How OneDigital Saved $500K+ in Staffing Costs Through Automation with AbsenceSoft

Introduction

OneDigital is a national leader in insurance, financial services, and HR consulting, providing benefits, HR, and leave management solutions for 25 years. Their comprehensive leave and accommodations support is built on a strong commitment to customer service, ensuring a seamless experience for both employers and employees navigating leave.

As their leave of absence (LOA) practice grew, OneDigital needed a system that could scale with their expansion, maintain the high level of care their clients expected, and enable their leave management specialists to work more efficiently. That search led them to AbsenceSoft.

Challenge

Scaling Fast with Systems That Weren’t Designed to Keep Up

As OneDigital’s LOA operations scaled, so did the complexity of managing them. The team was tasked with supporting over 100,000 covered lives across a diverse client base, from school districts with unions to large national employers with highly specific policy needs. Internally, the LOA division was made up of two previously separate regional teams, each operating in their own systems with distinct workflows. Standardizing across those teams became a priority as they moved toward becoming a unified national practice.

Their previous platform, along with several manual processes, couldn’t provide the customization or agility OneDigital needed. Each client had different requirements, branding preferences, and leave policies. The team needed to be able to support each client without overburdening their staff. Without the right tools in place, it was difficult to scale while maintaining accuracy and consistency across the board.

OneDigital knew that to continue to grow and compete effectively they needed a platform that would not only meet their current needs but also scale with them into the future.

Solution

Implementing a Flexible, Customizable Platform that is Built to Grow with You

After evaluating several vendors, OneDigital selected AbsenceSoft for its flexible design, intuitive user experience, and unmatched ability to tailor leave management to each employer’s needs.

From the start, AbsenceSoft provided the customization OneDigital needed to deliver on its white glove service promise. With the ability to brand communications, configure employer-specific leave policies, and create customized workflows, the team could now offer a tailored experience for every client. AbsenceSoft’s Employee Self-Service Portal added a new layer of transparency and ease for employees navigating their own leaves, while the internal workflow tools made it easier for OneDigital’s leave management specialists to stay on top of every task and case.

With the help of AbsenceSoft, OneDigital standardized key processes across their internal teams, ensuring consistency in their service model while maintaining flexibility to meet the unique needs of each client. To further streamline onboarding, file feeds connect their clients’ HCM systems to their AbsenceSoft platform, allowing OneDigital to integrate data efficiently.

Results

$500K Saved in Staffing Costs, 164 New Clients, and a Streamlined Standard of Efficiency

Since implementing AbsenceSoft, OneDigital has grown its LOA client base from 36 employers to more than 200. That growth has been both rapid and sustainable, driven by the OneDigital team’s agility and the AbsenceSoft platform’s flexibility in adapting to each of OneDigital’s clients’ unique processes.

OneDigital’s proprietary automated implementation process has been significantly streamlined. The average client onboarding now takes less than 60 days, depending on client readiness. For clients who elect to integrate directly with OneDigital, the process can be completed in as little as one day. Onboarding used to involve a high degree of manual setup; it’s now structured, repeatable, and aligned with OneDigital’s best practices.

The efficiencies extend well beyond implementation. Tasks that previously took an hour, such as processing a single leave request, can now be completed in as little as 10 minutes. This has saved each of OneDigital’s Leave Management Specialists 12.5 work weeks in 2024 alone. Under their previous system and manual processes, handling the same volume would have totaled more than 6.5 years of working hours, or the equivalent of hiring 7 additional full-time employees. These efficiencies have enabled the team to redirect their time toward more strategic initiatives while continuing to deliver the high-touch service their clients expect.

AbsenceSoft has also become a critical tool for retention. When client M&A activity causes a shift in OneDigital’s benefits business, the LOA relationship often remains intact, allowing OneDigital to retain what would previously have been a lost account. The system’s flexibility has also allowed the team to pivot quickly when a client changes policies, branding, ownership, or disability carriers, ensuring continuity without disruption.

AbsenceSoft also helps drive new business by serving as a differentiator during the sales process. Leave administration is one of the most in demand services at OneDigital with over a 95% retention rate. It’s often one of the first pain points new clients want to solve. Their team frequently refers to it internally as a “foot in the door” that opens up broader conversations across the HR stack.