As the pressure for organizational excellence continues to intensify, companies are laser-focused on providing best-in-class and competitive offerings. This requires having a keen understanding of what peer groups are suggesting and oftentimes making the case for change. Although this can seem like a daunting task, conducting surveys or research, and benchmarking your plans, policies, programs and/or products is a great way to start. It can not only give you a sense of key trends and how your organization stacks up competitively, but also identify opportunity areas, develop actionable plans for improvement, and measure success of implemented changes over time.

Surveys and research can be critical to uncovering market, program, or product trends, and providing objective information a company needs to move forward. Outcomes and findings result in benchmarks organizations can use to measure or compare themselves to others in terms of performance against certain indicators, industry standards, or best practices that are carried out through people, process, or technology.

Data and information are used for strategic management in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their programs, using quantitative data and qualitative measures to inform decision making. It can involve internal benchmarking, where comparisons are made against a company’s own data, either in the aggregate or by different business units, product lines, or departments, or external benchmarking where one organization is compared to others.

When done right, surveys, benchmarking and research provide independent perspective, and the ability to identify program or product gaps. They prompt companies to develop plans and specific actions for improvement, make the business case for change, and monitor against them over time.

Spring routinely documents and presents employee benefit and risk management market trends by designing and conducting comprehensive surveys and publishing market leading research that are shared with our clients on a customized basis and with the industry at large. Many are consortium studies, where major players in these service areas are represented, while others are sponsored by individual companies looking to make their mark. We develop and compile benchmarks that organizations can rely on, through our own studies and others that are reputable in the market. Spring also facilitates ad hoc research and technical services based on specific client requirements.

Our market research team works both with employers looking to ensure their programs are competitive, as well as with insurance carriers, TPAs and other service providers to help inform their product strategy, development, and marketing. Specifically, Spring conducts the following:

Annual Leave Management Survey

Each year, Spring partners with the Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC) to understand employer challenges in managing all types of leaves, such as FMLA, State Family and Medical Leaves, Military Leave and Other Company Specific Leaves. The survey results identify the strategies, tools, and resources employers of all sizes and industries utilize for success, and how they plan to evolve their programs in the future.

Biannual Absence and Productivity Vendor Benchmarking Survey

Many employers now require integrated disability and absence management solutions and health and productivity coordination. As a result, market models have been developed by insurance companies, TPAs and specialty service providers. This biannual survey gives selected providers of integrated products and services reliable and product-specific information, as well as trend factors.

Biannual Absence and Productivity Employer Survey

This survey is used to identify and track employer priorities for integrated services and examine the progression beyond disability into leave administration and health management. It tests the key concepts learned from Spring’s ongoing provider surveys and analyzes how existing integrated programs can be better structured according to employer size and program type.

Annual Ask Spring User Group

As providers of integrated products and services expand their offerings, they need quick market intelligence to inform their efforts. The Ask Spring User Group allows members to contact Spring for “just-in-time” consultative advice; to survey a panel of over 20 providers to gain their perspectives; and to come together as an industry group to brainstorm.

Annual Healthcare & Employee Benefits Benchmarking Survey

By surveying over 2,500 companies across all sizes and industries, this survey covers a wide range of benefits, from traditional health plans, vision, dental, life, disability, and paid time off, to retirement programs and health and productivity. We maintain a proprietary benchmarking tool that segments the data by employer size, region, and industry and allows for client specific benchmarking.

COVID-19 Pulse Surveys

During the pandemic, our team conducted pulse surveys to explore the impact of the pandemic and offer insights into how employers throughout the country and in various industries are navigating employee health, benefits, and human resources issues in the changing landscape. As stay-at-home orders were lifted, and businesses reopened, the pulse surveys explored how and when employers are bringing employees back into the workplace.

Customized Benefit and Product Surveys

We conduct customized employer, broker, and carrier surveys on behalf of sponsoring organizations to understand buying behaviors and arrangements, the decision-making process, provider awareness, perceived reputation of service providers, and pricing. These surveys help sponsors develop go-to market strategies and serve as a baseline for them to move forward.

Spring’s market research team is led by award-winning consultants, representing decades of industry experience. Our experts know the ins and outs of the employee benefits and risk management space and have strong relationships across employers, carriers, vendors, and trade associations. We are trusted by Fortune 500 employers, leading insurance companies and best practice industry organizations to conduct surveys and research on their behalf. We develop and compile benchmarks that serve as reliable tools. We know how to define, collect, and cut through the clutter of data to identify actionable recommendations that will benefit your organization.