Offering Benefits To Your Employees | A Guide For Small Businesses
Maintaining a healthy work environment is crucial for productivity. The guide from Kwote Advisor explains how to do this with employee benefits.
Benefit Packages
By providing your staff with the tools they need through benefits packages and other policies like generous leave policy, flexible working hours, etc., their mental health remains intact while also being productive at all times!
With the unemployment rate falling and many employees carefully evaluating job offers based on company culture, compensation management, or benefits it is critical to have a comprehensive package that provides affordable rates.
Small businesses face many challenges when it comes to providing benefits for their employees. However, even the smallest companies can create an attractive and comprehensive plan with some strategic planning on their part.
Here are some important steps that will have you offering employee benefits to your team in no time.
Why Employee Benefits are So Important
Employee benefits are important because they can help employees save money on health care costs, dental care costs, and more. They can also help employees save money on taxes. Some employee benefits, such as 401k plans, can help employees save for retirement. Other employee benefits, such as paid vacation days, can help employees take time off from work to relax and rejuvenate.
Know Your Budget
It’s important to have a clear idea of how much money you’re willing and able to spend on your benefits management. If this number changes from month to date, it can affect the budget for future months as well.
The average employer spends 33 cents of every dollar on employee benefits, with health care accounting for almost a third.
Here are some general rules for how much you should spend on benefits per employee, based on the data we have collected.
To save money, it is important for businesses to know how much they are spending on benefits and what types of employees need certain expenditures. A good place to start would be with your total budget divided amongst all the company’s workers in order to determine their individualized cost per head—this will help you make sure that every cent goes towards something useful.
When it comes to your company budget, you want every cent of the money spent on something useful. To save some cash in this tough economy that will help businesses thrive long term.
Types of Employee Benefits
What can you offer your employees to keep them healthy? Health club memberships? Quit smoking bonuses? What special needs do they have that need extra care and attention? Take this into account when creating a benefits package for them.
It’s no secret that the workforce is changing. With more new graduates and younger generations entering into jobs, companies may be looking to provide tuition assistance or child care benefits as an employee benefit – but not all employees will want these things. For example, if you have a primarily young single staff full of fresh college grads this might seem like something important they need access to; however on another hand families with children could see how much easier life gets when there are parents around who can take responsibility for them during work hours (and vice versa).
Here’s are a few employee benefits to consider:
Standard Benefits
It’s important to keep in mind that there are some benefits that are considered standard if not legally required. For example:
- Health Insurance (for businesses with 50+ full-time employees)
- Family Leave (FMLA)
- Unemployment Benefits
- FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act)
Healthcare Benefits
Helping employees result in less time out of work. There are literally tons of benefits you could offer to keep your employees healthy and avoid fewer sick days. For example:
- Gym memberships
- Bonuses to quit smoking/vaping
- Health insurance
- Childcare reimbursement assistance
- Online Counseling
Economic Benefits
While all of the above benefits are extremely valuable and important, you’re going to find oftentimes employees seem to be more concerned with what they’re putting in their pocket. Here are some examples of economically friendly benefits:
- 401K Plans
- ESOP Options
- Retirement Plans
- Perfect attendance bonuses
Benefit Enrollment Periods
When you determine your benefits plan it’s time to roll it out to employees. It’s very important to offer clear explanations and encouragement of employee comments or concerns. Unless an individual enrolls during the open enrollment, which typically occurs at the beginning of a fiscal year, or in January, they may not be able to get coverage.
Potential Employees Research Company Benefit Offerings
Researching what benefits a company offers is important because it can help you decide whether or not to accept a job offer. You can research a company’s employee benefits online, by talking to human resources representatives, or by asking other employees. When you know what benefits a company offers, you can make an informed decision about whether or not the company is right for you.