A spreadsheet from a firm's HR team every January
A large employer pays membership for many of its staff. Each January, their HR or learning team sends a spreadsheet of names to renew. Some names are new staff who are not yet members and need to apply. Some are people who left the firm. A few have changed surname. The membership team works through the list, matching each name to a member, and builds one invoice.
During the year, the firm emails about new starters and leavers. A leaver's membership should move to personal payment, but nobody tells the member. A new starter is added to the list but the pro-rata fee is calculated differently each time. At the next renewal, the firm's list and your records disagree, and the invoice is queried.
Why employer memberships are hard
Group memberships link two relationships, the member and the employer, and the process rarely models both.
- Employers send lists in their own formats, with names that do not match your records.
- Starters and leavers are communicated by email through the year.
- Leavers are not told they need to take over their own subscription.
- Pro-rata rules are applied inconsistently.
- The employer's contact changes, and the new one has no history.
- Invoices do not match the employer's own list.
The gap is a single place where the employer and the body see the same list of members covered.
What group admin costs
Employer invoices are queried and paid late. Leavers lapse without knowing their employer stopped paying, which is a poor experience and a lost member. The membership team spends a lot of time on a small number of employers.
Employer relationships are valuable for recruitment and income, and a clumsy process does nothing to keep them. When the HR contact who handled the account moves on, the next person inherits a tangle of emails and a spreadsheet with no explanation, and the first thing they see from your body is an invoice they cannot reconcile.
How we build the employer portal
- Each employer has an account with one or more named administrators.
- The portal shows the employer's current list of covered members, with grade and fee.
- Administrators add new starters, who either link to an existing membership or are sent an application invitation, and remove leavers with a leaving date.
- Leavers are told automatically that their employer has stopped paying, with a simple way to continue membership personally.
- Pro-rata fees for mid-year changes follow your rules consistently, and appear on an interim invoice or the next one.
- At renewal, the administrator confirms the list online, and one invoice is issued listing every member covered, with a purchase order field.
- Payments are allocated across the covered members, so each member's status updates when the employer pays.
| Change | Who does it | Result |
|---|---|---|
| New starter already a member | Employer administrator | Moved to employer billing, pro-rata applied |
| New starter not a member | Employer administrator | Application invitation sent |
| Leaver | Employer administrator | Member told, offered personal renewal |
| Annual renewal | Administrator confirms list | One invoice for all covered members |
Membership remains individual. The portal only manages who the employer is paying for.
Group memberships afterwards
In January, the firm's administrator logs in, removes two leavers, adds three starters and confirms. The invoice matches their list. A leaver receives an email explaining that her employer no longer pays and offering her a personal subscription, and she renews herself that week.
The membership team handles employer questions rather than employer spreadsheets. When a new HR contact takes over at the firm, they are added as an administrator and can see the full history of changes and invoices from day one.
Is employer billing like this for you?
- Employers send renewal lists as spreadsheets.
- Starters and leavers arrive by email.
- Leavers lapse without being told.
- Employer invoices are queried every year.
- Pro-rata fees are calculated differently each time.