The main answer we normally receive to this question is that employers are trying to attract and retain the quality employees they need to grow their businesses. If that is so, why are employee benefits packages so cookie cutter? From one employer to another, benefits stack up almost identically as if all employees have the same needs in all companies in the United States.
Has anyone asked what your employees value, what they cannot get anywhere else? Have they asked what your budget is for benefits? Are employees ever polled on what they consider the most important benefits before the plan is implemented?
Unfortunately, employers and employees view health insurance as THE critical employee benefit while other benefits are already in place and there is no discussion of those costs. There are a variety of other benefits which precede medical coverage and compliment it like Workers’ Compensation. This benefit is poorly understood and the cost in under-appreciated. Also, most employers provide sick days, vacation days and comp days which often coordinate with sickness and accidents.
All of these benefits are quite costly for employers and often present a financial risk that is not immediately evident. The “accident” which occurs on the job is sometimes the result of an incident which occurred away from the job. If employees have a short term disability program that will pay for off the job accidents employer Workers’ Compensation rates may be better protected from improper claims filing.
In the same way, it is possible to insure the money provided if an employee is out of work due to an accident or a sickness and other employees have to be paid for overtime, or a temporary employee needs to be hired in. These disability and accident / sickness programs may provide very meaningful benefits to employees who can suffer significant financial loss if they are not properly covered. They can also be provided at a significantly smaller cost to the employer than other mainstream benefits.
Please consider carefully how you structure your employee benefits program not only to provide the most valuable assistance, but also to protect future budgets from plans that can spiral up in price quickly. Please contact us at CDA Inc., we would be happy to help you research the best programs for your particular group of employees.