Establishing an insurance committee is, in itself, a best practice for maintaining positive employee relations. By providing a forum for the voice of all stakeholders in the benefits program where all involved parties receive complete information at the same time, you can avoid a great deal of misunderstanding and conflict.
From the very beginning, it’s important to clearly define your insurance committee’s roles and responsibilities, and to put your priorities and goals in writing. As your committee works together over the months and years, you’ll find it helpful to refer often to these foundation documents. It’s also a best practice to schedule your insurance committee meetings regularly and to coordinate that schedule proactively with benefit renewals and contract negotiations. This can help resolve disagreements early and avoid putting everyone in a time bind.
While district administration and the represented employee groups will have different perspectives and priorities, the most effective insurance committees work from a shared set of basic values around their health and welfare program. For example:
- In attracting and retaining employees, employee benefits are a valuable part of total compensation.
- By providing greater financial security, employee benefits contribute to employee productivity.
- Benefits should be administered equitably according to the written documentation available to all parties.
- The program should include a fair and expedient process for dispute resolution.
"The most effective insurance committees work from a shared set of basic values."
An atmosphere of transparency fosters greater trust and facilitates open discussion of ideas and opinions. Mistrust prevails when participants on either side feel that vital information is being withheld and chokes off open discussion. While confidentiality is necessary for certain personnel issues and private health information, transparency on the aspects that affect stakeholders creates mutual respect and the exchange of ideas.
Following on the principle of transparency, it is equally important to make decisions based on facts. Using data to support recommended actions and to demonstrate trends affecting the vitality and expenses of your benefits program go a long way to bringing diverse perspectives into alignment. This is especially critical when examining big-picture issues such as the funding of long-term benefit liabilities.
Successful insurance committees that place their focus on the areas of agreement make it much easier to address points of conflict and build solutions that are beneficial to all.