Bigger is not Always Better

Longfellow Benefits is higlighted in this brief piece from Business Insurance Magazine. View attachment to see original.

"When Ciara Smyth joined Boston‐based publisher Houghton Mifflin Holding Co. Inc. as executive vp and chief human resources officer in 2007 after its acquisition of Riverdeep Holdings Ltd., she expected the newly merged company to keep Houghton's benefits consultant.

"Houghton Mifflin, which had 3,000 employees, was using a large, national benefits consultant, while Riverdeep, with just 350 employees, used Longfellow Benefits, a small benefits brokerage and consulting firm in Boston. However, Ms. Smyth severed ties with the larger consultant after about six months and hired Longfellow.

"The large consultant had been paid on a fee‐for‐service basis, which meant that “every time they showed up to talk about strategy, they charged us fees. Then they also collected commissions as our broker. It was a very expensive model,” Ms. Smyth said.

"She also felt that the larger consultant wasn't offering innovative solutions to escalating health care costs, which exceeded $60 million annually.

"Ms. Smyth put the company's benefit consulting contract up for bid with explicit instructions that proposals offer “something with a very different look and feel.” However, the large consultant “came back with more of the same. They were way too conservative,” she said. “It was almost like they cut and paste (the same proposals) for everybody. I never got the sense from them that they cared about the issues my business
faced.”

"By contrast, Longfellow “is like an extension of my department,” which has just four employees, Ms. Smyth said. “They're embedded in the team.” She also doesn't get billed every time she sits down with Longfellow's consultants to discuss the publisher's benefit needs.

Houghton Mifflin, which now has nearly 4,000 employees after acquiring another firm to become Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co., has introduced consumer‐driven health benefits, an incentive‐driven wellness program and tiered premium contributions based on salary."