The great resignation means more accounts, which means more business for TPAs 

Millions of employees are leaving their jobs for more flexibility, higher pay, and better benefits at new companies. This trend is called the Great Resignation or “the big quit.” Today, the percentage of employees looking to actively leave their roles or thinking about it really varies, with figures from 48% on the low end (via Gallup) to 95% on the high end (via Monster.com). A record 11 million employees left their jobs in April, May, and June of this year with forecasts trending higher in more recent months, though official data is not yet available.

Smart employers are looking inward and asking, “What can we do to keep the team we have?” and “What can we do to attract new talent and fuel our growth?” 

Many are looking critically at their benefits package as a core element of their retention and recruitment strategies, and this spells big business for third party administrators of these plans. 

Voluntary benefits like transit benefits, childcare benefits, life insurance, disability insurance, accident insurance, even pet insurance, are becoming more common. Healthcare plan costs continue to rise, particularly for smaller employers. 

What does the great resignation mean for third party administrators? 

Third party administrators also stand to gain from the great resignation, if they approach it as an opportunity rather than an inconvenience. 

“The great resignation of 2021 is causing bigger benefits packages and higher benefits enrollment & claims volume meaning more revenue for TPAs, if they scale profitably.”

• Internal staff challenges: Employers and brokers asking for more as they manage internal resource shortages and lost headcount. Amid this, third party administrators may be facing internal staff challenges of burn out and lost headcount, particularly if they’re relying on highly manual processes that are proven to negatively impact morale.
• Higher enrollment volume: Third Party Administrators are experiencing the added pressure of increased enrollment volumes during the great resignation. As with the brokers, the TPAs will need to manage two or more enrollment events per employee that moved jobs. As result, data structures get more complex and it gets progressively more difficult to manage manually. 
• Higher claims volume: As plans get more compelling with added pressure across the economy to bolster benefits, there will be higher claims volume. TPAs can respond to this by adding more staff, working more hours, or proactively looking at new technologies streamline critical business functions. 
• CDH and Self-Funded Plans will continue to rise: For a segment that was already not showing any signs of slowing down (SOURCE), we expect this trend to be accelerated with the great resignation because employers will need to continue to provide flexible benefits to remain competitive but also contain costs. 
• Cost Pressure: Because employers are squeezing brokers to offer great plans with no added costs, they’re likely to pass cost pressure onto their TPAs during annual negotiation. TPAs can get ahead of this by competitively differentiating with automated solutions like TPA Stream. Using our technologies results in more accurate claims processing. And, it provides the data that the brokers so critically need for plan design, commanding a higher price. 

The Great Resignation means more accounts and more business

Fundamentally, the great resignation means more accounts and more administration, which spells big business for TPAs who are adaptable to this trend and able to be consultative partners to their brokers. 

How to scale your TPA without adding costs

TPA Stream has developed solutions specifically to help Third Party Administrators scale and win more business through automating critical processes like claims processing, enrollment, billing, and consolidated invoicing. Focus on driving costs down with technology that automates their back-office processes while maintaining excellent customer service for brokers and end employers. TPAs should implement technology solutions like Claims Harvesting and Consolidated Invoicing designed to help them scale and quickly add new supported benefit types. 

For example, using Claims Harvesting, TPAs can receive consent to gather claims data on behalf of participants, resulting in an improved experience as claims are processed faster and more accurately. For many of our client TPAs, this has enabled them to contain administration costs while commanding a higher premium for more accurate and timely services. 

Read more: What Brokers Look for in a Third Party Administrator and How to Win the Contract 

The bottom line: 

The great resignation means more accounts. Use this opportunity to evaluate new technology solutions that will help you scale. You will come out ahead. 

We’ve heard from TPAs that because of their servicing accuracy using solutions like Claims Harvesting and Consolidated Invoicing, that the brokers exclusively recommend them to their employers. That’s the kind of partnership that forward thinking TPAs can expect when they partner with TPA Stream. 

Learn more, schedule your demo today.