All Posts By

Sam VanderPlas

Sep 29

After Renewal: Why Your Long-Term Benefits Strategy Starts Now

By Employee Benefits
Renewals are signed and open enrollment is wrapping up. For many HR and finance leaders, December is the first chance to exhale. Before you close the book on this year, though, it is worth asking a simple question: were you satisfied with how it went? If the answer is anything less than a clear yes, now is the ideal time to build a long-term benefits strategy. The months after renewal offer the space to plan instead of react. Take an Honest Look Back Start by reviewing the renewal you just completed. Did you understand what drove the increase? Did you…
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Sep 29

Benefits Renewal Season: What Mid-Sized Employers Should Be Doing Right Now

By Employee Benefits
If your organization has 50 to 200 employees, benefits renewal season probably feels less like a season and more like a sprint. Renewal notices land, carrier partners set deadlines, and open enrollment is only weeks away. Meanwhile, you still have a business to run. This year, the pressure is real. Mercer's latest national survey projects that employer health benefit costs will rise 8.2% in 2027, the largest jump since 2003. For many mid-sized employers, that means a renewal that is harder to absorb and harder to explain. The good news is that you still have options. Here is what to…
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Sep 21

Why a Specialized Insurance Advisor Beats a Local Generalist for Food Processors

By Business Insurance
The Hidden Cost of Working With a Generalist Many food processors still choose their insurance broker the way they'd choose a landscaper: someone local, someone known, someone easy to reach. That instinct makes sense for plenty of vendor relationships. It can quietly cost a processor real money and real protection, though, when the broker isn't a specialized insurance advisor who understands food-industry risk in depth. A local generalist may write policies competently and still miss exposures that are specific to processing, packaging, and distributing food. That gap often stays invisible until a claim or a renewal surprise brings it into…
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Sep 20

Product Contamination Insurance: A Faster Path to Recall Protection

By Business Insurance
The Real Cost of a Contamination Event A single contaminated batch can shut down a production line within hours. It can trigger a recall and put your biggest customer relationships at risk just as fast. Retailers and foodservice buyers expect answers immediately. Regulators expect documentation just as quickly. Yet many processors still carry only the coverage their carrier bundled in years ago. Few ever ask whether that coverage matches how a real contamination event actually unfolds. Product contamination insurance closes exactly that gap, and it's worth understanding before you need it, not while you're already in the middle of a…
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Sep 11

Cyber Coverage Helps Protect Your Construction Organization

By Business Insurance
Construction firms have traditionally thought of cyber risk as someone else's problem, a concern for banks, retailers, or tech companies. That assumption is no longer safe. Contractors handle sensitive project data and manage large wire transfers to subcontractors and suppliers. Many now rely on connected project management and building systems as well. Each of those touchpoints is a potential entry point for a cyberattack, and cyber coverage has become an essential part of how a construction organization protects itself. Why Construction Firms Are Now Prime Targets Bad actors target industries where disruption is costly and payment is likely, and construction…
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