Overview
The City of Traverse City has ~275 employees. Like many municipalities, they have multiple departments, CBAs, and historically lots of different employee benefit plans.
Challenge
Most renewal seasons consisted of multiple conversations with lots of decision-makers throughout CBAs and departments. There wasn’t any foundational shared data or alignment.
Solution
The City of Traverse City formed an employee benefits committee with representation from all key stakeholders. Now, everyone is making decisions from shared foundational knowledge and is more aligned on strategy.
Results
- Less us/them mentality with shared knowledge of cost drivers
- Reduction of plans and administrative complexity
- Alignment on long-term cost savings and plan management
Managing employee benefits can become increasingly complex when an organization has multiple departments, bargaining agreements, employee populations, and benefit plans. Without a shared understanding of the factors driving benefit decisions, renewal conversations can quickly become fragmented.
For the City of Traverse City, creating an employee benefits committee helped bring key stakeholders together, improve education, and establish a more unified approach to long-term benefits planning.
The City of Traverse City
The City of Traverse City employs approximately 275 people across several departments and employee groups. Like many municipalities, the City manages multiple collective bargaining agreements and historically offered several different employee benefit plans.
Each group brought its own priorities, questions, and perspectives to the benefits conversation. While that is understandable, it also created an opportunity to improve communication and build a stronger foundation for decision-making.
The Challenge: Fragmented Renewal Conversations
Historically, renewal season involved multiple conversations with different departments and decision-makers throughout the organization.
These discussions often focused on the immediate needs of each individual group. However, there was not always a shared understanding of the data influencing costs, the factors affecting plan performance, or how one decision could impact the City’s overall benefits strategy.
Without a consistent educational foundation, it was difficult for stakeholders to evaluate options from the same starting point. This contributed to disconnected conversations and made it more challenging to develop a cohesive, long-term strategy.
The Solution: Forming an Employee Benefits Committee
The City of Traverse City established an employee benefits committee that included representation from key departments and stakeholder groups across the organization.
The committee created a structured setting where participants could:
- Review the factors driving healthcare costs
- Better understand the City’s benefit plans and funding considerations
- Ask questions and evaluate options together
- Discuss the organization-wide impact of benefit decisions
- Build greater alignment around long-term priorities
Rather than limiting education to renewal season, the committee gave stakeholders an opportunity to develop shared knowledge over time.
This helped shift the conversation from individual plans and departments toward a more collaborative approach focused on the City’s broader goals.
The Results: Shared Knowledge and a Clearer Strategy
The employee benefits committee helped reduce the traditional “us versus them” mentality that can develop when different groups are working from different information.
With greater transparency and education, stakeholders gained a stronger understanding of the cost drivers influencing the City’s benefit plans. Decisions were no longer being made in isolation. Instead, committee members could evaluate recommendations with a clearer understanding of how each decision fit into the overall strategy.
The City also reduced the number of plans it administered, helping simplify the benefits program and decrease administrative complexity.
Most importantly, the committee created stronger alignment around long-term cost management and plan strategy. While benefit decisions will always involve competing priorities, stakeholders now have a shared foundation for navigating those conversations more productively.
Why Employee Benefits Education Matters
An employee benefits committee is not simply another meeting. When thoughtfully structured, it can become an important tool for improving communication, strengthening trust, and supporting better decisions.
The most effective committees bring together the right people, provide consistent education, and create space for honest conversations about cost, coverage, and organizational priorities.
For municipalities and other organizations managing multiple employee populations, education can help turn a complicated benefits program into a more coordinated strategy.
Build a More Collaborative Benefits Strategy
Michigan Planners works with employers to simplify complex benefit programs, educate key stakeholders, and create strategies that support both employees and the organization’s long-term goals.
Ready to create greater alignment around your employee benefits program? Contact Michigan Planners to start the conversation.