o , li

P i lMmJki

u .. Hfej

f^ 1

Benefits^COVER PACKAGE

GROWAnd HR leads the way.

By Susan J. Wells

C n National Employee Benefits Day last year,leaders ofthe sponsoring organization encour-aged benefits professionals to celebrate by

cranking up a theme song, "Takin' Care of Benefits,"sung to the tune of Bachman-Turner Overdrive's 1970srock anthem "Takin' Care of Business."

The suggestion from the International Foundation ofEmployee Benefit Plans was intended as a fun way to getcorporate benefits executives to give themselves a pat onthe back. But the larger message was about showcasingthe importance that benefits have in today's workplaces.Corporate executives have come to realize benefits'potential to impact recruitment, retention and the bottomline.

"We have definitely seen a big evolution in the role,"says Julie Stich, the foundation's director of research.Benefits executives are now "involved with the financeand C-suite leadership of their companies—where strate-gic skills and results are more in demand."

Indeed, in a time of complex economic and regula-tory demands, where people resources are vital, the top

The author, a contributing editor o/HR Magazine, is a business journal-ist based in the Washington, D. C, area.

HR executive needs to have either a command of benefitsdesign or a benefits chief who is a close business partner.

Focusing on StrategiesNew job criteria and greater responsibilities for top bene-fits professionals are emerging, experts say. They include:• Collaborating with the senior leadership team.• Advising on health care reform.• Planning for mergers.• Analyzing how the organization's benefits compare

with competitors'.• Sizing up corporate weaknesses.• Encouraging Wellness.• Redesigning total rewards strategies.• Demonstrating return on investment.• Negotiating complex deals with vendors and

consultants."Years ago, the most common title after 'benefits' was

'administrator,' " says Jason Hanold, managing partnerand founder of Hanold Associates LLC, an HR executivesearch firm based in Evanston, 111. "It's really matured,expanded and elevated from that. Now it's more likely tobe 'leader.' "

Most benefits leaders are tapped by and usually report

March 2013 • HR Magazine 25

BenefitsCOVER PACKAGE

to a top HR leader or total rewards exec-utive. While benefits leaders have manyjob duties, they're generally definedas management-level individuals whodirect benefits and compensation pro-grams and align them with strategicgoals. Some organizations separate thebenefits and compensation functions,but benefits leaders typically operateunder and help define the total rewardsdiscipline. Benefits leaders work tomaintain a high-performance cultureand an organization's competitive posi-tion by rewarding and attracting top tal-ent through compensation and benefits.

Job descriptions typically call for astrategic partner who can work with topexecutives. Leadership skills and strate-gic business acumen have now usurpedrequired technical and functional exper-tise, Hanold explains.

Kay Curling, SPHR, senior vicepresident and chief human resource offi-cer for Salient Federal Solutions Inc.,agrees: "HR at its best is not about beingadministrative experts," she notes, "butrather being transformational partners."

An executive presence, a strong abil-ity to influence people, creative thinkingand unquestionable credibility top thelist ofthe most-wanted skills in benefitsprofessionals, Hanold says. "It's nowbeyond 'How do we control costs?' It's'How do we influence the population?' "

Deveioping the Road iVIapPam Grove, senior director of benefitsand HR operations at Land O'LakesInc., has experienced the changing roleofthe benefits leader firsthand.

Since joining the St. Paul, Minn.-based farmer-owned food and agricul-tural cooperative in 1999, Grove hashelped lead the Fortune 250 companythrough benefits outsourcing and healthcare plan changes that have resulted inbetter service—and more than $35 mil-lion in health care savings since 2004.

In addition to financial results, shehas gained impressive participationrates in the high-deductible health plan

introduced in 2007. When the companyrolled out the plan. Grove and mem-bers of her team visited 100 locationsnationwide. She expected enrollmentto be about 35 percent in the first year,but her team's efforts led to 72 percentof employees choosing this lower-costoption. The 10,000-employee companyhas maintained the cost savings. Grovesays, with 83 percent of employees nowchoosing high-deductible coverage.

"It's a far cry from the days of 'OK,

let's do annual enrollment,' " Grovesays. "We really don't have transactionalstaff in-house anymore. Now, our inter-nal benefits team is really much morefocused on strategy, planning and vendormanagement. It's about directional plan-ning and developing that road map."

In fact, 10 years ago. Land O'Lakesofficials decided to explore benefitsoutsourcing to improve service andleave the old definitions of benefitsContinues on page 30

Use Benefits to Recruit Skiiled EmployeesIn a January 2013 Society for Human Resource Management survey report. State ot Employee Benefits in the

Workplace—Leveraging Benefits to Recruit Employees, 31 percent of employers reported that they use ben-

efits to recruit employees. A total of 447 respondents participated in the survey. In the next three to five years,

HR professionals expect benefits to become more important for attracting workers. The figures below repre-

sent the percentages of HR professionals who identified the following benefits as increasingly important.

Health care

Retirement savings and planning

Flexible working benefits

Preventive health and Wellness

Professional and career development benefits 6 1 %

26 HR Magazine • March 2013

BenefitsCOVER PACKAGE

administration behind. At the time,benefits were handled internally, butHR leaders concluded that benefitsadministration just wasn't an activ-ity that contributed strategically to thecompany. The HR team had alreadybeen outsourcing 401(k) administra-tion to an HR consultant for about adecade. It seemed to make sense to shedadministration of health insurance andpensions.

"Doing benefits administration

Grove has a passion for this. "My jobis all about balancing employees beingbappy with the business being competi-tive, so benefits leaders really have a lotof pressure on them," she says. "Theworst thing you could possibly hear isthat someone doesn't want to work forour company because ofthe benefits."

Making the Business CaseHealth care and health care reform topthe agenda for Diane Heyman, SPHR,

wasn't a core competency—nor shouldit be," says Grove, who also helps setthe company's compensation and totalrewards strategies.

While the resulting cost savings wasimportant, it wasn't the primary driverbehind the decision to outsource ben-efits administration. HR leaders wantedto dedicate time to strategic activitiesthat would affect the bottom line.

"We were changing how HR wasviewed, and we didn't want to beadministrative," she says. "We wantedto be viewed as a top business partnerinvolved in decision making."

global head of compensation and ben-efits at Hilton Worldwide.

"As benefits professionals, we'rebeing looked to by our company's leadersto make sense of what to do with thesenew laws, which will have a significantimpact on most businesses," she says.

Heyman has spent much time con-sidering "ways we can change thedesigns ofthe plans we offer and think-ing innovatively about how to offer thebest benefits to our team members whilemanaging costs."

She has shared ideas and practiceswith benefits leaders inside and outside

the hotel industry. "These discussionshave been critical," she says. "It's theduty of our benefits team not just tounderstand what our team memberswant but also to offer the business casefor making changes." To make the busi-ness case, Heyman's team "offers more-meaningful analytics, competitive dataand information to help our executivesmake the right decisions."

A 20-year veteran of HR who holdsa bachelor's degree in business admin-istration and marketing, Heyman hasseen a shift in how the benefits functionworks within the business.

"Benefits is no longer about justproviding employees with traditionalplans," she says. "Our team has becomepartners with the business in how tooffer competitive packages."

For example, the company recentlymoved from separate vacation and sick-leave policies to a single paid-time-offsystem after competitive research andemployee surveys showed that time-offflexibility ranks high among employees.

Gauging Job ProspectsOutsourcing and technology affect ben-efits professionals' employment picture,in some cases stunting the growth oflow- to midlevel benefits jobs, accordingto the latest data from the 2012-13 edi-tion ofthe Bureau of Labor Statistics'Occupational Outlook Handbook. Thattrend is likely to continue, agency offi-cials predict.

Even as health care costs rise andcoverage options change and expand,employment of benefits managers isexpected to grow just 3 percent from2010 to 2020—considerably less thanthe 14 percent average projected rate ofgrowth for all occupations.

That means candidates can expect toface competition for available benefitsjobs. Those who have master's degrees,certifications, or experience workingwith compensation or benefits plansshould have the best prospects. A mixContinues on page 33

30 HR Magazine • March 2013

COVER PACKAGE

of corporate and consulting experiencealso may be a plus, Hanold suggests.

There's evidence that benefits willcontinue to grab the attention oftheC-suite as:• Health care reform kicks in.• More employers adopt Wellness and

prevention programs.• The cost of health insurance rises.• Managers in industries facing skills

gaps strive to attract hard-to-findemployees by offering better benefits.Nearly 90 percent of global benefits

directors at 140 multinational companies,for instance, say employee benefits areon the agenda for the boards and seniormanagers of their companies because of

Online Resources

To discuss the role of benefits profes-sionals, or for more information on thestrategio use of benefits and professionalcredentials, see the online version of thisartiole at www.shrm.ora/0313-benefits-professional.

the costs and risks of benefits programs,according to the 2012 Corporate Governanceof Global Employee Benefits Study con-ducted jointly by Aon Hewitt and theAmerican Benefits Institute last spring.

Climbing the 'Scaffold'There may not be one typical career lad-der that leads to a benefits leadershiprole, experts say, but wide-ranging expe-riences may help.

Just ask Grove and Curling. Beforebecoming a senior benefits professionalat Land O'Lakes, Grove was a U.S.benefits manager, an HR informationsystems and benefits/compensationmanager, and an HR generalist at sev-eral multinational companies.

Curling, Salient's senior vice presi-dent and chief human resource officer,parlayed a variety of HR and benefitsexperiences into a C-suite post at the1,200-employee federal informationtechnology and engineering company inFairfax, Va., two and a half years ago.

With a bachelor's degree in business

education. Curling entered the HR fieldyears ago to run a training department.

"I was an adult educator with a busi-ness background," she recalls. But whentough times hit and training budgetswere slashed, she knew it was time tobroaden her skills.

That led to 20 years of project man-agement and HR leadership positionsoverseeing benefits, compensation andHR information systems at three federalcontractors.

"I call it scaffolding; I've taken lateralmoves into project management," shesays. "You can have a diagonal move,horizontal or even downward. All haveopportunities to build your career."

For example. Curling was askedearly in her career to take on projectmanagement for a company client. Therole lasted six years and led to addi-tional billable work.

Project management "allowed meto learn firsthand how the business wasrun," she says.

At another point. Curling found

THE BENEFITS OF CREDENTIALSFor benefits professionals looking

to take on greater roles—or for

the chief human resource officers

looking to hire them—advanced

degrees and nationally recognized

professional credentials can help

establish credibility and demon-

strate hard skills and knowledge,

experts say. •

Jason Hanold, managing part-

ner and founder of HR executive

search firm Hanold Associates LLC,

notes an increase in demand for

master's degrees as proof of dem-

onstrated broader business acu-

men—and not necessarily in HR

studies. "The emphasis is on being

a continuous learner," he says.

The following are among the

most focused certifications:

Certified Employee Benefits

Speciaiist. The CEBS certification

is administered by the International

Foundation of Fmployee Benefit

Plans. The Wharton School of the

University of Pennsylvania oversees

academic content and standards.

Through the program, HR profes-

sionals can earn designations

in three areas: group benefits,

retirement and compensation. Last

year, the health care section ofthe

curriculum was revised to reflect

changes brought about by health

care reform. The program consists

of eight courses.

Graduates currently number

12,000 in the United States, with

300 to 400 new graduates every

year, says Linda Bielski, director of

CFBS field services. She estimates

that about one-third of the gradu-

ates are corporate human resource

professionals.

Certified Benefits Profes-

sionai. Administered by the

WorldatWork Society of Certified

Professionals, the program that

leads to this certification focuses on

designing and administering bene-

fits plans, complying with legal and

regulatory requirements, working

with benefits service partners and

outsourcing, and communicating

benefits information. Seven exams

are required.

Certified Compensation

Professional. Also administered

by WorldatWork Society of Certified

Professionals, the program that

leads to this certification integrates

compensation programs with busi-

ness strategy. It focuses on design-

ing and administering base and

variable pay, complying with U.S.

legal and regulatory requirements,

and effectively communicating

compensation information. Nine

exams test skills learned.

Hanold says he has seen a keen

interest among his clients for a

compensation designation.

iVIarch 2013 • HR Magazine 33

BenefitsCOVER PACKAGE

herself directing a team of nurses pro-viding advocacy services to employees.She took night classes at nursing schoolso that she "would have a fundamentalunderstanding ofthe medical issues thatthe nurses may encounter."

Curling was also involved in adozen buy-side acquisitions prior tojoining Salient. She views those transi-tions as important steps in her career."It puts you directly in the company ofthe C-suite," she says. And the acquisi-tions helped her learn how to executestrategies quickly and effectively:Less than 18 months after formingand leading an HR team at Salient,Curling drew on her background toroll out an HR information system,launch a set of employee benefits planswith more-robust benefits and lowercosts to employees, put a performancemanagement system in place, design

Earnings ofBenefits ProfessionalsThe demand for benefits professionals has led

to healthy salaries—especially for top benefits

executives, who were among the 10 highest-

paid top HR executives in 2012, according to

data from the 2012 General Industry Human

Resources Compensation Survey Report-U.S.

by Towers Watson.

Position

Top benefits executive

Group manager

Senior manager

Professional, master level

Manager

Professional, specialist level

Professionai, career level

Supervisor

Professional, intermediate level

Business, support lead

Professional, entry level

Business support, entry level

Median totalcash

compensation

$171,000

165,000

125,900

100,400

96,800

85,800

68,200

67,900

55,100

51,300

46,700

33,900

a compensation program and launchSalient University, a companywideonline learning platform.

Those changes proved beneficial.The voluntary attrition rate decreasedby 20 percent over 30 months, savingmore than $3 million and helping toestablish a foundation for coming acqui-sitions. And Curling says new compen-sation and benefits programs help createan environment where employees canbuild great careers, work on projectsand programs of national importance,and excel on high-performing teams.

Curling, who oversees a staff of 11,credits mentors and partners with help-ing her increase her knowledge andskills to link benefits and HR with busi-ness strategy.

"I sought out mentors such as CFOsand built relationships with key depart-ments like contracts, finance and legal,"she says.

To broaden skills and businessunderstanding. Curling recommendsthat benefits professionals consider:• Taking a role in another function.• Participating in cross-functional

teams and business projects.

• Seeking mentors beyond their func-tional area of interest."In this field, no two people get to

the top the same way," she observes.

Thinking AheadMany influences will shape the futurerole of benefits professionals and buildon the trend to make benefits more stra-tegic. It's a path with more challengesalong the way.

"Benefits used to be kind of a sleepylittle backwater," recalls Ray Goldberg,vice president of benefits strategy andeconomics at Marsh & McLennan Cos.,with 53,000 employees.

As benefits became more regulated,practitioners ofthe discipline becamefocused on compliance rather than plan-ning, he says. Now the rate of increase incosts serves as a hot button and attractsattention from senior business leaders.

"That has provoked some soul-searching over what we are doing andwhy," he adds. "The big question is'What's our role? How much ofit belongsto us, and how much belongs to employ-ees?' That is a subject and a journey thatmany of us are still on." 113

34 HR Magazine • March 2013

Copyright of HR Magazine is the property of Society for Human Resource Management and its content may not

be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.