In part 1, we discussed Human Resource systems and processes. Today we will look at the employee benefits side of the equation. Most (but not all) benefits will cost the company money. However, I believe the more benefits you can offer; the greater will be your ability to retain employees. Not every business can afford to offer all benefits but most companies should be able to offer some benefits.

High Cost Benefits
The high cost benefits are, not surprisingly, the ones considered the most important to employees. The benefits in this group are; health, vacation/PTO, holidays, sick/personal time, and training with medical being the most critical. There are a wide range of offerings available to employers, one of which should be able to fit in most employersâ?? budget. They can range all the way from just a catastrophic medical benefit policy to the HMO/PPO models. Any good insurance broker should be able to present all of these options to you. Vacation/PTO, holiday, and sick/personal time are self explanatory. All employees want time off. As an employer, you need to decide at what level you can afford to fund these benefits. You also need to take into consideration what your competitors are doing. If your offerings are poor relative to your competitors, you will most likely have higher attrition rates. Training as a benefit is often overlooked. The costs can be considerable; however, training including in-house training, offsite training, and tuition reimbursement programs are consistently shown to be ones those employeesâ?? value. Most employees today are looking for ways to enhance their skills. The way you approach training will have an impact on both the employeeâ??s value to you as a productive employee and on retention.

Moderate Cost Benefits
In this category I include; dental, bereavement, jury duty, and small incentive plans. Dental benefits are becoming more valued by employees. In addition, research is showing the poor dental health is often an indicator or precursor to more serious health issues. Therefore by supporting better dental health you might be saving yourself some future medical costs. A bereavement benefits sends a message to your employees that you care. I believe that by offering 3 days of paid bereavement is a worthwhile thing for a company to do. It is not often used and it is greatly appreciated by employees. Jury duty is benefit that impacts how you are viewed as a â??corporate citizen.â? Jury duty can certainly impact a business negatively; however, with the restructuring of most courts, many employees will only need to miss one day to complete their jury service. Here again, I think by offering a moderate jury duty benefit (letâ??s say up to 3 paid days), you can help improve the image of your company. Most employees will be called to jury duty once every several years, so in the long run it is not a big expense. The final item in this category is incentive plans. Incentive plans come in many different â??flavors.â? What Iâ??m suggesting here is to come up with moderate cost incentive plans that reward your employees for things like outstanding customer service, going out of their way to help fellow employees, being flexible in supporting you during â??crunchâ? times. These programs should be discretionary and somewhat spontaneous to have the most impact.

Low or No Cost Benefits
In the final category I include, life insurance, vision, employee assistance programs (EAP), wellness, 401K plans, voluntary benefits, and â??perks.â? Most employers should be able to offer a basic group life insurance policy (such as $10,000 term life) at a very low cost; you could then offer them the option to buy additional insurance at their own expense through a payroll deduction. Vision is also another benefit that you can offer at a very low cost or even as an employee paid benefit. EAPs are programs that are usually â??under the radar.â? Employees greatly appreciate them when the need arises. The need arises many times in an employee crises situation so the benefits of such a program may not be apparent because the EAP counselors have help employees resolve issues that would otherwise have negatively impacted your business. A good EAP program will provide you with usage reports that maintain employee confidentiality and I think you would be greatly surprised by the usage. Wellness is now a â??fad,â? however; a good wellness program should have a direct impact the health of your employees and consequently, over time, reduce health care costs and missed time. Most of the major health carriers have a wellness component at no or little cost and many companies can now provide you with independent and comprehensive wellness programs. 401K plans are another way to help with retention. Most fees can be passed on to the plan participants and a company match is optional. Obviously, the richer you can make your 401K plan, the more it will be valued by your employees. But the bottom line is that it doesnâ??t have to be a costly benefit to provide your employees. Voluntary benefits seem to be a growing trend. The benefits are fully paid by the employee and can range from a cancer protection policy to homeowners insurance to pet insurance. The literature seems to indicate that employees appreciate the option to purchase these types of plans. The last item on my list is â??perks.â? Perks help build employee loyalty and cohesiveness. Some examples of perks are birthday parties, Halloween parties, company picnics, potluck lunches, and special time off awards. I believe that the more of these you have, the more productive your employees will be, the more they will be willing to go the extra mile for you, and the better your retention will be.

If you would like any recommendations for providers of any of the benefits Iâ??ve described, I would be glad to make some recommendations.