Rethinking Workplace Wellness

Now more than ever, mental health is front of mind for both employers and employees. It is a topic that comes up in nearly every conversation the team at Bloom Benefits has with clients and prospective clients. With the high price of mental health resources, most plans provide enough coverage for only a few sessions, so the Bloom team prioritizes helping clients access resources that will help them make a real difference. 

In an industry long dominated by rigid plans and impersonal service, Bloom Benefits is rewriting the rules of employee benefits services with a mental health-first approach. Built on a people-first philosophy and a commitment to go above and beyond for clients, Bloom is transforming how employers and employees experience benefits. With a team of innovative thinkers providing personalized service and strategic guidance through a concierge-level support model, the company is setting a new standard for what a benefits brokerage can be.

“The reason we started the company was to rethink what we like to call a stagnant industry. Our tagline is ‘Rethink Benefits’ because we are essentially rethinking the norms and how things are done, how people are treated, how savings are implemented and how to be involved in our community. We’re rethinking everything.”

— Ranny Shibley, CEO and Co-founder

When Shibley and co-founder Brian Ross launched the company in March 2022, they did so with the promise to always do what’s best for clients, regardless of what that means for their own bottom line. This foundation of service and integrity has fueled rapid growth and enabled the company to expand its impact in the market while staying true to its mission. While most companies claim to prioritize service and savings, Bloom Benefits takes pride in delivering both. They are dedicated to saving their clients money, increasing mental health offerings and revamping their service model for maximum efficiency.

Bloom Benefits integrates Employee Assistance Programs that provide comprehensive coverage for mental health supports to help stretch the limited plan coverage as far as possible. But the team knows that for benefits to affect wellness, they have to be used.

“Lots of clients bring us in to do education sessions, explaining how these things work. And we’re trying to beat the stigma in the workplace. A lot of people feel like if they use this benefit, their boss will find out and they’ll never get a promotion,” says Brian Ross, President and Co-founder of Bloom Benefits. “Ranny and I talk about it and are open with our staff internally, telling them it’s okay to use this benefit. We practice what we preach.”

The team works closely with insurers to facilitate the best products for their clients, and their hands-on model makes it as easy as possible for clients to administer and manage these packages. Bloom takes care of it all, from onboarding new employees to replacing lost benefits cards to conducting employee presentations, thus ensuring employees know the value of what they’re getting from their employer and how to optimize that value.

“We go as far as being a plan administrator on most of our clients’ benefit plans, and that allows us to do absolutely everything,” says Ross. “We are truly an extension of their team.”

The company’s community engagement platform further extends this service mindset beyond the boardroom, empowering the Bloom team to give back through sponsoring events and causes, volunteering and donating in the communities they serve.

“It also allows us to connect with our clients as well as help them to find savings, efficiencies, optimizations and grow networks and businesses amongst each other,” Shibley says. “We’re really redefining the way that a traditional benefits brokerage operates. We like to say we want to be your benefits partner, not your benefits broker.”

Bloom offers a full suite of tailor-made solutions to ensure these partners have the best possible coverage for their business and employees. After all, today’s group benefits are an important recruitment and retention tool, but it’s not enough to just have coverage; it needs to be the right coverage. To ensure clients are attracting the best team, Bloom incorporates group retirement, travel, cross-border and individual benefits, life insurance, disability and critical illness coverage and executive benefits. They make benefits simple, flexible and accessible, giving employers peace of mind that their teams are protected and supported.

As a valued part of their clients’ team, Bloom distinguishes itself in the market through a steadfast commitment to accountability, transparency and accessibility. Clients know their questions will be answered without the frustration of endless hours on hold or impersonal service policies, and they are confident that their Bloom representative will deliver on their promises. The team invests the time it takes to truly understand each client’s unique circumstances and objectives, ensuring that the solutions provided precisely meet their needs. Building these solid relationships is at the heart of Bloom’s approach; the team of 13 takes pride in forging strong, lasting connections with clients to cultivate a deeper understanding and higher standard of service.

To maintain this high level of personalized attention, Bloom implemented a client cap for each service agent; no agent represents more than 100 clients. This cap ensures that every client receives the focused support and attention they deserve. As the company grows and approaches this client threshold, Bloom hires additional staff to safeguard the quality of service that has come to define the business.

As a result, Bloom Benefits’ client base, which is made up of around 300 diverse clients from all economic sectors, is growing. According to Ross, they’ve scaled carefully to allow them to continue offering the unique service model they’ve created, “People are recognizing what we’re doing and who we are. And I know the insurers have told us that we are one of the fastest growing companies in Canada when it comes to brokerages.” Some of that growth happened south of the border. Recognizing a gap in the industry, Bloom scaled the operation into the United States, giving clients with cross-border employees a convenient one-stop benefits solution that doesn’t require separate brokers in the two countries. The team is dedicated to making sure they provide each client with the same high level of service and attention no matter their location or size.

‘Bloom’s community service mindset extends beyond the boardroom–they give back by sponsoring events and causes, volunteering and donating in the communities they serve.‘

“At companies that I’ve worked for in the past, there’s a threshold; they won’t work for anyone with under 10 employees or under 20 employees. We wanted to create a company that treats that one employee the same as a company that has 1,000,” says Ross. 

This level of personal service is becoming increasingly rare. That’s especially true in an industry being swallowed up by large institutional conglomerates that tend to prioritize profits over people; Bloom Benefits’ extensive service model is exactly the opposite. From basic courtesies like answering the phone to exceeding expectations by taking a road trip to help a client navigate government forms in person to help get a drug approved under their plan, the Bloom team proves daily that they are anything but a traditional company. 

To remain that atypical, detail-oriented people-first firm, Bloom invests in education, both internal and client-facing. The team keeps pace with industry trends by staying current on product innovations and how to integrate them into their plans, and then they educate clients on what is included in their plans and how to access coverage. The team connects with clients regularly, circulating quarterly usage reports to make it easier to identify anomalies or issues quickly. Bloom also conducts regular virtual and in-person information sessions for clients across its service area. This ensures the team has a touch point with every client, and it helps clients with the day-to-day administration of their benefit plan. ” 

“I think it’s the first of its kind in the industry. Bloom Advantage offers exclusive perks and discounts on both benefit-related items and everyday items to every one of our clients, their employees and their family members.” 

Questions to Ask Your Benefits Partner 

• How many therapy/counselling sessions does our plan cover, and what happens when employees need more?
• What EAP resources are available to supplement our core mental health benefits? 
• How do you help reduce stigma around mental health benefit usage in the workplace? 
• Do benefits extend to employees’ family members? How does this work? 
• What education and communication support do you provide to help employees understand and access mental health resources? 
• How do you track benefit utilization, and how often will we review this together? 
• What is your approach to confidentiality and privacy for mental health benefit users? 
• Can you share examples of how you’ve helped other clients improve mental health support?

Bloom Benefits helps clients be successful by supporting them outside of the benefits space as well. They host strategic networking events for clients and prospective clients to help them grow their businesses. And they give them some incredible client perks, both indulgent and practical, with the Bloom Advantage program.

Clients enjoy discounted rates from professional and wellness partners, including Matugas Private Wealth (part of Raymond James), Agency Atlas marketing firm, Day1Dads, Optical Eyewear and Tooth Express mobile dental clinic, along with personal-life perks from such companies as Mercedes-Benz, Modern Steak, Rogers, and Hansen Distillery.

By combining forward-thinking, rewarding programs like this with a dedication to service and a genuine people-first mindset, Bloom Benefits is redefining what it means to be a benefits broker. The company is proving that when you put people before profit, everyone—employers, employees, communities and brokers—can all thrive.