Background

Midwest Operating Engineers (MOE) Local 150 is a labor union representing approximately 27,000 men and women working in a variety of construction industries, including drilling, material testing, and aggregate production. The Local 150 includes union members based in the Midwest United States, covering the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa.

The Problem

The Midwest Operating Engineers Welfare Fund provides healthcare benefits for most of the 27,000 members and their families. As is typical with labor unions, MOE had a “one size fits all” health care plan. This meant that the Welfare Fund offered the same benefits for all eligible members and retirees  —  there was no cost difference between a plan for a single 19-year-old or one for a middle-aged man with a family of five. After the passing of the Affordable Care Act, healthcare costs continued to rise for both the Welfare Fund and the union members. It quickly became clear that the current approach was actually a “one size fits nobody” model.
Not only were health plan options limited for members, but the process itself was very manual and archaic. The health benefits plans for the thousands of union members and their families were managed within an unscalable database composed of multiple disjointed systems.
In addition to the Welfare Fund, the Union had yet to embrace a digital process; thousands of dollars were being spent on postage and correspondence through the mail. Union fees had to be paid in person, requiring some members to drive over three hours just to pay their dues or update their personal information. The entire Local 150 organization had a strong desire to cut costs, more efficiently manage the benefits process, and ultimately provide a better experience for their members and employees.

The Solution

MOE Local 150 needed a partner to help them create an integrated, digital, branded community that would allow members to manage their benefits online. Bluewolf came recommended by Salesforce as a trusted partner with deep expertise in cloud technologies. MOE also felt Bluewolf had the technical abilities and UX/UI skills needed to design and implement an easy-to-use system that would truly transform the benefits experience, and we quickly got to work.
In less than nine months, the “My150” employee and member community was born. Powered by Salesforce Service Cloud on the back end and branded with Community Cloud on the front end, the new community is now a one-stop-shop for all benefits and healthcare needs. The Welfare Fund worked to create the MOE Health Plan Marketplace consisting of seven plans that provide different coverage to meet the diversified members’ medical needs, each at different price points. Members are encouraged to right-size their current health plan using an enrollment wizard tool. This included an automated questionnaire and health care needs assessment designed to assist members with plan selection and submission. My150 also provides an “affordability calculator” that lets members plug in their estimated hours of work to determine if their health plan selection is affordable for their family based on their anticipated level of employment. With My150, members can now review general account information, manage dependents, and pay membership dues online, as opposed to doing paperwork and submitting forms and payments in person.
MOE Local 150 didn’t stop there. They wanted My150 to also be a means of communication and a source of education. The community is integrated with SMS capabilities so that administrators can text members about security information, account balances, and even information about health and welfare initiatives. Local 150 is currently working to add a new section to the community called the “Political Universe Database,” which will help build a relationship between union members and local legislative representatives. This RSS feed will educate members on current political events related to new labor laws and legislation, provide information on union supporting officials, and encourage early voting.

The Results

The new employee community, diversified benefit plans, and Service Cloud-backed contact center will save the entire Local 150 organization millions of dollars annually. The scalable solution allows Local 150 to better communicate with members and offer a hassle-free experience. With thousands of union members now right-sizing their healthcare plans online, administrative labor hours, postage fees, and overall healthcare costs will begin to decrease. My150 has allowed the union to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid dues from members, due to the ease of the new online community and payment system. Service reps are now spending their time speaking with members and providing personal assistance, rather than manually entering data into disjointed systems and pushing paper. MOE Union Local 150 achieved success because they didn’t put their employees’ needs on the back burner; they decided to call Bluewolf, make a plan, and take action, now.