Welcome to the Employee Benefits Advisor

Thank you for checking out this humble endeavor.

This project has been born out of my relationships and related conversations with countless clients and their employees.

Nearly every day, I encounter a thought, a question, an idea, or a conversation that requires me to expand my understanding.

Over the 20-plus years I've worked with a wide variety of employers, I've experienced two unique and unexpected outcomes.

First, no two organizations approach employee benefits—or the entire conversation of employee compensation, attraction, and retention—the same way. As a result, every engagement forces me to learn and adapt how I support them in achieving their unique goals.

Second, we are only beginning to work on "health" insurance. For most of my career, this has been "illness or injury" insurance.

There's no doubt that the unexpected happens. Life can be brutally unfair and too many people get dealt a level of adversity that makes no sense at all.

But there is another reality. Sometimes, we do it to ourselves.

We need to talk about that, too.

I read somewhere that we are each perfectly designed to mentor someone who now sits where we used to be.

This is the place where I can share the lessons I have learned as they have been gifted to me through all the wonderful people I have met through my career as an employee benefits advisor.

Because this publication has been named The Employee Benefits Advisor, I will primarily focus on conversations and feedback about the ever-evolving continuum of solutions available to employers to improve their employees' experience as we move forward.

However, I'm also passionate about personal wellbeing. Specifically, I enjoy learning about growth mindset, and how we as individuals move closer each day to realize the most genuine, unique, and best version of ourselves.

In the past, I had a separate blog addressing these more personal topics. Ultimately, however, I have come to believe they are interrelated.

To achieve the best outcomes within our health plans, we also have to help people attain the best outcomes in their own lives.

For better or worse, the two are intricately connected.

For that reason, I have unified those topics under this publication.

Membership is free. Once you subscribe and become a member, I have opened comments so we can have conversations. You can challenge me, argue with me, and provide your own reflections. I hope this will be a place of community where we can learn and grow together.

Regardless, please know that I am humbled. I promise to be thoughtful and useful, and I hope you find great value in the conversations to come.

Lastly, I have opened up a "supporter" tier. As a supporter, you have a larger voice. With your commitment to this work, I will invite you into the conversation, share updates to readers about the good work you are doing, and in time, build a community of people who care about the interconnectivity of corporate and personal and wellbeing.

With deep gratitude,

Jim Sampson