Category: Employee Benefits

Salary alone is not enough to recruit and retain your industry’s best professionals. A comprehensive benefits package is necessary as well. Most employers know this, and they spend billions of dollars a year on benefit offerings as a result.  However,  the recruitment and retention value of any benefits program is wholly dependent on employee participation. An outstanding package, complete with all the bells and whistles, is essentially worthless if few of your employees elect to enroll.

Fortunately, there’s a simple key to maximizing participation rates; communication.  Here are four keys for effective employee benefit communication

Think: EARLY

Don’t wait until new employee orientation to introduce the value of your company’s benefits package. Mention the benefits offered in your job postings. Talk more about them when interviewing prospective new hires. When you make an employment offer, reiterate them once again. If your top candidate is entertaining more than one opportunity, you can bet he’ll consider your benefits package.

Think: OFTEN

A recent survey conducted by one insurance company  found that a mere 32 percent of employees are comfortable making decisions about benefits offered by their employers. Regular communication about your company’s benefits package can increase awareness, understanding, and as a result, participation. Don’t rely on annual open enrollment periods alone. Consider a monthly benefits newsletter, quarterly benefits lunch-and-learns, and webinars employees can access at any time to learn more.

Think: CLEARLY

Jargon-filled booklets about health insurance, life insurance and retirement plans are real employee turnoffs. In various surveys, employees have suggested that easier to understand documentation would improve their utilization of the benefits offered by their employer. They’d also like documentation personalized to their needs and opportunities to meet face to face with benefits experts.

Think: VALUE

Your employees know exactly how much compensation to expect in each paycheck, but they probably have no idea how much their benefits are worth—even if they’re participating in the program. Don’t focus on individual offerings but on the total value of your company’s benefits package. This will include employer-paid taxes, commuter-assistance programs, voluntary insurance, vacation time, sick days and training opportunities as well as your employer-sponsored health plan, pension fund or 401(k) matches.

Employees who understand their benefit options and appreciate the value of the package offered are more likely to participate—maximizing enrollment levels. However, effective benefits communication is also essential if you want to retain your best employees. One recent survey found that 59 percent of workers would move on to a job with slightly lower pay if they believed it came with better benefits. Implement the suggestions above and talk with your benefits provider to make the most of your employee benefits program.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—also known as the ACA—was signed into law more than five years ago, requiring dramatic changes to the plans employers can offer their workers, how information on those plans are communicated, how eligibility is determined, and much more. It is only natural to believe that changes of this magnitude play a significant role in shaping employer-sponsored health benefits trends.

A recent report by the ADP Research Institute took a look at the plans offered by nearly 200 large employers—defined as those with 1,000 or more employees—between 2011 and 2015. After careful analysis, they identified several trends and key metrics of note—all at least partially attributable to the ACA. We’ve summarized the most interesting for you below, though you can review the entire report for yourself on the ADP Research Institute website.

Health Benefit Eligibility and Participation

In 2015, 93 percent of full-time employees were eligible for employer-provided benefits, up from 91 percent in 2011. This is possibly due to employers complying with ACA requirements and offering benefits to more of their workers. However, despite higher eligibility, only 75 percent took advantage of the health plan. As such, overall participation remained steady at 69 percent.

As might be expected, the highest participation rates were found among employees in the oldest age groups. In 2015, nearly 74 percent of eligible workers aged 60 or older participate in their employer’s health plan. Nearly 75 percent of those between the ages of 50 and 59 participated, while a little over 72 percent of those between 40 and 49 enrolled in the health benefit offered. Participation was lowest (37 percent and 69 percent respectively), among eligible workers 26 years old and younger and those aged 26 to 39.

Health Benefit Premiums

Researchers considered data on the premium costs of full-time employees at large employers in which both the employees and employers contributed to payment. The average monthly premium ($870 in 2015) rose slightly more than 2 percent each year between 2011 and 2015, resulting in an aggregate increase of 9.4 percent across all industries and demographic groups. Surprisingly—given the dire predictions of some pundits prior to ACA rollout—this is much lower than the double-digit increases seen in previous decades.

Employer contributions towards premiums declined an average of 0.7 percent from 2011 to 2015. The average total employer contribution in 2015 was $650, or about 75 percent of the monthly premium.

Whether you’re a small employer or a large organization, including an ACA-compliant health plan in your benefits package is essential if you want to attract and retain the best talent in your industry. Give us a call today for a benefit program review or additional assistance.

As the economy improves, more people are beginning to leave their jobs of their own volition. What’s worse, the people who are leaving aren’t the slackers to whom you would love to give a pink slip. In a recent WorkForces Report,  Aflac notes that the individuals who describe themselves as likely to leave their current position are hard-working, highly educated, high-achievers.

Providing a competitive benefits package is a sure way to curtail financially motivated attrition. Going the extra mile with your benefits packages can increase employee’s perceptions of your company as one that goes out of its way to take care of worker’s needs – in other words, a company that only a fool would leave.

Do not make the mistake of focusing all your efforts on health care packages. Employees are strongly influenced by generous retirement plans as well as dental, life and disability insurance, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. If your company cannot absorb the cost of paying for all of these benefits, you can still leverage them. Simply having the option to participate in benefit plans at cost to themselves is often better for employees than not having these resources available at all.

Having an excellent benefits package also protects you from some of the worst effects of the occasional employee departure. Maintaining a reputation as a business that takes care of people ensures that you’ll spend less time recruiting and more time interviewing qualified candidates that may require less training.

Once you have put together a healthy benefits package, do not keep it a secret that only the human resources department knows. Widely publicize what is available, and offer assistance to employees so they can understand and access what you are offering.

The word “benefits” implies that they are an extra bonus that employees receive. Although the term can include this idea, the truth is that federal and state laws require employers to provide certain benefits to all employees upon employment, making them no more of an “extra” than is a salary.

Unemployment Insurance

Any business who has employees is required to pay unemployment insurance taxes through the state. The amount of these taxes varies from state to state. Registering your business with your state workforce agency is the first step you need to take to comply with this requirement. By doing so, your employees will be assured unemployment benefits under certain circumstances of termination.

Disability Insurance

Disability insurance is mandatory in the following states:   Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, California and the territory of Puerto Rico. This type of insurance provides income to employees in the event they miss a significant amount of work due to an illness or injury that is not related to work.

Social Security Taxes

By paying social security taxes for your employees, you are contributing to their state-mandated retirement plan. This tax also benefits widows, widowers, orphans and people who become disabled. As the employer, you are required to pay taxes at the same rate as your employees.

Worker’s Compensation

Worker’s compensation insurance provides employees with compensation should they become injured or disabled due to an incident that occurred while on the job. There are several ways to obtain worker’s compensation insurance for your employees. You can purchase insurance through your state’s Worker’s Compensation Insurance program or talk to your agent about purchasing insurance from a commercial carrier. If your company has revenues that enable you to post a minimum of $300,000 security deposit, you can self-insure, which means your company will be responsible for paying any worker’s compensation claims.

Family and Medical Leave

Your employees might be happy if you offered them two weeks of vacation time every year, but you are not required by law to do so. Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), however, you are required to offer each eligible employee 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a child after a birth or adoption, care for a family member with a serious health condition or to recuperate from his own serious health condition. During this time, the employee’s job must be secure.

It is important to comply with these requirements immediately upon hiring an employee, even if your business is in the early stages. Not doing so puts you in violation of the law, which opens the door to fines and lawsuits – a certain way to derail your business’s success.

In America, vacations are often viewed as a luxury rather than a necessity. While workers in every country in the European Union receive at least four weeks of paid vacation each year, paid time off is not legally required in the United States. Among U.S. employees who receive PTO, many days often go unused. In fact, according to one 2014 survey, 59 percent of full-time employees reported they had at least one day of paid time off unused at the end of the previous year. Thirty-five percent reported leaving five or more days unused.

Unfortunately, this tendency to forgo vacation time can actually have damaging consequences. Paid time off—both vacation days and personal time—allow workers to physically and mentally recharge. It helps to reduce stress, prevent job burnout and promote work-life balance. When it isn’t taken, workers don’t reap these benefits—and their productivity and job satisfaction suffers. Ultimately, these results can reduce their employer’s profitability.

Fortunately, there are tactics you can take to encourage your staff to take the time off included in their benefits package. Consider the following suggestions:

1. Offer an employer-sponsored vacation purchase program. Lack of cash is a common reason employees cite for not taking a vacation. While some put trips on their credit cards, high interest rates can result in a decade or more of payments if they’re only able to afford the minimum. Most find voluntary payroll deductions made towards discounted vacation options—such as hotels, cruises and all-inclusive resorts—a much more attractive option.

2. Set a good vacation example. If management never takes paid time off, employees may believe they’ll be frowned upon if they use their own vacation time. You may want to consider a policy requiring management—from mid-level to the c-suite—to take periodic time away from the office. Additionally, you should prohibit managers and supervisors from discouraging employee PTO and vacation requests or showing favoritism to workers who don’t time off.

3. Give extra vacation days as rewards. Whether you choose to award extra vacation days to top performers as part of your employee recognition program or hold an occasional interdepartmental contest with additional PTO as the prize, treating paid time off as a desirable honor can encourage employees to value—and use it—accordingly.

4. Change your policies. If you’ve been allowing employees to carry over PTO from one year to the next, or even cash it out when they leave the company, your policies may inadvertently be encouraging them not to take vacation or personal time. A use-it-or-lose-it approach may be more effective if you want workers to get the stress-relieving and recharging benefits of paid time off.

If you’re interested in adding an employer-sponsored vacation purchase program to you benefits package or would like a simple review of your current paid time off policies, we’re here to help. Please contact us with any employee benefit program needs.

The Great Recession was a miserable time for most Americans. Property values plummeted, creating underwater mortgages. Stocks took a hit, devastating retirement savings. Thousands upon thousands lost their jobs. But some experts say that enormous storm cloud had a decidedly silver lining: consumer savings spiked after the recession as Americans took a more cautious look at their economic future. There has also been an increased interest in financial protection products—including disability insurance.

You know that the package of employer-sponsored benefits you offer your employees can play a big role in both the recruitment and retention of quality workers. If you’re not already including supplemental disability insurance in that mix, your package may not be attracting all the interest it could. According to a recent survey, nine out of 10 employees would buy disability coverage if their employers contributed as little as $15 a month on a policy with a $30/month premium.

If your budget is tight and you just can’t swing an employer contribution on disability insurance, it still makes sense to offer it. There are voluntary plans that allow employees to select from long-term disability, short-term disability, or both, while benefiting from group rates that are much lower than they’d pay as individuals.

Why do your workers want a disability insurance option? Basically—as we stated earlier—because recent financial upheaval has convinced them that life can be uncertain. Even planned “good” events—like pregnancy—can cause income disruption. In fact, according to Unum, an insurance agency that processed 380,000 new disability claims last year, pregnancy ranked as the top reason for short-term disability usage in 2014. Cancer was the leading cause of long-term claims.

Other common short-term disability claims included injury, joint disorders, digestive issues and cancer. Injuries, back disorders, cardiovascular and joint issues were among the other leading causes of long-term disability filings.

As the age of the U.S. workforce continues to increase, the incidence of many of these disorders will as well. According to the Unum analysis, long-term disability claims for joint disorders increased 15 percent over the last five years. Short-term disability claims for joint disorders increased 13 percent. Joint disorders were actually the leading cause of short-term disability claims among Baby Boomers. Cancer was the most common Boomer long-term disability claim.

Of course, it’s not just older Americans who can benefit from disability insurance. According to the Social Security Administration, 25 percent of today’s workers in their 20s will become disabled before they reach the age of 67. Illness actually accounts for about 90 percent of all disabilities according to the Council for Disability Awareness.

Contact us today to learn more about adding disability insurance to your voluntary benefits package.

Workplace wellness programs are about more than lowering your employees’ blood pressure and helping them reduce stress. In addition to those (and other) health-improving benefits, an effective wellness program can minimize insurance costs, reduce sick days and time away from work, and even increase morale and productivity. Of course, the key word here is “effective.” Whether you have a program in place or are just beginning to construct one, you may want to steal these ideas other company’s swear by.

Fitbit Challenge

Everyone can benefit from moving. Encourage your employees to walk, jog or run more each day by organizing a Fitbit challenge. Provide participants with tracking devices (you may be able to negotiate a discounted price if you purchase in bulk from a retailer) and set a variety of goals to accommodate workers at different fitness levels. Attach a reward to the achievement of each goal; you can award anything from medals or plaques to gift cards and extra time off.

“Biggest Loser” Contest

Organize a competition in which employees work to achieve the biggest (healthy) weight loss within a specified time. To protect participants who may be sensitive about their weight, you can measure in percentage of body weight lost rather than advertising actual pounds. Reward the “biggest loser” with a coveted prize. Or, if your budget is tight, have employees “buy in” to the contest with a small cash donation. At the end, the winner gets the collected funds.

Zero-Gain Challenge

Encourage your employees to avoid gaining weight over the holidays—something no one wants to do but everyone has difficulty averting—with a zero-gain challenge. Participants will weigh themselves on November 1 and again on January 31. Award a prize to every worker who maintains his or her weight throughout contest period.

Race Entry Reimbursement

Support your team’s fitness goals by reimbursing them for entry fees into area 5K and 10K races. These events will give them a challenge to train towards, furthering your wellness program efforts. Encourage your employees to race together, and you can realize team-building benefits as well.

Track and Field Days

Plan periodic track and field days on Friday afternoons during the summer months. Set up challenges—like one-mile time trials, push-up and squat contests—where employees can compete alone as well as team challenges—like tug-of-war and relay races—where they can compete against other departments. You’ll build camaraderie and encourage fitness at the same time.

Are you ready to improve your wellness program? Contact us today for assistance with this or any other employee benefit product.

Employees care about benefits, and the package you offer can make the difference between maintaining a top-notch staff and losing your best workers to the competition. While federal law mandates some perks, including time off to vote and serve jury duty, others are purely voluntary offerings intended to improve the health, happiness and productivity of your workforce.

Of course, you should be aware that a rock-solid benefits program requires more than a health plan and some sort of time off. In fact, surveys have repeatedly shown that there are many other types of benefits employers can offer that are attractive to workers and pack a positive psychological punch to boot. They don’t even have to cost a bundle. Consider the following low to no-cost benefits that really add up.

Heartfelt Appreciation – Taking the time to thank employees for a job well done has never really gone out of style. When workers feel appreciated and know their contributions are valued, you build employee loyalty and longevity. That’s not just good for company culture; it will also benefit your bottom line.

Employee Ownership – Workers who feel like stakeholders in your business will be more committed to and satisfied by the work they do. Ownership can be creative—it doesn’t have to involve stock grants. While bonuses tied to organizational performance can play a part in an employee ownership program, allowing your staff to play a direct role in decision-making processes may provide an even greater incentive.

Professional Development – Your best workers likely have a vision for their future. You can help them get there by paying for additional training and providing mentoring opportunities. Not only will you increase your company’s core competitiveness by bettering your workforce, you’ll also build employee loyalty.

Flexible Schedules – If you want to improve productivity, allow workers to create schedules that best fit their lives. Top-notch performers who are capable of self-management will find a flexible schedule particularly appealing—maybe even more so than a raise or promotion.

Telecommuting – While Yahoo may have cut telecommuting as an employee benefit, it’s still growing in popularity at many other companies. If your business will allow employees to work from just about anywhere, telecommuting can be a very attractive option. It may even reduce your staff’s usage of sick days.

Guilt-Free Vacations – Our modern-day corporate culture often makes employees feel guilty for taking the vacation time they’ve rightfully earned. Unfortunately, discouraging time away from the office only leads to a burned out, uninspired workforce. Require your employees to use their vacation time and they’ll come back rested, recharged and full of renewed enthusiasm.

Wellness Programs – From an onsite gym to the occasional yoga class or visit from a nutritionist, there are many ways you can incorporate wellness into your employee benefits package. A healthier workforce means improved productivity and fewer absences. When employees work out together, a wellness program can also build camaraderie and morale.

Talk with your benefits provider about other ways you can economically expand the benefits you offer to your employees. You may be surprised at the difference a few low or no-cost additions can make in employee retention, productivity and your bottom line.