How KPI’s and Data Can Strengthen Your Employee Benefit Plan

As we move in to a more automated and data-driven workforce, there’s one buzzword that seems to rise above the rest, Key Performance Indicator (KPI). It’s consistently driven home that you need KPI’s and you need to monitor them, but no one ever seems to say what they really are and how they can help your business.

What is a KPI?

Per the Oxford Dictionary a KPI is “a quantifiable measure used to evaluate the success of an organization, employee, etc. in meeting objectives for performance.” Put more simply, it’s a measure that shows how well a company and/or plan is doing at reaching its objectives.

Benefits of KPIs

As goals are set, a KPI makes evaluating outcomes and performance that much easier. Often, goals are set but tracking those goals in a meaningful capacity isn’t maintained. This is where the implementation of KPI’s can be most useful. It is always fair to keep in mind that using a KPI to evaluate is great, but if the KPI doesn’t inspire action or if it’s not regularly referred to, it is practically useless.

Employee Benefit Plans and KPIs

Discussion around KPIs are typically focused on a company, organization, or some other entity. In the rear-view mirror sits the Employee Benefit Plans (EBPs) operating on behalf of employees. EBPs are just as important to review for KPI purposes. The most notable KPI for an EBP for a lot of these plans is straightforward – return on investment. We all understand the importance behind this, but there are others important metrics that Plan Sponsors should be considering such as:

• Participation rate. How many of the total population of employees are actively participating? This can drive questions around the need for additional internal education or effectiveness of current platforms.
• Retirement readiness & planning estimates. Are employees saving enough to retire with enough money to live as they do today? Should they be saving more? Are employees saving early to be able to have more later in life? Again, reviewing this KPI is critical to outlining additional needs and opportunities around retirement planning, determining what is needed to save to retire and live the life employees want and more.
• Fees per participant. How much is the company (and the employee!) paying in fees compared to other plans? Digging into this metric could lead to further research and critical conversations that could save the company and staff money.
• Organizational workforce distribution… and many more!

Now What? How to Set Yourself Up for Success with KPIs

Interested in learning more about KPIs and how they could help your business and EBP? Maner Costerisan can support organizations through the whole KPI process. Our team of EBP, strategy and wealth management experts can help you set critical business goals, identify which KPI’s are most valuable to your business, implement software to measure and report on those key metrics, and offer solutions to help you achieve (and exceed!) your goals. In almost no time you can get better insight into your business and start making better informed decisions.

Contact us to learn more about how Maner can help your organization with KPIs.