Group health benefits play a crucial role in staff retention. Some members of your workforce may leave the company if there are no attractive benefits alongside their salary package.
This is especially true if your competitors have healthy employee benefits on offer. That said, you may have to rethink your approach to employee benefits if you want to build a loyal workforce for your business.
Throughout this article, we’ll discuss group benefits for small business employees to help you set up these employee benefit packages for your firm.
What Are Group Benefits?
Group benefits are insurance policies or packages covering people who work under the same employer or are members of the same association. Typically, these policies have cheaper premiums than individual insurance packages.
For employees, these benefits are a safety net in case of any eventualities. Employers also use group employee benefits as a strategy to attract and keep staff members.
To qualify for a group benefits insurance plan as a small business, you must have two to 50 full-time workers in your employ. However, it is still possible to get a group insurance package for part-time staff.
Different Types of Group Benefits
Group benefits vary, and it’s vital you know the different types so you’ll know what to offer your employees:
Group Health Insurance
Group health insurance is the most popular policy offered by employers across the United States. Typically, it covers health, vision, and dental care.
Some group health insurance packages also include a health savings account (HSA) and a flexible spending account (FSA). You may decide to pay the entire group health insurance premium for your employees or a part of it.
Group Life Insurance
Group life insurance is another standard policy offered to employees by employers. These packages pay benefits to a worker’s beneficiary in the event of their death or an accident that renders them incapacitated.
As we’ve earlier stated, most employees will only consider your job offer if these policies are part of what’s on the table, as they’ll provide a safety net for their families in case of an unforeseen circumstance.
Retirement Plans
Retirement plans shouldn’t sound new to anyone. They are savings set aside for employees to have a source of income in their retirement years.
The most popular retirement savings package is the 401(k), where employers deduct an amount from a worker’s paycheck to put into their retirement account.
Why Are Group Benefits Important for Small Businesses?
Group benefits are among the attractions employees look for before taking any position. But why are they important, and why should you consider adding them to your salary propositions? Let’s find out:
- Attract a talented workforce: Group insurance policies are a significant motivation for job applicants to take any position. Without these benefits, some candidates may not consider your company as an option for employment.
- Find loyal and productive employees: Group benefits play a crucial role in keeping employees devoted to the firm. When they know they’ve secured their health and long-term retirement future, they can focus more on their career with your company.
- Create a cheaper alternative: Getting individual insurance policies for every employee is an expensive move for any business. But with more people in the pool, the premium’s price reduces significantly for small business owners.
Setting Up Group Benefits for Your Employees
Deciding to offer a group benefit to your employees is the straightforward part. The hard part is setting up the insurance policies. Quickly, let’s give you a guide on providing group insurance packages for your workforce.
Prepare a Budget
Budgeting is vital in anything that has to do with finances. If you want to offer a group benefit to your employees, you must first determine what you can afford.
From here, you can determine what policy to offer your workforce: health/life insurance or retirement savings. You may also need to do a cost analysis per benefit while analyzing your budget.
Determine Whether to Include Unique Employee Benefits
After looking at what you can afford and determining which insurance policies to offer your employees, you may need to decide whether to add some perks alongside.
For example, you could include free office snacks, gym memberships, student loans, or paid maternity leave. Remember to stick to what you can afford, though.
Analyze the Total Compensation
Applicants aren’t just looking to hear about salary and insurance benefits; they want to know about all the other perks involved. You should have a detailed summary of the total compensation for job-seekers, including bonuses, commissions, gym memberships, IT reimbursements, etc.
Complete the Plans and Communicate Them to Your Employees
After prepping your budget and determining which group health benefits to offer to your workers, the final step involves deciding which healthcare provider will provide insurance to your employees, signing the required paperwork, and fixing a start date for the program.
Next, you’ll need to communicate the fresh development to your employees. A conference meeting is the best place to do this. Ensure you have print and digital copies of all the policies’ details so that everyone can get up to speed with your plans.
Finally, create a platform where employees can have their questions answered beyond the meeting.
Final Thoughts
Group health benefits are crucial for employee recruitment, motivation, and retention. If you haven’t considered them before now, this article should have changed your mind.
However, setting up a group benefits plan for your small business isn’t a straightforward task, and you may need some help along the way.
Get in touch with Bethany Insurance to see how our team of expert agents can help your business find a group benefits plan that affords you extra support and peace of mind.
