A new report from PYMNTS Intelligence and SoFi Tech Solutions highlights the operational costs of manual benefits administration. For a program with 5,000 active accounts, a 5% monthly exception rate results in 250 manual cases. Each case requires approximately 15 minutes of staff time to resolve, totaling 62.5 hours per month.
The financial impact of these manual interventions is significant. Based on a loaded labor cost of $45 per hour, companies spend $2,813 monthly on exception handling. This translates to an annual cost exceeding $33,750 in staff capacity. The report suggests that these hours could be redirected toward participant support and program monitoring.
To reduce manual workloads, the report recommends implementing automated infrastructure. Key capabilities include category-level spend controls, real-time transaction authorization, and direct API connections between systems. These tools aim to increase straight-through processing and minimize the need for human intervention in eligibility disputes and reconciliation.
The study emphasizes that benefits executives should prioritize measuring transaction failure rates and the time required for manual resolution. Relying on batch processes or manual file transfers can hinder operational efficiency. By addressing exceptions upstream, organizations can better utilize staff time and improve the overall performance of health and wellness benefit programs.
