Articles

Keeping Employees Happy Despite Tighter Purse Strings

Keeping Employees Happy Despite Tighter Purse Strings

• Carefully review your medical plan for savings measures. It’s likely the largest component of the benefits budget, and as such, may represent the greatest cost-cutting potential. Marketing your plan to capitalize on competitive forces in the market is a good first step. However, not all provider networks are alike, so be sure to pay close attention to value, not only price. Assess plan features that could hold significant savings, such as prescription drug programs with coinsurance features that automatically encourage generic usage and keep pace with inflation.
   
• Since 100% of the cost of voluntary benefits are paid by the employee, expanding upon or adding voluntary benefits can beef-up the companies benefits offerings without incurring additional expense. Employee interest in voluntary legal benefits has increased significantly due to the financial downturn. Employees continue to look to their employer for solutions to their financial and legal concerns, and are finding these types of programs to be a valuable resource. With group pricing and the convenience of payroll deduction, it may be time to consider expanding your menu of offerings.
   
• Assess the benefits being offered to ensure they aren't the most costly, but still play a role in both keeping and attracting employees. Two examples of such would be disability and life insurance coverage. We’ve recently marketed the life and disability coverage of several employers who were able to save significantly, despite the fact that they were in a rate guarantee with their current carrier. It never hurts to investigate your options.
   
• High gas prices mean that commuting to and from work becomes a costly expense for most workers. Offering qualified transportation benefits, such as transit passes, vanpooling, or qualified parking, through a reimbursement funded by employee pre-tax dollars is a relatively inexpensive way that employers can help their workers with expensive commuting. The arrangement can save workers money on their Social Security taxes, federal taxes, and possibly state taxes.
   
• Flexible work schedules, such as a ten hour/four day work week, may be an option for some businesses to save their employees’ transportation costs and themselves energy costs. Shorter work weeks are also generally favored by employees due to the extra time it provides them for their leisure activities and home responsibilities.
   
• Even though the budget is tight, make some room to communicate with employees on the value of their benefits. Most employees only see their own out-of-pocket expense for their benefits; they seldom realize just how much their employer is spending to provide valuable benefits to them and their dependents. It only takes a very simple and concise communication to provide a summary of the employee benefits being offered and the employer's cost.