4 Tips to Improve Your Employee Benefits

With benefits enrollment around the corner, now is the time to make sure your benefits programs are doing more to support the people that keep your business running. Benefits can be a substantial cost for your organization. However, they’re one of the most important factors employees consider when it comes to their job. So these tips help you balance the needs of your business while caring for employees.

1. Ask your team for feedback.

Do you know what benefits matter to your employees? Getting feedback on your benefits offering is the first step to aligning your employee benefits with what your employees actually want. Allow your team the opportunity to tell you what they think. An anonymous employee benefits survey ahead of open enrollment is a great way to get insight. It can help you:

• Better understand employee needs
• Spend benefit dollars wisely
• Show that you care simply by asking
• Build a more competitive package

2. Focus on cost containment and long-term savings.

Every year the price of health insurance increases due to many factors. That doesn’t mean businesses must surrender to uncontrollable rate increases year after year. There are a couple of strategies you can do to limit the burden of an increase. After assessing your current employees’ use of the benefit programs you have available, if you find participation in one or two is limited to a handful of employees — it could be worth sacrificing.

3. Delight employees with perks at little to no cost.

Health insurance is the 800-pound gorilla that employers must pay for. But in a time when employees need more support than ever, there are other ways to care for your team without breaking the bank.

Introduce voluntary benefits. These are products and services offered by employers but paid for most, or 100% by, employees via payroll deductions. Benefits like 401(k) retirement plans, student loan repayment programs, or even gym memberships. These benefits can enhance your offering and help attract and retain the top players your business needs to succeed. And since employees pay all or most of the cost, it’s a very inexpensive way to look after your team.

4. Get rid of tedious administration work.

Operating in today’s employer environment means there’s a ton of busywork. The amount of administrative work could be costing you. Proper enrollment and the legal requirements of benefits can be time-consuming. Take advantage of any chance to automate your benefit offerings. Many health insurances and 401(K) providers provide platforms and resources for employees to enroll and make changes so you don’t have to.

If that’s not enough, consider outsourcing your benefit offerings and management to an HR partner. We can leverage buying power to negotiate with healthcare providers. And as a result, we can offer premiums well below market averages. Further, we’ll manage the administration of your benefits so you can focus on running your business.

Download our eGuide on the benefits of outsourcing your human resources to learn more about how it can save you costs, keep you compliant, and relieve your administrative burden.