Three Basic Employee Benefits Best Practices
The Affordable Care Act has caused several employers to reconsider their current employee benefits plans. Whether your business is just now being required to offer health insurance (as part of the employer mandate), or if you’ve always offered health insurance, it’s likely that recent events have brought your company’s benefits plans to the forefront of executive conversations.
While many of those conversations have been about the intricacies of health care reform and legislation, we think this is a good time to get back to the basics of employee benefits. Here are three basic best practices employers should keep in mind when thinking about employee benefits administration.
Thinking Of Benefits As Part Of The Strategic Plan
If your business is considering tweaking or even redoing its current plans, consider taking into account more than the sticker price. Instead, try thinking about your benefits plan as an extension of your company’s overall strategic plan and mission, and what your plans say about your company to potential recruits. Take a moment to think about the kind of employee your organization wants to employ, and design a plan that not only attracts these employees but also encourages them to stay for years to come. If you do find that a change in your employee benefits is in order, consider consulting with an expert third-party administrator who can tailor an employee benefits package for your company.
Ensuring Employees Understand Their Benefits
Creating a great employee benefits program is one thing. Explaining those benefits in a way that employees understand is quite another. If your workers don’t fully understand your company’s benefits, they won’t be able to take full advantage of them. Taking the time to educate employees on their benefits options will result in greater participation and fewer baffled employees when it comes time for them to choose a plan.
Implementing Workplace Wellness Policies
Workplace wellness programs have become very popular in recent years. In fact, as of 2013 almost half of all US employers offered some sort of wellness program or initiative, ranging from onsite gyms or exercise classes to simple, employee-driven initiatives like creating walking groups. Beyond serving as fun perks to current and potential employees, encouraging and incentivizing employee health has several clear advantages that can have a significant impact on your company’s bottom line. Creating a culture that promotes overall health and wellness can help decrease the number of workplace accidents, lower insurance costs and reduce employee absenteeism.
G&A Partners, one of the nation’s leading professional employer organizations (PEOs), provides its clients with tailored employee benefits packages that both meet their needs and their budgets. G&A’s team of experienced and highly qualified employee benefits specialists oversee and administer a variety of plans from top-tier carriers while also delivering open enrollment assistance and ensuring employers are in compliance with all federal and state laws (ACA, HIPPA, COBRA, etc.).
Learn more about how G&A Partners helps businesses by providing, managing and administering employee benefits by contacting us by phone at 1-866-927-6203 to speak with an expert or schedule a business consultation.