Putting human resource information on the Web for easy employee access is nothing new. But Aon Consulting’s SelfService Now platform has gone one step further, offering employees financial advice and the ability to purchase products such as supplemental insurance right from a customized corporate Web site.
“SelfService Now contains the functionality for employees to do financial planning, get company communications of all kinds and even a way for employees to calculate how much they might want to put into a flexible spending account,” says Gaelyn Mitchell, senior vice president of AON.
Employees can also search for covered health care providers and other HR functions, but it also helps them meet their financial goals.
“We have integrated e-commerce into the site,” says Mitchell. “It’s not just a link to an outside portal. It is e-commerce selling financial and personal products to help employees fulfill their financial plans.”
This includes products such as stocks, mutual funds, annuities, property insurance and warranty coverages.
“The variety of health care products available are designed not to compete with the group plans offered by the company, but to supplement them,” says Mitchell. “What we are trying to do is help employers help employees achieve a work-family balance.”
The site is customizable by each company that uses it, so it appears as part of the corporate Web site. The advice offered is done by certified financial planners and has various disclosures protecting the corporation itself from liability.
Employees can get a better picture of their overall financial situation because their personal data is available from the company, so they don’t have to remember what their actual pay is or how much life insurance the company provides them.
Any calculations or products purchased are kept outside the company by Aon to maintain the privacy of the workers using the system for financial planning.
Products are offered from different providers so employees have a choice, and are also discounted.
Companies can choose which components of SelfService now fit their HR plan, but to get a return on investment, you need to have about 1,500 employees minimum.
“Other firms have put a link to a public site, but that’s not what we’re doing,” says Mitchell. “This is integrated and secure in the employer space so that people can be dealing with employee benefits and life issues as well.”
