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Guest Blog by Guardian
Small businesses today often face a variety of challenges, from talent attraction and retention to maintaining financial stability, as well as complying with multistate labor laws due to the rise in remote work. Navigating these challenges can be costly and time-consuming—hindering an organization’s ability to administer and manage worksite employee benefits. In fact, 60% of small businesses say expanding benefits technology is necessary to meet their employee benefits objectives.
More than 55% of small businesses only have one staff member dedicated to human resources, and they are typically managing many other responsibilities at the same time. Additionally, nearly 70% of small businesses with fewer than 100 employees still use primarily paper-based processes to collect employee enrollment information. As a result, many of these short-staffed human resources teams are burdened by a complicated web of paper forms and manual processes as they strive to manage benefits, recruiting and other administrative tasks—which can make it difficult to succeed against their larger peers for top talent.
However, many of the leading barriers to adopting modern benefits technology solutions from small-business leaders stem from a lack of understanding. For example, small-business leaders report that lack of knowledge of available technology solutions (40%) and lack of IT staff/skills (25%) are hurdles in embracing HR technology.
Fortunately, Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) are increasingly becoming an effective solution for small businesses to stay competitive in the market. On top of supporting compliance and giving smaller businesses access to a more robust and competitive set of benefits than they could likely afford or administer on their own, PEOs can also provide advanced digital solutions to help smaller organizations level the playing field with the operations of their larger peers.
The ever-evolving nature of technology capabilities is leading many employers to turn away from paper-based processes and seek more digital, automated solutions that help streamline operations. This shift isn’t just about going paperless, however—it’s about developing an integrated benefits administration system.
In fact, 2 in 3 worksites feel that real-time connectivity is an important consideration when evaluating HR and benefits technology solutions. This is where Application Programming Interface (API)-driven technology can help transform the future of PEO benefits.
APIs Represent the New Frontier of Modern Benefits Administration
APIs are at the forefront of today’s technology revolution. By allowing different systems to communicate with each other in real time, APIs facilitate seamless data transfer and more efficient processes.
The future of benefits involves seamless, integrated systems and processes—and APIs are driving this next wave of PEO benefits administration. With real-time data syncing and automated processes, API integrations can give PEOs the ability to:
- Manage benefits costs while increasing value for worksite employees.
- Provide a better customer experience during enrollment and benefit changes.
- Minimize delays and errors that often occur during manual data transfers.
The API integration between Guardian and PrismHR is a key example of how this technology functions in practice. Here’s a glimpse into how the Guardian and PrismHR API works: First, a worksite employee makes a benefits election within the PrismHR system. Guardian is then notified of the election in real time. When both systems are aligned, the worksite employee now has access to the benefit.
Guardian’s API connections with PrismHR are twofold. They include a Policy API, which automates plan details and rates, which can help save time and reduce errors. The other connection is the worksite employee benefit API, which enables real-time transfer of member data and changes to benefit elections.
The impact is significant: Together, these API integrations can help save up to 200 hours per year in benefits administration processing time. That’s time that in-house benefits professionals can dedicate to more strategic efforts to help support their workforce and operations.
Why This Matters for PEOs and Employers
As the landscape in today’s world of work continues to grow more complex, especially with the rise of remote work and multistate employment, PEOs are uniquely positioned to help employers overcome these challenges. And with advanced API integrations, like the partnership between Guardian and PrismHR, they have the ability to do so more efficiently and accurately than ever before.
Digital benefits administration powered by APIs can offer significant value. Worksite employees who have access to digital benefits platforms often report greater satisfaction with their benefits. As a result, many employers may benefit from a heightened ability to attract and retain talent.
Guardian® is a registered trademark of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, NY.
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2025-8425936.1 (10/27)
