DIVERSIFIED MIX    Family-operated brokerage giant offers benefits services to direct clients & supports wholesale and general agency areas as well A few pieces of the puzzle won't always reveal the big picture, but at Bollinger, Inc., in Short Hills, New Jersey, employee benefits is a big and growing portion of the business of the nation's 17th largest insurance brokerage. And the firm's diverse package of benefits services that include retail and wholesale benefits sales and administration as well as underwriting management are critical components of the 21st century mosaic of risk management and business consulting services, says Chip Graber, managing director of employee benefits services. "Our overall objective is to become a leader in the employee benefits arena, and to bring together the various components of employee benefits in such ways as to not only help our retail clients but also support our work in the wholesale and general agency areas of benefits sales and management," he explains. Graber, who was named managing director of the benefits division this past December, says Bollinger not only has improved its value proposition for its retail clients, but also has expanded the roles played by its wholesale and benefit programs operations. Synergistically, each of the areas of service contributes to the firm's capabilities and helps differentiate the firm from the larger brokerage giants and the smaller independent agencies. "We position ourselves to be large enough to provide the broad range of services that employers require and yet small enough to pay attention and provide the personal service that larger firms cannot," he says. "Surprisingly, after all of our growth, Bollinger is still a family-operated business with all of the relationships and trust that usually implies." Click here for the complete article …

ROADMAP TO A STRONGER BENEFITS PRACTICE    Check out these "rules of the road" Before I started Benefits Growth Network, I spent 18 years in the independent agency system, the last 14 at the same agency. Most of my time there was spent helping to develop the benefits practice. It was a great experience, one that came with significant growth, both personal and departmental, through both successes and mistakes. Knowing that many of you are in agencies that look a lot like my old agency, I thought I would share some of the highlights of that "road trip." As you look to grow your own benefits department, my hope is that you can get there faster by learning from some of my experiences. Let me first set the scene for the situation I walked into. I was the sixth benefits department manager in the 16-year history of the agency and the fourth within three years. The P-C producers had no confidence in the department and were not eager to place their client relationships at "risk." There were virtually no relationships with the insurance carriers; we were an unknown entity to them. There wasn't enough benefits revenue to justify the two of us now working in the department, and certainly not enough to make the department profitable. Mile Marker 1-Establish relationships. Needless to say, I had a lot to prove. The first thing I had to do was connect with three groups of people: P-C producers, insurance carriers, and our existing clients. Click here for the complete article …

CRACKING OPEN THE SMALL BUSINESS RETIREMENT MARKET    The government is on your side-No, really The nation has a retirement savings shortfall, and it's getting the attention of legislators. The good news is that some of the remedial strategies being considered, both by government and by industry representatives, could open new opportunities for employee benefits brokers and advisors. Generally, the discussion within the industry concerning retirement insecurity focuses on making improvements to existing defined contribution plans-encouraging better communication with participants, a better product line-up and the like. But there's another, unrelated contributor to the problem of under-funded retirement: A large number of small businesses offer no retirement plan at all. According to U.S. Census estimates, only 29% of workers employed by businesses with fewer than 100 employees have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. By comparison, 81% of workers in companies with 100 or more employees have access to such plans. Recent figures from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) confirm this trend and further indicate that among very small companies (fewer than 10 employees), only 18% of employers offer retirement plans to their workers. Also, the average retirement savings balance for employees with a retirement plan at work is almost six times greater than the balance for those without a workplace plan, according to EBRI figures. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) plan to introduce bipartisan legislation that could significantly expand the availability of defined contribution retirement plans to small businesses, whose owners currently are disinclined to offer such plans because of administrative expenses and liability concerns. They want to expand on an idea that has been in existence for a while but thus far has not worked terribly well: Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs). Click here for the complete article … A HEIGHTENED ROLE FOR BENEFITS AS JOB MARKET IMPROVES    Aflac-commissioned, independent study links job satisfaction to voluntary benefits, wellness programs Money, money, money. When employers talk about their employee benefits plans, they usually focus on the steadily escalating costs that are driven by high employee utilization and skyrocketing medical technology inflation. Costs are still the most prominent issue for employers, but as the economy improves, allowing employees greater job mobility, employee recruitment and retention have returned to the spotlight as important drivers for employers rethinking their employee benefits package. What benefits attract and hold the best employees? How do workers value the benefits they receive and choose the benefits that are optional? These questions may drive the employer decisions of the coming Rebound Economy. According to the 2012 AFLAC Workforce Report, a new national survey of 2,000 employer decision-makers and more than 6,000 workers, a growing number of workers are quitting or considering quitting their jobs as the economy improves. What holds them back from issuing a pink slip to their bosses? Their benefits, and the special needs they fulfill, they say. The 2012 AFLAC Workforce Report was conducted earlier this year by Research Now, an international online survey organization with U.S. offices in Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco. The survey was conducted in January and February of this year. The survey reveals that workers who are most satisfied with their employee benefits package are least likely to be dissatisfied with their employment, but there were several ways in which employee benefits were not yet meeting their needs for better health and a more secure life. Click here for the complete article …  Click here to unsubscribe This message was sent by The Rough Notes Company, Inc., 11690 Technology Drive, Carmel, Indiana, 46032 1-800-428-4384