Your clients find themselves today in a unique position due to considerable changes to employment rates the In the last two years. Employers are seeing employees leaving their jobs in droves in the phenomenon many are calling the Great Resignation. Approximately 47.5 million Americans quit their job in 2021. Do a quick Google search and you will see nearly every news outlet from Forbes and the New York Times to Fox Business and CNBC highlighting why people are leaving and in some cases, pumping up the Great Resignation.
While unemployment rates are under where they were for the majority of 2021, more people are opting to leave their positions within companies in search of better opportunities and equitable benefits. Because of this phenomenon and all of the vacant positions around the country, job seekers are finding it favorable to look for a job in 2022
As many of your clients may attest to, retention is key in a job seekers market. So, how do you assist your clients organization in creating a space where current employees want to work, while also attracting all of the talent available because of the Great Resignation?
Benefit options are an assured way to enhance employee satisfaction and strengthen retention. How do employers with a limited budget choose which benefits to offer? What benefits should your client offer to attract solid employees? Furthermore, what benefits must a company provide employees to remain competitive?
If you haven’t noticed as of late, we here at Coterie Advisory Group have been making it a point to provide our clients with tools and assets to utilize while preparing or pitching benefit options to their customers; whether employers or employees. Part of these tools are talking points and value propositions that can be referenced during your sales process to clients or employees if you are an employer or group.
In this article, we’ll cover some of the best employee benefits that help increase employee satisfaction, including:
Health benefits
Health and wellness perks
Group health insurance
Retirement benefits
Remote work
Education benefits
Other benefits that attract and retain workers
Health benefits
One of the best ways to maintain employee satisfaction and recruit top talent is to deliver health benefits as part of your overall benefits package. These can come in the form of fringe benefits or perks, group health insurance, or even a Limited Benefit Indemnity Plan for more niche class employees such as hourly and or seasonal employees.
Health and wellness perks
Many businesses have begun to offer additional employee benefits to combat the Great Resignation and keep talented employees engaged. While many of these perks used to be in office only, they now apply to the remote workforce as well.
Some good examples of Health and Wellness Perks:
Stress reduction programs.
Weight loss programs.
Smoking cessation programs.
Health risk assessments.
Health screenings.
Exercise programs and activities.
Why would a business want to offer some of these fringe benefits? Look at the first paragraph of this article. There has been a paradigm shift in the employer/employee relationship and employees are gaining the upper hand for the first time in a long time in the workplace as companies struggle to fill open positions and look for ways to keep people from quitting.
Traditional group health insurance
For decades now, a group health policy has been the most integral part of an organization's benefits package. Its importance isn’t only in its role in the hiring process and retention of employees, but also in the time and capital investment your client’s make to search for, purchase, and administer a plan.
Depending on the size of your client’s business and the organizations they’re competing with for talent, they may have the feeling of having no other choice than to pony up for a high deductible health plan (HDHP) that’s bound to increase in cost every year as it renews.
However, there are some considerations you can present when providing plan options. If you want to help increase your clients employee satisfaction (and ultimately retention) and make their health coverage a true benefit, you need to offer the kinds of healthcare plans their employees will actually use and want.
Seeing as many companies have employees of different ages, health statuses, and income levels, a universal or standard HDHP rarely favors this outcome. While it may look good on paper for your client to say they offer a traditional group health plan, there’s other health benefit options that may work better for both themselves and their employees as it relates to cost and use of these plans..
Retirement benefits
Retirement benefits, such as a 401(k), have long been a great recruiting and retention tool for employers looking to maintain and build quality staffing levels. This employee benefit has also become increasingly important as people have begun to take an active interest in investing and more specifically retirement. The days of the traditional pension or defined benefit plan have all but been replaced by 401(k)s and have come to the forefront as being a positive impact on employee satisfaction and retention.
Remote work
An employee benefit consideration that has made its way to the front of the line and should be front of mind to your clients is remote work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 15.4% of workers were fully remote as of January 2022. That now accounts for 24.2. million workers in the U.S alone.
Allowing their employees to work remotely full-time or on a hybrid model is bound to keep your clients' workers happy. By eliminating commute times, reducing expenses related to that commute and having the freedom to work wherever suitable, they’ll be more productive and dedicated to their work. Plus, 97% of employees, as Forbes reports, don’t want to return to full-time office life. This is a great side note to reference when discussing potential solutions that may free up overhead or additional capital to support other benefits like medical plan coverage or retirement benefits.
Education benefits
There is an ostensive amount of free learning resources from curators all over the web that can be shared with your clients and their employees. Education and paid certifications are found to improve employee satisfaction by creating a space where employees feel recognized and supported with growth opportunities through education.
However, the need for university or secondary education hasn’t disappeared either. In today’s market, it’s still beneficial to both an employee and employer to pursue higher education.
The education benefits commonly found with employee satisfaction are tuition reimbursement programs and paid certifications or job training. According to Scholarship America, tuition assistance boosts both recruitment and retention.
Other benefits that attract and retain workers
The benefits highlighted above aren’t the only ways to recruit and retain workers. Other considerations for your clients business might include life insurance, disability insurance, and parental leave. In today's market, Paid time off (PTO) is almost a necessity in any benefit plan. Providing a PTO/sick leave solution or even possible unlimited PTO helps establish a culture that prioritizes taking time for themselves and employee wellbeing. Work-life balance has been proven time and time again to support retention and productivity in nearly every facet of business. .
Together or separate, these additional offerings help foster a competitive benefits package that current and prospective employees will see as true usable benefits.
Wrap up
In closing, each of the employee benefits we noted can support employee satisfaction, increase the likelihood of retention, and be used as a recruiting tool. Though wage increases or a high starting wage can be a simple way to provide a perk, they are often not considered an actual benefit to most. Coaching your clients to provide a comprehensive employee benefits program is a great way to recruit new talent and retain quality employees.
Health benefits in our mind is the most important tool for employee retention. Furthermore, wellness perks improve employee participation and productivity.
Work from home flexibility is now an expected part of many positions with the exception of carve out or niche classes of employees. For positions that may be able to work from home, this option is definitely a stand out to new hires or potential employees.
The highest valued benefit among potential or existing employees is the health benefit. While traditional group health plans are a good option for some, Health insurance is traditionally the second highest operating expense for businesses following employee wages. Finding cost-effective solutions remains a top priority for employers and their employees alike. Finding a plan with greater cost control mechanisms and larger prospective savings is a must.
We offer Affordability Based Medical Insurance Plans
Coterie Advisory Group’s Fundamental Care® programs are Affordability-Based Medical Plans which are designed for various niche-markets, including: small business and their employees, part-time, hourly, seasonal employees at enterprise-level companies, independent contractors, gig-economy workers, and association members. Fundamental Care is designed to meet the needs of the underserved, by providing access to unique and affordable health insurance benefits on a guaranteed issue basis. Limited-Day and Limited-Benefit Indemnity plans can be customized and structured with affordable premiums and no deductibles. Coterie Advisor's can also provide Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) and bronze-level Minimum Value Plan (MVP) options for client's needing a solution for their full-time equivalent employees. The combined offering of the Fundamental Care plans is unique to the marketplace. Through Coterie's Affordability Based Medical Plan Strategy, the plans not only provide needed healthcare to the insured employees but also offer companies a strategy to improve recruiting and reduce turnover by rewarding a carve-out class or more-tenured employees.
Fundamental Care offers two Affordability-Based Medical insurance options which can assist:
An employer-sponsored, level-funded, Limited-Day Health Plan for small to midsize employers and carve-out classes of large employers. Plans cost 30-40% less than HDHPs with no deductibles. A near-comprehensive plan that both employers and employees can afford.
THREE LEVELS OF PLAN
An affordable Bronze MVP plan – with no deductible
An affordable mid-range MEC plan with limited days of hospitalization– with no deductible
A Value priced outpatient expense MEC plan- with no deductible
A Limited-Benefit Indemnity Plan for large employers with part-time, hourly, and seasonal employees; and for associations and affinity groups. An affordable option for the uninsured that provides coverage for basic medical expenses.
Available with or without Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) and Minimum Value Plans (MVP)
Both can be customized and structured with affordable premiums and no deductibles. The plans are high in potential coverage, guaranteed issue, and include upfront, day-one benefits.
Coterie Advisory Group, Inc. is a National insurance program manager and consultative advisor who delivers Affordability Based Medical Plan Strategies to help benefit brokers, consultants, employers, and associations in the benefits industry.