When you look at your employee benefits, you can clearly visualize the need for vision insurance. You don’t have to squint to see that it’s as a key piece of any great offering, right up there next to health and dental insurance.

But when it comes to offering great vision plans, there’s more to meet the eye. You’ll want to be strategic in choosing (and changing) your eye-care offering.

The key to locking in a great vision insurance offering for your employees? Having a great broker. They’re the experts with an insider knowledge of the benefits industry as well as your business’ unique goals and values. They should be ready to go to bat for you and your employees.

When you’re working with the right benefits broker, they’re more than a consultant — they’re a partner. A great broker will proactively work to offer your employer the level of healthcare coverage that meets your needs. They’ll recognize where there’s room for improvement, and take a creative approach to solve problems. And most importantly, they’ll keep your employees’ health needs top of mind.

Whether you’re planning to make a change to a new vision carrier, shop around to see what’s out there, or build your total rewards offering from scratch, here’s your three-step guide to working with your broker to find the right carrier.

Step one: Determine what you need to change.

Before you send your broker out to market, you need to know what you’re looking for. Start by assessing your company’s needs, goals, and values, then build your wish list around what you see. Think of this process as developing your “shopping list” — and your broker is your “personal shopper.”

Your current plan

If you already have a plan in place, take a hard look at what it’s accomplishing for your business and employees.

Start by asking these questions:

• Have your employees run into issues getting the care they need?
• Have your employees been asking for any features or coverage that are not currently included in these plans?
• What did your last renewal increase look like? How does it compare to years past?
• Does your vision plan ever come up in hiring conversations or exit interviews? If so, how?

Employee population

One-size-fits-all benefits almost never work out. If you want to give your employees an offering that meets their needs, you’ll have to build it around their needs.

Data on employee demographics can be a valuable tool in shaping predictions on plan utilization. By considering their anticipated health needs, you’ll have a better sense of what their plans should cover.

The more diverse your employee population, the more plan options you’ll need. For example, a single 28-year-old employee will have different needs than the 50-year-old with three kids. A great benefits offering will have options for both.

Business goals and budget

Take a look at your employer’s strategic plan over the coming years. How do your vision care expenditures line up with the vision for your company’s future?

Remember that this may not boil down to price tag alone. If you’re planning on building out your headcount, for example, you’ll want a competitive total rewards package to sweeten the pot for job candidates.

Competitive landscape

Think about the other players in your industry. You’re not just competing on basket-weaving, or llama grooming, or whatever it is you do. You’re also competing on the level of support you provide to the folks who drive your business forward: your employees.

When done right, benefits give your employer the edge you need to hire and retain great employees. This is one area where you don’t want to be average.

You might need to do some research here. Talk to your broker about what other employers in your industry and geographic area are offering, and use that benchmark to set your standards high.

But think twice before making any big changes.

One word of caution about vision insurance: If you already have a plan in place, you may not want to make any changes unless you think it’s really necessary.

If you’re motivated solely by money, you might want to look elsewhere for potential cost savings. Sure, you might be able to save some cash by switching plans — but there’s a low chance that you’ll see significant savings. Those single-digit rate cuts may not be worth disrupting your employees’ plans.

(Instead, we’d recommend talking to your broker about where you can decrease your healthcare spend without sacrificing quality — that’s where the real savings are.)

Step two: Strategize with your benefits broker.

Take the “shopping list” you put together in step one and share it with your broker. Here are some conversation starters to kick off this dialogue:

• Before we make any big changes, can we take any action to help our employees better choose and use their plans? For instance, can we offer price comparison or healthcare navigation tools?
• If our company had the ideal plan set in place, what would be the biggest impacts a year down the line? Five years down the line?
• If you could wave a magic wand and immediately fix three problems with our current plan or strategy, what would they be?

Once you’re confident that they understand what you’re looking for, then we’re really off to the races. Sit back and let them go to market for you. Next stop, proposal town.

Step three: Review the proposals from your broker — and keep an eye out for red flags.

Proposals can be confusing. Sometimes this is by design. But you deserve to know what you’re getting into — and that may mean reading between the lines.

So we asked our expert team of seasoned brokers what to look for in these proposals: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Green flags that your broker has found you a great plan

• The proposal clearly reflects your needs, goals, and budget. This shows that both the carrier and your broker understand what you want, and may take a creative approach to build an offering that can fit your needs.
• The document sounds like it was written by a human, not a vision insurance robot.
• Your broker welcomes your questions. If you don’t understand something in the proposal, or simply want to talk through it with a real person, they’ll be there to help. The right partner will devote the time it takes to make sure you walk away feeling good about your decision.
• The HR community gives the carrier a thumbs up. The best proof is experience. And your best resource is your community. What are other HR leaders saying about this carrier?

Red flags that you may want to keep looking (or find a new broker)

• The proposal reads like a one-size-fits-all template. If you don’t see your company reflected anywhere besides its name, your broker may not see you as anything more than a number.
• Your broker can’t explain how this proposal will help your employer achieve its goals. Plain and simple: this partnership shouldn’t be one-sided.
• Your broker can’t tell you for certain who your main point of contact will be. If a carrier or brokerage has a high rate of associate turnover, it’s probably for a reason.
• One proposal is drastically less expensive than the others. Look, we love a good deal. But in the benefits space, sometimes you get what you pay for. Before you choose the cheapest option based on price alone, do some research into what they’re really offering.

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