HR and Benefits Compliance Services

The multitude of compliance requirements an employer faces today has increased over the years impacting the area of employee benefits and human resources.  Ipswich Bay Advisors has the expertise to monitor pending legislation and provide guidance to our clients with the various regulatory issues to ensure you remain in compliance.  The compensation for a brokerage arrangement is often included in the carrier premium rates.  Using a qualified and independent brokerage firm will help to reduce the cost of benefits administration and compliance requirements. Because we specialize in employee benefits, our clients can remain focused with growing and managing their businesses.

HR Compliance auditing determines whether a process or transaction has or has not followed applicable rules. Our firm has the technical compliance skills to research issues effectively using authoritative materials, understand how to apply the knowledge gained to the circumstances being tested, and be able to simply explain to our clients what compliance means in day-today operations. Reaching a conclusion that an outcome complies or does not comply with a standard is not necessarily simple, especially in domains governed by complex Human Resources and Employee Benefits regulations. Clients can feel comfortable that our review will cover the following areas:

Health Benefits

With skyrocketing insurance rates, the cost of providing medical insurance has become a number one concern for most companies. Ipswich Bay Advisors offers innovative strategies and products to develop strategic, customized, comprehensive benefits programs that are priced competitively.
These include:

Because we partner with well-established, high-quality vendors to deliver specialized products and services, clients can benefit from competitive pricing and a broad array of financial options. For instance, Flex Spending Accounts (FSAs) reduce costs by allowing employees to set aside their own money on a pretax basis for out-of-pocket costs, with restrictions. Healthcare Saving Accounts (HSAs) allow employees, as well as employers, to set aside pretax money for out-of-pocket costs with fewer restrictions.

Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) are employer-funded reimbursement plans that can significantly reduce costs in appropriate situations. These are owned by the employer and not portable. Self-funded (or self-insured) health plans allow the employer to assume some or all of the risk for providing health care benefits to their employees. Employee assets are controlled and invested for maximum gain by the employer as fiduciary. This eliminates insurance charges.

The advantages of self-funding include:

Dental Benefits

Maintaining good oral health, as well as correcting dental problems, is essential to a healthy lifestyle. However, a growing number of employees are finding themselves without effective dental coverage to treat and maintain their dental health needs. This is due in part to businesses increasingly cutting back on dental benefits for their employees. Ipswich Bay Advisors offers a variety of comprehensive employee or employer paid dental plans at a range of cost points of coverage so employers can affordably offer this important coverage.

Voluntary Benefits

In today's diverse workforce, voluntary insurance allows employees to purchase additional insurances through their employer via payroll deduction at a reduced group rate. It allows for extra coverage and security while eliminating the employers need to fund and manage optional or increased coverage.

Voluntary Benefit plans include:

These plans offer the following to both employees and employers:

Disability / Life Benefits

According to Insurance Industry surveys:

Both disability and life insurance can be offered as a group or individual employee benefit. Ipswich Bay Advisors offers the following plans:

Group life

Disability insurance protects your income – making it one of the most important insurance protections to have. Disability and life insurance offer families additional protection and income against unexpected life events that can negatively impact financial security.