Started as a family-owned business by two couples sharing the same vision. R&B Insurance Services LLC specializes in saving employers time, money, and resources through its simple yet customized work-site solutions. Since day one, the company has been driven by the mission of “Doing the right thing for clients.” This has enabled R&B Insurance Services to achieve great heights of success over the years. Today, it has offices in 7 different locations in the U.S., including four in Pennsylvania, one in Virginia, one in West Virginia and one in Florida. The company is represented by over 35 agents who work with dedication to help any size account ranging from two employees to over 25,000 employees.

Following is the conversation that Manage HR Magazine had with Fred Reeder, the President and Betsy Brooks, the COO of R&B Insurance Services LLC about how the company specializes in saving employers time, money, and resources through its simple, yet customized work-site solutions.

Please elaborate on the challenges existing today in the Benefits Administration space and how is R&B Insurance Services effectively addressing these issues?

We believe the cost of services is a large issue for most companies. We decided early on that we would provide services to our clients that would help them with their needs and goals.

Since the cost of benefits administration to accounts is a real concern to them, R&B Insurance Services provides all clients, no matter the size, with a technology solution system at no cost. Further, many brokers work with one or two insurance carriers in the industry, and that’s another place where we can help. We represent ALL the major insurance carriers. This allows us to shop for the best industry solutions possible at the lowest cost. Employees are happier and more productive when they’re being offered the best available and most costeffective benefits.
Please shed some light on the Benefits Administration solutions that you offer based on its methodology, features, and benefits involved?

Our technology system helps those employers with administrative challenges. Our system provides paperless enrollment and onboarding. The system can assist the employers track assets such as laptops and cellphones, vacation and paid time off tracking, just to name a few. It functions not only as a benefit enrollment system but also a comprehensive HRIS system.

The system can communicate with most payroll companies, insurance carriers, and compliance administrators, making the entire process seamless.

Please cite one or two case studies on how you have enabled clients to overcome hurdles and attain desired outcomes with your innovative array of solutions.

We have a larger client with locations and employees in various parts of the state. The challenge was bringing everyone into a central location.

To overcome this challenge, we were able to secure an online virtual benefit fair that worked perfectly to meet their needs. In addition, most of our clients need a secure way to transfer HIPPA compliant data. We were able to overcome this challenge by purchasing an SFTP server.

We have helped numerous clients struggling with all the paper applications required for open enrollment by putting their benefits package into our technology platform. This service is done at no cost to them.

What are the strategies employed by R&B Insurance Services to thwart the market competition, and what, according to you, are the distinct features of R&B Insurance Services/ differentiating factors that give it a competitive edge?

At our initial meeting with a potential account, we ask a lot of questions. Our end goal is to provide the best benefit solutions at the lowest cost. We take the information received, shop all the carriers, and provide a proposal to present at the next meeting. Each client is different with different needs, so we customize solutions to meet those needs.

We also found that most brokers expect the client’s HR team to handle claims and policy changes directly with the insurance carrier. At R&B Insurance Services, we take that burden off the client’s HR team by assisting their employees with claims, questions, and policyholder service needs. In addition, we assist the payroll department with bill reconciliation and annual audit reviews.

We are proud of our in-house support services team and the outstanding service they provide to our clients.

What does the future hold for your organization? Any footprint expansion plans or platform enhancement strategies that you can shed light upon?

When we started R&B we had planned on staying a small family business. However, due to the many services and technology solutions we provide, many employers, businesses, and agents have become part of our organization. We have the capabilities of working with virtually anyone in any state across the nation.