June 27, 2022

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are complex and evolving matters that have been hot topics of discussion for companies for quite some time.  Although everyone in the organization has a part to play, often it’s HR that is leading the DEI strategy, training employees to learn and unlearn, and driving change throughout the organization.

SEB’s clients are HR leaders from Canada’s top companies, and they are driving change in diversity, equity and inclusivity when it comes to the employee benefits experience.  Every organization has different needs, but the desire to create an environment and experiences where all employees feel that they belong is important to many organizations.

One area of focus is the practice of collecting gender demographic data which has traditionally been required for pricing benefits or insurance.  HR leaders are working with their carriers to determine a more inclusive approach, one that is the right fit and is financially sustainable for their organization. Some organizations are implementing group insurance benefits with one “unique rate” that does not require employees to specify their gender. Others allow the employee to select “X” for gender and deploy a new rate table for gender “X”.

One-size does not fit all when solutioning this complex and ever-evolving matter. Once an approach is decided, it’s important to have a flexible benefits administration provider whose system is agile and can be configured to support these plan design changes or any solution updates, especially if there is a carrier change down the road and that carrier has a different approach.

At SEB, we understand that the employee experience will continue to evolve and drive change in benefits plans.  We built our core business around the fact that employers need flexibility, automation, and an enhanced user experience.