How a Multi-Brand Restaurant Group Increased Employee Enrollment by 36% With a Class-Based Benefits Strategy
A multi-state, multi-brand restaurant and retail organization was relying on a single benefits approach across diverse employee populations. GoBenefits implemented class-based benefit strategies tailored to management, full-time hourly employees, and locations with consistently low participation, aligning benefits more closely with the needs of each group.
Industry
Restaurant & Retail
Challenge
Low Participation & Diverse Workforce Needs
Strategy
500–2,500
employees
Result
36% Increase in
Enrollment
The Challenge: A Single Health Insurance Strategy Wasn't Meeting the Needs of a Diverse Restaurant Workforce
The multi-state, multi-brand restaurant and retail organization had a diverse workforce across its locations and business concepts. Its workforce included:
- Salaried management teams
- Full-time hourly restaurant staff
- Part-time and variable-hour employees
- Employees across different geographic markets
Despite these differences, the organization’s existing employee benefits and group health insurance strategy relied on a single approach. This made it difficult to align benefits with the needs of different employee populations and address consistently low participation at certain locations.
The organization needed a more targeted restaurant employee benefits strategy that could better align health insurance options with different workforce segments. At the same time, the benefits program needed to remain competitive for key employee groups, support recruitment and retention, and help manage overall healthcare spending.
Key Challenges
Low Employee Participation: Certain locations consistently experienced low participation in their health benefits.
Different Workforce Needs: Employee populations across locations and concepts had different benefit requirements.
Group Health Insurance: A single health plan strategy provided limited flexibility for different workforce segments.
Benefit Competitiveness: Key employee groups needed competitive employee health benefits to support recruitment and retention.
Healthcare Spending: The organization needed to manage overall employer benefit costs more effectively.
Multi-State Operations: Different locations, markets, and workforce demographics required a more adaptable benefits strategy.
The result was clear: participation remained low at certain locations, the existing plan was not competitive enough to support management retention, and rising group health insurance renewal costs were not delivering greater value for the organization or its employees.
The Solution : A Class-Based Benefits Strategy Built Around Different Employee Populations
Federal regulations allow employers to offer different health insurance strategies to different employee classes, as long as the classifications are based on legitimate employment categories. Common employee classes include:
- Full-time vs. part-time employees
- Salaried vs. hourly employees
- Management vs. non-management employees
- Employees in different geographic markets
- Seasonal employees
Rather than forcing one benefits strategy across the entire company, GoBenefits designed a class-based employee benefits strategy tailored to this restaurant group’s actual workforce segments:
Competitive PPO Benefits
Lower-Cost Health Plans
ICHRA for Low Participation
Management Retention Benefits
Employee Impact
Better Benefits. Greater Employee Enrollment.
By tailoring benefit strategies to different employee populations, GoBenefits helped the organization provide more competitive benefits for management while giving team members access to plans with $0 copays for routine medical care.
- Better-aligned benefits across workforce segments.
- More effective cost management for employer benefits.
- Stronger benefits for key employee groups.
- Greater support for recruitment and retention.
- Benefits strategies aligned with operational realities
Each employee class was built on legitimate, defensible employment categories to remain compliant with federal nondiscrimination rules and ICHRA class-size requirements.
This structure enabled the organization to better align employee benefits, group health insurance, and workforce needs while helping manage overall healthcare spending.
Rather than offering the same strategy to everyone, GoBenefits focused on providing the right benefits approach for each employee population.
“GoBenefits helped us move beyond a one-size-fits-all benefits approach and create strategies that better fit the needs of our different employee populations. The more competitive benefits and $0 copays for routine medical care helped us deliver greater value to our team while increasing enrollment.”
— Client HR & Benefits Team, Multi-State Restaurant & Retail Group
Facing a renewal increase or low participation across a diverse workforce?
GoBenefits helps multi-state employers move beyond one-size-fits-all health insurance with flexible, class-based benefits strategies built around workforce needs and business priorities.