges. Key areas of focus will include:

• Technology interface
• Communication
• Decision Support

Every year at our event, industry leaders share their thoughts about today’s most important topics. This is your opportunity to hear how they are adopting new perspectives and clearing the way to grow their organizations.

(Pre-registration for this session is required. See registration form for more details.)

The “A View From the Top” general session is guaranteed to be thought-provoking. Join fellow executives in a moderated roundtable discussion with the panelists to further explore key issues, share perspectives, and hear fresh ideas on the issues impacting us all.

Customer expectations are rapidly increasing. This session will give you insights on changes in customer expectations and what can be done to meet their higher standards. Learn what other organizations are doing and obtain practical ideas that you can deploy in your organization.

• Learn why building a customer experience is important to your bottom line
• Gain better understanding of tools (such as journey mapping) to help you design a better customer experience
• Hear how customer experience has been put into practice

Interested in learning carrier perspectives on how to evaluate and implement various private exchanges? Join a panel discussion with leaders from several successful carriers in this space to discuss:

• What exactly are the fundamental components of a private exchange?
• What are the focus areas to include during the evaluation period?
• What are lessons learned from doing business with exchanges?

To help you better understand the challenges and trends in management of healthcare expenses, employee benefits, and benefit program administration, in this session you will:

• Hear how employers are adapting to ACA requirements, and their key objective during the next 1-3 years with regard to employee benefit programs.
• Learn about employer pain points in providing valuable, but affordable benefit options. What would make their job easier in delivery of a successful benefits program?
• Understand employer perspectives on federal, state and private exchanges.
• Identify changes you need to make in benefit design and delivery to better align with employer objectives.

Meet today’s players

• Brokers, carriers, employers and employees. Where/How are they positioned?
• Where are we now?
• What’s the current exchange market? Is it meeting expectations?
• Where are we headed?
• How are roles evolving?
• What is the market outlook?

The continued evolution of the employee benefits marketplace, benefit technologies and consumer demographics are putting increasing pressure on carriers to understand and react to these new realities. Product development activities are critically important as these dynamics force carriers to innovate with increasing speed and efficiency in order to succeed. In this session, a panel of industry-leading product experts will explore:

• The product development process: yesterday and tomorrow
• How new thinking gives rise to new product leaders
• Powerful “products” of today and tomorrow

A strategic environment analysis synthesizes industry, customer, corporate, market and competitive trends to identify options available to corporate decision-makers for determining the optimal positioning for their organization. Participants will use provided information to develop an analytic map of the strategic environment that can be overlaid with their own organization’s capabilities and strengths to recommend optimal organizational positioning.

This is an interactive workshop where all participants will be asked to take a role on a team, study the data provided, and develop insights for their team’s discussions and work. Given the limited time available for the sessions, we request all registered participants to review a short situation assessment reading assignment prior to the workshop, along with an optional reading assignment of invaluable market intelligence, both of which will be provided prior to the conference.

This workshop is in two parts: because of the team requirements, you must attend and participate in both workshops.

As leaders are preparing for the future of enrollment, administration and security, many things probably keep you up at night. These technology leaders will share:

• What new technologies and strategies are companies using to handle the quickly changing marketplace?
• What changes have been the most impactful to organizations in the swiftly evolving voluntary benefits market?
• What are some of the most important things we as technology professionals need to change to remain relevant in the changing market?

Employers are facing a complex set of challenges brought on by the ACA, and are responding with changes in benefit offerings, contribution strategies, and even the ways they offer benefits.

• Understand employers’ biggest ACA concerns including the employer mandate, IRS reporting and the Cadillac Tax
• Learn about emerging strategies employers are adopting in response to rising health care costs and staffing challenges
• Consider how carriers may want to respond to these changes by helping employers manage through this dynamic environment

For Workshop Part I participants only. See session description for concurrent session 10 above.

The panel’s goal will be not only to address key issues and opportunities to consumer marketing in the employee benefits space, but to discuss solutions that engage and empower employees to select options that meet their needs.

• How consumers learn about and shop for benefits
• The role brand plays in the minds of consumers in employee benefits
• Measuring the effectiveness of marketing channels to drive performance

Recent research shows that 85 percent of employers say tools that help with plan selection are very important compared to 70 percent in 2013. Find out how medical and non-medical carriers are handling this important component of the enrollment customer experience to drive growth.

• Learn what medical carriers, leaders in decision support tools are doing.
• See how non-medical carriers are deploying decision support tools.
• Gain insights about best practices.

What’s the creative process like in your company? Are you limiting yourself and your company’s potential by what you think is possible? Or can you find solutions in unexpected places? Drawing on his experience as a National Geographic photographer, Steve Uzzell presents a unique perspective and will challenge you to expand your idea of what’s within your reach. Uzzell believes people only see what they prepare themselves to understand. If you can sharpen your vision, your possibilities are limitless. Says Uzzell: “Once your mind is open, the power of your imagination is released.” Listen to his session to find out how you can make great strides in the group and worksite benefits market.

(All registered attendees are welcome.)

This presentation will explain how humans make decisions and why our expectations that people will choose in their own best interest are often wrong. The audience will learn about different behavior heuristics that impact decision making and participate in exercises that illustrate that all of us are subject to these heuristics. Understanding of the decision making influences will help the audience understand how to better position products, pricing and marketing messages to their target markets.

Organizations currently face two significant challenges to their survival and success: continued revenue generation and regulatory compliance. Growth is dependent on sufficient compliance as well as viable business practices. In this session, we will explore the importance of partnering with your compliance team to achieve business goals while successfully maintaining compliance in a rapidly changing environment. We will discuss:

• How compliance is changing to adapt the new customer
• The impact of changing products
• How market dynamic changes lead to new opportunities as well as the challenges
• Critical issues that need to be tackled to achieve success

How to drive participation through the enrollment spectrum; from automatic to passive, modified and active?

• Learn how to use innovative techniques to perfect automatic/ negative enrollment.
• What are the new trends in decision support tools?
• Do value add services drive more participation?

Employee communication and enrollment services are among the most rapidly evolving areas in Employee Benefits. Are your products ready for the new world? Enrollment services and communication firms are on the cutting edge of the people, process and technology shaping our evolving industry. Find out if your company is in the game…or behind the pack when it comes to handling enrollment and employee engagement.

• How are the disruptors in the market today changing the way they do business?
• What strategic and tactical opportunities are on the horizon? What should carriers be doing to win in the future?
• What are employers demanding in terms of employee benefit education and guidance, enrollment simplification tools and keeping pace with changing compliance requirements?
• What does the enrollment communication firm of the future look like?

The world of insurance distribution as we know it is changing. Big tech platforms like Google and Facebook, retailers like Amazon and Walmart, mobile operators like Verizon and AT&T, private health insurance exchanges and others are radically changing how and from whom we’ll buy insurance and other service. And consumers, especially the next wave of buyers, are all too willing to consider new ways to buy all kinds of insurance. In this session, Forrester Research examines: 

• Why traditional insurance sales channels are prime disruption targets 
• How disruption is reshaping the distribution landscape 
• How will you adapt your business to compete in this new world?