As an employer, you should know that it’s essential to keep your best employees happy. After all, happy employees mean more productivity which is good for your business.
One of the ways companies today are ensuring they can retain employees is by offering a competitive employer benefits insurance package.
If you own a small business, the idea of offering employer benefits might be daunting - you might think that it’s not currently in your budget to set up a comprehensive group plan. The reality is that you cannot afford not to offer employer benefits. Skipping out on it might save you over the short term, but over the long term, it can really damage your business’s chances.
What Are The Employer Benefits Must-Haves?
Some of the benefits that employees expect to see today include things like:
Medical insurance
Retirement plans
Disability insurance
And more
This means that the top job seekers in the market will expect these to form part of their job offer - if they aren’t, and the salary offer isn’t high enough to offset the cost of getting their own coverage, you can expect them to go elsewhere.
If you are, however, able to offer these benefits, it could do wonderful things for your business growth. When employees feel valued, such as being compensated fairly, it makes them happier to be at work, less likely to skip a day or to move on to another offer.
The Employers Benefits Basics
There are certain benefits that you’ll legally be required to provide, and it’s essential that you comply. This includes:
Complying with workers’ compensation requirements
Paying unemployment taxes
Contributing to short-term disability programs in participating states
Complying with Federal Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)
Other commonly included options are things like retirement plans, health insurance, dental plans, life insurance, or even paid leave.
The Legality Of Employers Benefits
When you begin to offer benefits, you’ll need to be aware of the legal issues that can come up.
This is because certain benefits like health insurance or retirement plans fall under the jurisdiction of the IRS and government. Your business could be audited, and if you’ve made any crucial mistakes or oversights in your employer’s benefits plan, they’ll know.
One of the worst things you could do in this case is to leave certain employees off of your benefits plan. This is a big no-no - you need to extend your benefits package to cover part-timers, custodial employees, and anyone else that does work for you.
Costly Mistakes Employers Make
Employers are in a tough spot, especially if they’re running a small business. You need to set up a benefits plan that can meet government requirements as well as be attractive enough to get you great job candidates. This doesn’t necessarily come cheap or easy.
Some employers estimate that benefits make up nearly half of the base pay given to the majority of their employees. This means that you really need to do your research in order to make the most of the money put into benefits packages.
You’ll want to make sure that:
You are thinking about alternate ways to fund employer benefits. Many companies today require employees to make a contribution towards their benefits. The size of the contribution will depend on the number of employees, benefits available, and more.
Some employees will already have some sort of coverage, either through their parents or their spouse. If this is the case, they might choose to opt-out of employer benefits coverage.
Remember that these two options will save you some funds over the long term, but the focus should still be on providing proper coverage.
Where To Go For Employer Benefits Insurance
There are many options available out there for employer benefits insurance, and it can be helpful to compare several different offers to see which one makes the most sense to you. If you have a business accountant, you can also talk to them to find out what you can realistically afford.
Before open enrollment, consider giving our team of benefits specialists at Richard Dean Insurance the opportunity to compare our rates to theirs. We offer Accident, Cancer, Critical Illness, Supplemental Health, Gap plans, Life, Simple IRA, and 401Ks too.
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