by jeffp | Aug 21, 2015 | Employee Benefits
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.
by jeffp | Aug 7, 2015 | Employee Benefits
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.
by jeffp | Jul 17, 2015 | Employee Benefits
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
by jeffp | Jun 22, 2015 | Employee Benefits
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.
by jeffp | Jun 4, 2015 | Employee Benefits
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.
