Employer-sponsored benefits remain a foundation for employees’ financial security. The health and welfare benefits offered to active and retired employees provides strong protection against unexpected losses and expenses, and enjoy a comfortable life after their working years. Putting together a benefit package that gives employees the capability to match coverage to their specific situation assists you in hiring and keeping your staff.
Every person is different and, depending on their family circumstances and other factors, they will have a variety of needs for insuring against the risks and contingencies they face. Each individual can have unique considerations between health care concerns, income continuity, education expenses, property protection, tax planning and retirement goals. Flexibility in the range of your benefit offerings, both basic and voluntary, help every employee to address their risks and priorities individually.
Everybody needs health insurance, but employees may want coverage with a low employee contribution, or a maximum choice of providers, or a plan that minimizes their out-of-pocket costs. Dental, vision and hearing care can entail significant expense and options for them allow employees to tailor their health care portfolio. Placing these options under a Section 125 cafeteria plan enhances the value of the benefits you provide by allowing employees to make pretax contributions.
Income protection also involves personal differences. A disabling non-occupational injury or illness can severely limit or end an employee’s ability to earn a living, so short- and long-term disability insurance can replace the lost income. Life insurance helps an employee protect their family if a wage earner dies prematurely. Depending on their stage in life and the size of their family, employees may require higher amounts of life insurance than the basic coverage. Optional life and voluntary plans with simplified underwriting are valuable benefits for employees for income protection and provide for future education for their children.
Voluntary benefits give employees the opportunity to really customize to their needs with programs they might not be able to get on their own affordably. Possible voluntary offerings may include coverage for:
Your employee benefits program is a significant part of your total compensation package. A flexible and diverse benefits offering assists you in attracting and retaining the talent your organization needs.