Fred Thiele, a speaker at the marcus evans Corporate Benefits Summit 2014, outlines how Microsoft recently migrated to a high-deductible health plan for all US employees. Interview with: Fred Thiele, Senior Director of Global Benefits, Microsoft Corporation

1. Microsoft’s Transition to a
New Health Plan
How did you approach this change?
What mistakes do most Corporate
Benefits directors make when
planning such a transition?
My team and I approached this with
great sensitivity and regard for
employees’ understandable attachment
to the former plan.
Interview with: Fred Thiele, Senior
Director of Global Benefits,
Microsoft Corporation
With healthcare reforms underway,
many Corporate Benefits directors are
contemplating how their organization’s
health plan design should be adjusted. A
common mistake they make, according
to Fred Thiele, Senior Director of Global
Benefits, Microsoft Corporation, is that
they push through profound change too
rapidly and just assume that employees
will eventually fall in line. This approach
is especially risky in competitive
industries where the top firms are all
vying for the same talent, he adds.
A speaker at the marcus evans
Corporate Benefits Summit 2014, in
Las Vegas, Nevada, January 26-28,
Thiele discusses Microsoft’s smooth
transition to a new health plan.
Why did Microsoft make the
decision to transition to a highdeductible health plan with health
savings accounts, despite the
popularity of its health plan?
While our former US health plan design
was generally popular, it was also
inefficient and did not provide any
opportunity for long-term savings.
Quantitative analysis based on our
employee demographics showed that
the fully-paid plan design resulted in
overconsumption of health care in
certain places without correspondingly
better outcomes.
Conscientious communications and
change management were hugely
important, as many considered the
health plan to be a key component of
our corporate culture in the US.
One mistake that some Benefits leaders
make -- which we were determined to
avoid -- is to push through profound
change too rapidly and just assume that
employees will eventually “get it” and
fall in line.
Any final words of advice?
Take time to know your unique
employee population and how they
perceive what you have to offer in the
marketplace. It is too easy to default to
generalizations about a “typical” or
“aggregate” population, which may
cause you to miss the mark on matters
of critical importance.
Microsoft operates in a hotly competitive
industry where many of the top firms
are vying for the same sought-after
talent. Companies in other segments
face similar realities. You cannot afford
to have someone else know your
employees better than you do.
Competitive benefits programs are still
one of the most visible ways to attract,
retain and motivate your talent.
How should such a change be
communicated to employees? What
tools could be useful?
We gave our employees two years
notice of the 2013 plan migration and
kept an open dialogue with them along
the way.
Since we never underestimated the
gravity of this change, we always
approached our employee population
proactively, frankly, and within a
principles-driven framework. Our
employees expect nothing less from us.
We assured them that the new plan
would remain among the best in the
technology industry and that it would
cover them and their dependents
thoroughly, with reasonable costsharing. But we also conceded that it
would require them to think about their
health care differently, because of the
consumerism aspects that would now
come into play. To help employees with
their decision-making, we introduced
a health care cost and quality
transparency tool, in addition to an
online bill-pay tool to lessen the
administrative burden.
Take time
to know
your
unique
employee
population

2. The
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delivers peer-to-peer information
on strategic matters, professional
trends
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About the Corporate Benefits Summit 2014
This unique forum will take place at the Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa, Las Vegas,
Nevada, January 26-28, 2014. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or
trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought
leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event.
The Summit includes presentations on complying with healthcare reform, engaging
staff to understand the full value of their benefits package, managing benefits
internationally and tapping into diversity.
www.corporatebenefitssummit.com
Please note that the Summit is a
closed
number
business
of
event
participants
and
the
strictly
limited.
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