Every business knows that employee benefits can be quite costly. Larger businesses might be able to reduce their expenditures by way of volume discounts, but this may not be possible for smaller to medium-sized businesses. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways your company can manage these expenditures while also keeping your employees happy. Here are some simple strategies to save on employee benefits:
Avail of HR services from a PEO
A Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) can help you meet all your HR needs while also minimizing your employee benefit costs. They do this by classifying your entire workforce into one large group together with all their clients when they have to negotiate rates with insurance providers. If you have a small or medium-sized business, this allows you to reap the benefits that bigger companies have such as volume discounts.
Talk to your employees
Before you negotiate for benefits, it’s important to know what exactly is essential to your employees. By doing so, you’ll be able to tailor your benefit programs to their needs. You might be able to get rid of any extra expenditures that your employees actually don’t prioritize. By having them share what matters to them, you’ll be able to design an affordable benefit plan that your employees will actually be grateful for. You can always ask your insurance provider for further assistance on this matter.
Have employees contribute to a customized package
Once you’ve gathered enough data on how you can optimize your plan to best suit your employees’ needs, you can use that data to create a customized package for them. Once you’ve done so, you can present it to your employees and ask them if they’ll be willing to contribute to the package. Chances are, if your plan is good enough, you can get them to be inclined to cover at least 10% to 20% of the cost of their benefit package.
Opt for direct deposits
Rather than offering physical paychecks, you’ll save your business tons of time, effort, and money by choosing to release benefits through direct deposits instead. Electronic payments can save your business almost $20,000 a year thanks to less administrative and processing costs. Go the extra mile by opting to utilize electronic payroll programs to minimize the time and money that is wasted on addressing issues related to payroll and benefits.
Do your research
If you don’t already have a provider, it would do you well to compile a list of various providers and their rates to compare and contrast which plans best fit your needs and budget. If you do have a provider, do the research all the same and consider switching to a different one if you find a better deal. Regularly monitoring the market is a great way to make sure that you’re still getting the most out of your money.
Provide discounts on wellness programs
Keeping your employees healthy can boost productivity and positive results, all while reducing incidences of absenteeism. You can save tons of money annually by introducing a wellness program into your benefit plan. These are several plans that offer these programs at a reduced cost and there’s a possibility that you could get tax incentives for them as well. Not only is it financially advantageous for your business, but it’s also useful for your workforce and your business’ productivity as a whole.
Cut employee benefit costs while keeping your employees happy with these helpful and practical tips.
