Insurance carriers provide a bevy of benefits to your clients, but a one-stop-shop for all things employee support they are not. As a consumer, there is a strong appeal for any opportunity to “bundle.” One source providing service for multiple needs? Pinch me and take my money.
There are times, however, when the elusive allure of one solution doing it all does more than a pinch, it can come back to bite you. Most insurance carriers are great at supporting the needs of your clients and their employee population as it pertains to insurance, but when they venture into the realm of leave of absence it becomes clear that they’re out of their depth.
Insurance carriers can’t deliver on leave management support
Insurance carriers are experts…on carrying insurance. While this may seem obvious to any benefits broker, what may be less obvious is that many of your clients are also using them for helping manage their leaves of absence. This becomes particularly problematic when an employee needs to file for state benefits and their People Ops team, who also aren’t leave experts, point them in the direction of their carrier’s 1-800 number. From there someone they’ve never spoken with before has to try to figure out who that employee is and what they need.
Every time they call.
Why is this important? Well, every leave of absence is unique, with new sets of characters and characteristics that can impact the kind of support needed to effectively help navigate a leave of absence. An employee might be going through one of the most challenging times of their lives; perhaps they need time to acclimate to experiencing the world with a disability, or perhaps they started their journey thinking they’d be taking a maternity leave only for it to tragically turn into a bereavement.
No one should have to “press zero to speak to a representative” when their life has been flipped on its head, but perhaps most importantly, insurance carriers are not leave of absence experts. They don’t provide 1-1 direct support so an employee is working with different representatives any time there’s a question, and they don’t have in-house experts who specialize in mastering leave laws.
Then there’s the issue of visibility. Your client is responsible for helping their employees navigate leave, but they have no window into the support the employee is, or in most cases is not, getting. The “you don’t know what you don’t know” game is an especially dangerous one to play when it comes to being compliant and providing empathetic support.
What does good leave management support look like?
Good leave management support means different things from the People Ops side as it does the employee side, but it needs to be effective for both parties.
What your clients need: Your client needs a holistic leave management solution that takes all the administrative burdens off their plate while delivering a seamless experience to their employee population. They need to have one system that tracks, updates, educates, and informs everyone involved in a leave and all leaves need to be administered consistently.
Whether it’s payroll needing accurate pay calculations or an employee’s manager needing instruction on what rights their direct report has so they avoid potential legal troubles, good leave management support reduces compliance risks, streamlines and guides employees through complicated processes like applying for state benefits programs, and offers empathetic human support backed by leave law experts so your client knows their employees are in good hands.
What your client’s employees need: There’s a good chance that your client’s employees have never taken a leave of absence before and with how complicated they are, intimidation is a real factor. The emotions an employee might be going through when they realize they need a leave of absence can range from excited to heartbroken, but what they really want from their employer is the feeling of, “Hey, take care of yourself, we’re going to make this as easy and supported as possible for you.”
Where insurance carriers don’t have the systems or expertise to deliver on these needs, a modern leave management solution like Tilt does.
Tilt has a team of in-house leave law experts that not only supports our tech platform, but are also at the ready should our Leave Success Managers (AKA LSMs, AKA Empathy Warriors) need them. Leave laws are constantly changing and your clients have to deal with some wild employee leave scenarios…trust us.
Our LSMs are the heartbeat of Tilt. They ensure your client’s employees are getting the support they actually need when they need it. Here’s just one example of what we mean:
My LSM Sabrina was such a wonderful surprise from the day we met. Navigating FMLA is confusing, and somewhat frightening to navigate on your own especially as you’re going through such a large life change. I was so happy on day one when Sabrina emailed me immediately to chat live about leave, and what I need to do and helped consult on strategy. Sabrina, thank you so much for all that you did to make my leave easy and enjoyable, you are the best! – Nash C. Principal Product Manager @ Invoca
When an employee logs into Tilt, a leave plan has already been created for them so all that they have to do is walk through the steps laid out before them. Further, we also make it easy for them to see how much they’re getting paid and where the source is coming from.
Tilt removes the busywork and anxieties around leave that an insurance carrier just doesn’t factor into their offerings. By bundling leave management services with a carrier, your clients simply aren’t getting the support they actually need.
By proposing Tilt to your clients you’re proving to them that you actually understand one of their biggest pain points and have the solution they’ve been dreaming of. Pinch them awake from their leave management nightmare with Tilt.
About Tilt
Tilt is leading the charge in all things leave of absence management through easy-to-use tech and human touch. Since 2017, our proprietary platform and Empathy Warriors have been helping customers make leave not suck by eliminating administrative burdens, keeping companies compliant, and providing a truly positive and supportive leave of absence experience for their people.
