Introduction
Precision Media aims to set the standard for innovation and service in audio and visual design, catering to commercial and residential clients. They are a premier A/V design and integration firm based out of Denver, Colorado.
Why they love Lively:
Automated HSA administration to save time and reduce costs
Support for employee education to drive adoption
Efficient, transparent pricing
Administrator profiled:
Jenn Rollins, HR and Accounting Manager
50%
of employees enrolled in an HSA
Lively HSA
Lively benefits offered
10
likelihood of recommending Lively on a scale of 1-10
50%
of employees enrolled in an HSA
Lively HSA
Lively benefits offered
10
likelihood of recommending Lively on a scale of 1-10
The Challenge
Offering a competitive, cost-effective benefits package
A high-end A/V design and installation firm in Denver, CO, Precision Media Solutions needed a way to meet the needs of their employees, empower them to utilize their health benefits, and simplify HR administration. Jenn Rollins, the HR and Accounting Manager, is responsible for benefits, payroll, and accounting. In addition to balancing her many responsibilities, Rollins is passionate about educating and empowering employees to take control of their healthcare and benefits. Rollins is an early adopter of and advocate for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and feels strongly they are part of a competitive, flexible benefits package.
As a growing small business, finding affordable benefits that offer a competitive advantage for recruiting and retaining employees is a challenge. Before Lively, Rollins had tried an employer-sponsored HSA through United Healthcare, provided by Optum, but the fees were too high for her company and employees. “Until I found Lively, and I’d been searching for a couple of years, the cost of entry for the company to provide an HSA was too much. We’re talking $2,000-$3,000 per year just to allow our employees to use it,” she explained.
She also tried encouraging employees to sign up for HSAs on their own, but enrollment lagged and the company missed out on the tax savings and ease of payroll integration. Lively’s HSA has simple, transparent pricing and no hidden fees, making the HSA benefit more accessible to growing businesses like Precision Media. In addition to the cost savings, Lively’s smart automation and an easy-to-use admin dashboard simplify enrolling employees and HSA administration for Rollins.
“It’s a challenge as a small business to offer benefits at all, especially for a small business when meeting the needs of our employees and remaining competitive in the market are the same thing," explains Rollins. "So by meeting the needs of our employees, we can be competitive in our market.”
The Goal
Empower employees to understand their healthcare needs, and meet them
In her role as the HR manager, Rollins has three main goals:
Enable Precision Media Solutions employees to have a work/life balance.
Clear the red tape for employees to enable them to more nimbly navigate a confusing healthcare system in the United States.
Educate employees to empower them to take control of their healthcare options.
With its triple-tax advantage, including tax-free spending on qualified health expenses, HSAs combined with a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) offer both Precision Media Solutions and their employees flexibility and healthcare cost savings in both the short and long term.
I try to have education be part of benefits selection because I think people being aware of what they're doing and why they're doing it makes a bigger difference for success.
HDHP and HSA: A powerful combination
Rollins has found during her 25 years of experience working in HR that most employees don't utilize their healthcare benefits unless they have an emergency. Many also put off routine care. She explains, “A majority of people don’t utilize 80% of their HMO or PPO plan. They just choose it because they think it’s the best. So they end up paying a premium that’s twice as high as they needed it to be.”
An HDHP offers lower premiums than a traditional PPO and, when paired with an HSA, tax savings. “When I train my employees, I call the HSA a health 401(k) — that’s how I describe it to them. Except it’s tax-free going in and out, which is a huge benefit,” explains Rollins. She says, “I love being able to offer HSA contributions directly through payroll so that employees get the pre-tax benefits in addition to HSA benefits. Also, having a company-sponsored plan helps me to manage, observe, and encourage greater enrollment than employees needing to go to their individual bank to set up an account.“
Empowering employees and providing education is critical
Employee education is a primary focus for Rollins. “My goal is always to have my employees understand their families’ needs and what they're doing and not blindly select their benefits. I try to have education be part of benefits selection because I think people being aware of what they're doing and why they're doing it makes a bigger difference for success. They can utilize that knowledge as power when they're using their insurance and other benefits,” says Rollins.
Lively’s intuitive features and built-in education, resources, and support for employers and employees complement Rollins' efforts to educate employees on the value of their HSA and utilizing their benefits.
I love that you automatically take money out of our account every month, or every week because we do weekly payroll. With Lively, I can just adjust [employee] numbers and adjust my payroll and everything else is fixed.
The Lively solution
An affordable, easy-to-adopt solution with no employee “noise”
When Rollins first began searching for HSAs, she found high prices and barriers to entry for small businesses. “United Healthcare did not allow, if you had fewer than 20 people, to do an HSA-sponsored program through them. And the fees for entry were too much,” she explained.
At first, she encouraged employees to get an HSA through their individual banks, but it was difficult to get employees to complete the HSA sign up process. Lively was different. “It was really easy to get set up with Lively,” says Rollins, “[Our designated person] who helped us get set up took us on a tour. Showed me how to do it and it's just a very intuitive website, in general.”
Employees also found the Lively platform easy to use and Rollins notes, “Most of them have done very well, adopted it, and finished their enrollment.” She explains that, “With regard to HR, it's a situation where 90% of the time I don't hear about things unless it's a problem.” About working with Lively she says, “No, we don’t hear anything, but that’s good. Meaning, employees don’t have trouble. The one employee I helped get logged in, said, ‘Oh, this is so easy.’”
My experience with Lively is that it's very easy to work with. I don't have a full team of people to do things and as a small business, the ability to automate tasks is lovely.
Relieving the HR burden with automation and easy administration
As the manager of HR and accounting for a small business, Rollins has many tasks on her plate. Lively’s automated features simplify her work and help Precision Media Solutions save money. “My experience with Lively is that it's very easy to work with,” says Rollins. “I don't have a full team of people to do things and as a small business, the ability to automate tasks is lovely. However, there’s usually our cost barrier to entry to get things done automatically. So Lively allows a lot of the HSA features to be automated, which is really nice. Signing people up for it is really easy.”
Lively’s features also streamline ongoing HSA administration. “I love that Lively is able to take out the money for payroll automatically — that I don't have to send a transfer or remind it to do so,” says Rollins. By contrast, their 401(k) plan requires weekly, manual contributions, “which is a tedious process and it's one where there's more likely to be mistakes. Whereas with Lively, I can just adjust [employee] numbers and adjust my payroll and everything else is fixed.”
With Lively's affordable pricing for growing businesses, and access to automation through an easy-to-use platform, Precision Media Solutions is able to scale their benefits program and drive meaningful cost savings as they continue to grow their headcount.
About Lively
Lively is the benefits solutions provider that gets it right. We designed our solutions to take the guesswork out of managing benefits. Our innovative features are built to simplify benefits administration and evolve with your business. By combining robust features with unparalleled service, we make benefits administration effortless, even when your time and energy are limited.
Experience benefits administration as it should be with Lively.