BOSTON (June 3, 2008) —HighRoads, the company giving human resources (HR) teams control over employee benefits management, now provides a full range of Summary Plan Description (SPD) services—from planning and analysis through content development, content management and production and distribution. These expanded services can help bring companies quickly into compliance with critical regulations, and ensure employees and recruits have the information they need to make informed choices about their benefits.
With this enhanced service, HighRoads assumes responsibility for the entire SPD lifecycle. Its team of advisors, using technology-based automation, efficiently prepare, audit and maintain these highly-regulated employee communications.
Seasoned compliance professional Kim Buckey joins HighRoads as practice lead for its SPD management service. Most recently Buckey served as national compliance champion and global quality leader for Watson Wyatt’s communications practice. In her 30-year career Buckey has helped dozens of companies meet their compliance requirements by completing hundreds of health and welfare and retirement plan SPDs.
“Accurate SPDs are a must-have, but preparing them can be tedious and time-consuming. As a result, many organizations put them off as long as possible—and then either pull their HR teams off of more strategic initiatives to work on them, or pay a premium for a law firm or third-party consultant to do it for them,” said Buckey. “The process is ripe for automation, and HighRoads can do so accurately, efficiently and relatively painlessly.”
Each SPD requires line-by-line scrutiny and legal review to ensure that information is accurately presented to employees. For large, complex companies with hundreds of plans, the work is especially grueling. Failure to deliver accurate and timely SPDs can result in exposure to claims appeals or lawsuits, or penalties from the U.S. Department of Labor—not to mention poor employee relations.
“Organizations are focusing stretched-thin HR resources on the strategic initiatives that bring value to the organization; line-by-line plan comparisons isn’t one of them,” said Michael Byers, HighRoads president and COO. “We prove how an incredibly manual business process can evolve into one of the most efficient.”
HighRoads’ SPD managed service begins with an assessment of the current SPD state, speeds time to compliance and ensures streamlined updates year after year. It includes:
· Detailed SPD inventory, compliance and current state analysis to identify gaps and create a roadmap for action;
· Content updates and development by a seasoned team of communication and compliance professionals;
· A secure, collaborative workflow environment that streamlines reviews, edits and approvals between internal and external stakeholders, saving thousands of dollars in paper and printing costs alone;
· Assistance with pre-production, production and distribution steps, including translation, design and printing assistance and
· A sustainable framework to easily update SPD changes in future years.
HighRoads’ HR managed service automates manual processes, dramatically reduces HR consulting spend and improves critical decision-making ability. With HighRoads’ HR technology combined with its new real-time plan benchmarking data, the world’s largest employers ensure that current and future benefit offerings are both competitive and compliant.
For the latest information on SPDs and related compliance issues, please visit our new blog, “HR Compliance Connection” at: www.HighRoads.com/HRComplianceConnection
About HighRoads
HighRoads, Inc. (www.HighRoads.com), is the only company providing employers year-round access to real-time, unbiased benchmarking data for HR plans and pricing for complete market visibility. HighRoads HR managed service aggregates HR plan and supplier information into a central repository, dynamically fueling its real-time benchmarking tool, The LabTM, while automating the entire HR supplier management process. HighRoads has automated HR processes for more than 100 Fortune 500 employers along with 700 of their vendors, consultants and outsourced administrators. Clients include some of the world's largest companies, such as General Dynamics, Honeywell, IBM, Kraft, Staples and Textron. Founded in 1999, HighRoads is a privately held company headquartered in Woburn, Mass.