Employee Benefits: Your Secret Weapon

Probably the top concern we hear from our business clients these days is how hard it’s become to find and hire great new employees. With unemployment running at record lows thanks to a ten-year run of uninterrupted economic growth, there’s no shortage of opportunities out there for qualified candidates in nearly any field. Combine that with historical trends like the shortage of young people entering construction trades and keeping all your seats full with the right people can be a real challenge.

So what can your business do to set itself apart from the other opportunities your job applicants are seeing? And for that matter, how do you avoid losing your best employees as competitors try to solve the same problem?

Consider the role of your employee benefits package in the overall scheme of things. As the American health care landscape becomes increasingly complex and costly, employees and applicants alike are placing a much higher value on the role of company benefits in a compensation package. Simply put, a properly designed benefits package can help you attract and retain the right candidates and employees, and keep your organization running efficiently.

The right combination of health, dental and vision insurance can accomplish several things. Primarily, it puts your team’s minds at ease, knowing that they and their families have affordable access to routine health care, and a safety net should a catastrophic illness or injury strike. That removes a major distraction from their world and results in satisfied employees with higher morale, and that’s a primary goal for any business.

A great benefits package can also work as a hedge against increased salary expectations. Most employees understand to some degree the challenges an employer faces in providing comprehensive benefits, and they recognize that effort as an investment in them. A competitor is less likely to attract one of your employees with an incremental salary increase if they can’t match your benefits as well.

And a really good benefits package goes beyond corrective medicine and promotes wellness also, with fitness programs, nutritional education and even subsidized memberships to gyms and other wellness facilities. Having a healthy staff can pay off in higher productivity, lower absenteeism and even reduced costs at benefits renewal time.

For all those reasons, it’s vital that you look beyond the top-line cost when you’re evaluating benefits solutions.

Questions about employee benefits? Contact Consolidated Insurance.