IT: the seat most brokers do not have.
Eligibility files, payroll integration and the benefits platform are where plans actually break. Not in the plan design, and not in the renewal — in a file that moved between three systems and left one of them disagreeing about who is covered. We staff that seat on purpose, because the alternative is handing the problem back to HR as something to call the carrier about.
An integration connects the systems. It does not connect everything in them.
Employers reasonably assume that once payroll and the benefits platform are connected, the data agrees. In practice some fields move, some move one way only, and a short list moves not at all.
What moves, and which way
Demographic data is usually bi-directional and fast. Base compensation typically flows one way into the benefits platform; deduction codes and employer contributions flow the other way, sent at enrollment or when a cost changes.
What never moves
Retirement deferrals, commuter accounts and domestic partner deductions are commonly excluded entirely, because most systems cannot split a single deduction into pre-tax and post-tax portions. Those stay manual, and somebody has to know that.
The termination reason
No documented integration passes the reason for a separation across the wire — the platform records the separation and defaults it to voluntary. That field decides continuation eligibility, so a person confirms it.
Three jobs, all invisible until one of them fails.
Carrier feeds
Enrollment files to each carrier, error reports read rather than filed, and discrepancies resolved before the month closes. A rejected record is somebody uninsured who does not know it yet.
Platform build and maintenance
Plans, rates, classes, contribution rules and the annual rebuild at renewal. Most enrollment problems are configuration, not software.
Reconciliation
The carrier invoice against the platform against payroll, every month. It is the cheapest money in a benefits program and almost nobody does it.
Because the firm is run bottom up.
The team decides what it needs
The people on your account decide what it takes to run it — the software, the data access, more people. A technology seat exists because the service teams said the work required one.
It is where plans break in practice
Eligibility and file problems cause more denied claims, wrong invoices and employee frustration than plan design ever does. Owning it is not a luxury.
It makes the advice better
Advice on HR and payroll systems is only worth taking from somebody who has had to make the files work. We have.
We are hiring benefits technology specialists.
If you read this page and recognized the job rather than the service, that is worth a conversation. Bloomfield Hills or remote, and pay is based on experience.
There’s no ladder, just work that gets harder.
Growth on a service team follows what you’re good at and what the account in front of you needs — not a fixed track with named stops.
No formal mentor
Nobody is assigned to you. You’re seated near people who’ve carried accounts like these for years, and asking them things is normal, not a program.
No fixed track
What you take on next isn’t a checklist of titles to clear — it moves with what you’re already good at and where the team actually needs you.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
An independent employee benefits consulting firm. We look at the entire benefits program — cost, plan performance, risk and administration.
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
248.370.8853
719.425.2649
281.404.5670
Cookies on this site
We use cookies to keep the site working properly and to understand how it is used. You can decline anything that is not essential. See our Privacy Policy for the detail.
- Essential — needed for the site to load and for you to move around it. These cannot be switched off.
- Analytics — tell us which pages get read, so we know what is worth writing more of.
- Advertising — set by third parties such as ad and social platforms to measure and target campaigns.