Dear ,

When Did This Happen?

This week my 16 year old son took me to his gym as his guest (we belong to different gyms, long story). While we were there, I realized I wasn’t familliar with some of the equipment. He was the one showing me around, explaining the machines, and showing me how to use them.

Later that day, I found myself thinking, when did this happen? When did my child become the one teaching me? It was one of those proud mom moments that catches you off guard.

I’m having simillar moments with both kids. My daughter recently came home from college on a thursday, had an interview on Friday, and was working by the following week. Of course, in between she’s already squeezed in a weekend trip to the mountains and has beach trips planned with friends.

Watching her organize her summer made me think about all the planners I’ve bought her over the years that she came to loathe. Looking at her calendar now, maybe those planners - and all our conversations about planning - worked after all!

As I reflect on my kids, I realize that we often celebrate the outcome without thinking about everything that happened behind the scenes to create it. We notice the confidence, organization, and success, but we don’t always recognize the habits, systems, and repetition that got someone there.

Which brings me to a recent conversation I had with an HR leader.

The 40% Problem

My philosophy has always been that if you’re doing something manually, the process is broken.

I was recently asked to help a client evaluate their benefits operation. One statistic was shocking to me. The team was spending 40% of their time answering employee benefits questions. As we walked through the work, I found myself doing what i often do with clients - tracing the problem back to the process.

Employees were emailing questions about coverage, new hire enrollment, HSA contributions, and other day-to-day benefits issues. The benefits team would research the answer, check systems, coordinate with vendors and respond to the employee.

What surprised me was that this organization wasn’t lacking technology. They had strong systems, experienced vendor partners, and dedicated resources. Yet a significant amount of time was still being spent researching answers, coordinating across vendors, and responding to employees one email at a time.

Somewhere along the way, employees had become dependent on people for answers rather than having the tools, education and resources to find information themselves.

While every organization is different, this evaluation highlighted several areas HR leaders can consider when looking to shift time away from administration and back toward strategic work:

Focus Area #1
Analyze the questions employees ask most frequently. 
Repeated questions are often a signal that communication, education, or process design can be strengthened. Organizations that monitor inquiry trends can proactively address issues before they create additional workload.

Focus Area #2
Expand benefits education beyond Open Enrollment. 
Employees typically engage with benefits only when they need them. What they learned during Open Enrollment is often forgotten by the time they experience a life event, need care, or want to make a change.

Focus Area #3
Establish a single source of truth. 
Whether it's a benefits portal, knowledge base, or employee hub, employees should have one trusted location to access benefits information and answers to common questions.

Focus Area #4
Implement a case management or ticketing process. 
Shared mailboxes make it difficult to identify trends, measure response times, and understand where resources are being spent. A structured intake process creates visibility and accountability.

Focus Area #5
Evaluate AI-enabled support tools. 
Many organizations have already implemented chatbots and virtual assistants that can answer routine questions, guide employees to the right resources, and reduce administrative burden on HR teams.

Focus Area #6
Clarify ownership across the benefits ecosystem. 
When payroll, carriers, TPAs, brokers, and HR all play a role in supporting employees, clearly defined responsibilities help prevent questions from being passed from one group to another.

The goal is not to eliminate human interaction. Employees will always need support. The goal is to make sure your leaders and subject matter experts are spending their time solving complex problems, improving processes, and creating better employee experiences, while systems handle the routine work.

As we head into summer, I hope you get a chance to enjoy the moments happening around you, celebrate the progress you may not always see, and maybe even notice some of the work behind the outcomes. 😊

Warmly,
Leah ❤️

A New System Is Not The Same As Transformation

Implementing a new system can feel like the finish line, but it’s really just the beginning. The hardest part of transformation isn’t always the technology. It’s helping people change the way they work, rethink old processes, and align around a new way forward. Our newest blog explores why successful HR technology projects require more than a go-live date.

Read the blog

Benefits X AI : Solving For The Human Variable

In the latest Benefits × AI piece, I explore why automation alone doesn’t solve complexity. Benefits are built around rules, decisions, exceptions, and real moments in employees’ lives. Automating a process doesn’t make that complexity disappear. It moves it into the systems, workflows, integrations, and decisions happening behind the scenes. The opportunity with AI isn’t just automating more. It’s understanding where technology can simplify the experience while still managing the complexity behind it. 

Explore the full series here 

 SUMMER LUNCH & LEARN WEBINAR

HR leaders usually know where the pain points are. The harder part is building the business case, creating alignment across the organization, and helping others understand why change is needed.

Join us Wednesday, June 24th at 2:00 PM EST for a conversation on how to turn HR challenges into a business case that supports better decisions. We’ll walk through how to assess your current state, evaluate options, identify key considerations, and prepare for the questions that come before getting approval for your next project.

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HERE TO HELP

At HCM Tech Advisory, we help organizations make better HR technology decisions by bringing together HR, benefits, systems, and implementation experience. Whether you're selecting a new platform, preparing for implementation, or trying to get more value from the systems you already have, we help you understand where you are today, identify gaps, and build a path forward with clarity and confidence.