6 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Health Plan
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
Health insurance may be one of the most critical annual purchases since it impacts your physical, mental and financial wellness. Unfortunately, selecting a health insurance plan can feel overwhelming. With so many options, it can also be easy to make a mistake when selecting coverage.
This article explores six common missteps related to selecting a health insurance plan. Once armed with this information, it’ll be easier to avoid these mistakes and choose the best plan coverage for your situation.
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Rushing Through Enrollment Options
Many people rush when buying their health insurance or only rely on recommendations from friends, family and co-workers. Others may simply reenroll with last year’s choices. But health insurance provides personal coverage, so it’s important to research and find what will work best for your health needs and budget.
When it comes time to enroll in a plan, compare different policies and understand their coverages and associated costs (e.g., premiums). One of the best ways to ensure the policy is right for your health needs is to consider your medical requirements and spending in the next year. Don’t forget to confirm in-network coverage to ensure your preferred doctor, clinic and pharmacy are connected in the new plan. Then, you can find the most suitable plan and coverage in an effort to simplify your health care and make it more affordable.
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Overlooking Policy Documents
Another common mistake is skipping through or not thoroughly reading the policy’s terms and conditions. However, carefully reading a policy is the best way to know what to expect from the health plan and what the plan expects of you.
As such, read the fine print on each plan you consider before enrollment. Reviewing the policy’s inclusions and exclusions will help you make an informed decision and potentially avoid surprise bills later on.
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Misunderstanding Costs
A cost-sharing charge is an amount you must pay for a medical item or service covered by the health insurance plan. Plans typically have a deductible, copays and coinsurance. Here’s what those terms mean:
- The deductible is the amount you pay out of pocket before your health insurance starts to cover costs.
- A copay is a flat fee you pay upfront for doctor visits, prescriptions and other health care services.
- Coinsurance is the percentage you pay for covered health services after you’ve met your deductible.
When shopping for a plan, keep in mind that the deductible is tied to the premium. As such, a low deductible plan may seem attractive, but understand that it generally comes with a higher premium—and vice versa. Consider keeping your deductible to no more than 5% of your gross annual income. When shopping for a plan, look closely to see when you’ll have a copay and how much it will cost for various services.
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Concealing Your Medical History
It may be tempting to avoid sharing your medical history if you’re worried about being rejected or receiving higher premiums. However, it could hurt you in the long run when insurance claims are denied for existing conditions or undisclosed medical information.
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Ignoring Add-ons
Health insurance add-ons are often included separately and require an additional premium, which means many people don’t look at them. A standard health insurance plan may not cover certain situations, so reviewing all available options is essential. An insurance add-on could help bolster your overall health insurance coverage by offering extra protection.
Review the add-on covers offered with your health insurance policy and see if any would be helpful for you, your family or plans in the next year. For example, some common add-ons include critical illness insurance, maternity and newborn baby insurance, hospital daily expenses and emergency ambulance services.
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Selecting Insufficient Coverage
People may hold back on purchasing certain coverage to pay a lower premium. While that may seem advantageous in the short term, you’ll be on the hook for out-of-pocket costs when facing a medical emergency. This mistake may be accompanied by physical, mental and financial health consequences.
When selecting a plan, check that the policy provides adequate coverage for your medical needs and other essentials. The right health insurance can take care of yourself and ensure financial security.
Summary
Health insurance is an essential investment for you and your family. By avoiding common mistakes while buying health insurance, you’ll be better informed to enroll in a plan and other coverages.
As health care costs continue to rise, it’s more important than ever to carefully review available policies, consider your options and health needs, and, ultimately, select the best plan to protect your health and finances.
If you have more questions about health plans, contact your manager or HR.
- Published in Blog
Identifying and Retaining Key Employees
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
Identifying and retaining key employees is especially important in light of ongoing attraction and retention difficulties many employers have been facing. According to Zywave’s 2022 Attraction and Retention Survey, more than 75% of employers consider attraction and retention to be among their top five business challenges. In response to changing work demands brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and trends such as the “Great Reshuffle”—a mass movement of workers from their current roles to positions that meet their shifting job expectations and priorities—retaining employees has become increasingly difficult for employers.
In order for organizations to continue to succeed, it is important that they are able to find and retain the best workers. These workers are those who affect performance and drive business for their employers, making them critical assets. This article provides more information on key employees, explains how to identify them and offers ways employers can retain such workers.
Key Employees Explained
Key employees are those whose skills, knowledge and excellent performance can be linked to their organizations’ overall success. There are different attributes that may contribute to workers who are critical to their organizations. Often, these employees have special proprietary knowledge, additional certifications, degrees or licenses that help their organizations function more efficiently.
Key employees may also help establish strong relationships within their organizations and with important external parties (e.g., clients). The primary takeaway is that key employees have a tangible impact on their companies and they are difficult to replace.
Identifying Key Employees
To retain key employees, employers have to know how to identify them. The traits of key employees may differ between organizations, but there are some general indicators of such workers. Specifically, these employees are known to:
- Exceed expectations—These employees consistently go above and beyond what they are expected to do.
- Enhance strategies—Such employees proactively search for ways to improve their companies’ strategies and operations without being told to do so.
- Affect performance—The presence of these employees is often connected to increased performance and their absence can have negative effects on overall results.
- Impact business relations—Losing such employees may hurt relationships with clients and vendors.
- Connect teams—These employees foster connections between various teams and help smaller team cultures blend into their companies’ larger cultures.
While there are several identifiers of key employees, these attributes are important ones that can help employers make general determinations regarding which workers are the most irreplaceable within their organizations.
How to Retain Key Employees
Identifying key employees only really helps organizations if they are able to retain them. Here are some ways employers can keep their key employees:
- Identify such workers. If employers cannot figure out who their key employees are, they are far less likely to be able to retain them.
- Maintain open communication. Openly communicating with key employees can ensure their needs are being met. If there is a lack of communication, it is more likely these employees will look to other roles and organizations where they feel they can voice their needs.
- Ensure competitive compensation. Key employees usually go above and beyond the duties set out in their roles. As such, employers should consider compensating them for that extra work. It may be a good idea to reevaluate compensation strategies before top-performing workers decide to leave for other organizations that may pay them more.
- Provide learning and development opportunities. Employees who overachieve are often eager to learn more and want their organizations to help them do so. Employers should consider offering learning and development opportunities both to satiate employees’ desires to learn, as well as help their workers continue to enhance their skill sets.
- Update employee benefits. Employers should ask their employees which benefits they get the most use out of and which additional offerings they might like to see. Part of retaining key employees is ensuring they receive benefits and compensation that match their needs, so it is important to determine whether their current benefits offerings help achieve those goals.
As employers strive to keep key employees, it remains crucial to treat all employees fairly, particularly when making employment decisions related to compensation, promotions and learning and development opportunities. Organizations should ensure their performance management practices comply with all applicable employment laws.
Takeaway
Key employees are vital to the success of their organizations, so it is important to figure out who they are and how to keep them. Employers should stay alert to indicators of key employees within their organizations and figure out those workers’ desires so they can implement effective strategies to retain them.
For more information on attraction and retention, contact RISQ Consulting today.
- Published in Blog
The Trendiest Benefits for 2023
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
There’s no denying that employees’ needs have changed over the past few years. As such, employers can offer benefits to meet evolving worker needs shaped by lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a tight labor market and rising inflation. Many workers are paying more attention to their benefits and wondering how to stretch their dollars further.
Benefits have always been crucial for attracting and retaining top performers. For 2023, employers are uniquely positioned to offer more than just a health care plan, including holistic benefits, resources and perks that today’s workers most need. This article highlights benefits that are likely to be popular in 2023.
Voluntary Benefits
It’s no secret that health care costs in the United States have risen sharply over the past two decades and will likely continue to increase. Health care affordability is top of mind for employers and employees alike. As employers search for ways to manage their health care costs, some are considering voluntary benefits as a strategy to round off their offerings. A rising number of organizations recognize that voluntary benefits are advantageous to employees and their families—and many come at no cost to the employer.
Consider the following popular secondary benefits employers are offering:
- Accident insurance
- Critical Illness
- Hospital indemnity insurance
- Disability insurance
- Life insurance
- Identify theft protection
- Pet insurance
Voluntary benefits can provide value to employees without raising an employer’s costs, making them powerful tools for attracting and retaining top workers.
Financial Wellness Benefits
Many employees are feeling financially strained due to record-high inflation. Not only will inflation impact employees’ decisions about benefits, but it may also result in a need for financial wellness education and guidance.
However, financial wellness benefits must go beyond only offering educational resources to be impactful. Organizations can boost their attraction to today’s workers by offering the following types of desired financial wellness benefits:
- Retirement plan options with matching contribution
- Health savings account contribution
- Flexible spending account contribution
- Financial planning assistance and coaching
- Lifestyle spending account
- Transportation benefits
- Employee discount or purchase program
- Financial reimbursements (e.g., tuition or student loan repayment plans, caregiving support funds and professional development stipends)
With any of those offerings, education will remain a necessary component to increase employee utilization. Employers are uniquely positioned to help employees understand the importance of these benefits and can help them increase their financial literacy with additional resources and tools.
Health Care Full Premium Coverage
As health care costs continue to skyrocket, some employers choose to pay 100% of employees’ monthly health care premiums. For reference, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports the monthly average for employer contributions in 2021 was 83%. This type of benefit is more common in small organizations. Fully paid health plans could be a key differentiator for workers weighing their employment options.
Family-friendly Benefits
Family-building benefits are becoming increasingly popular with employees, as they inclusively support the unique and complex ways individuals and couples build their families. Employers are also focusing on ways to support reproductive health care. Such benefits can provide employees peace of mind as employers demonstrate their emotional and financial support for employees’ decisions to build a family.
Additionally, many employers are increasingly prioritizing parental leave. According to Mercer data, 70% of employers are already offering or planning to offer parental leave in 2023, while 53% are providing or planning to provide paid adoption leave. Adoption and surrogacy benefits are also on the rise, in addition to access to fertility treatment coverage.
To round out family-friendly benefits, large employers are also considering on-site childcare or access to backup childcare services.
Summary
Organizations can start optimizing benefits packages by evaluating employee preferences and thinking about ways to improve offerings or tailor them for their workforce. To ensure offerings and investments will resonate with employees, organizations should consider surveying them first. It’s important to keep a pulse on employees and see what they find most valuable and necessary for their overall well-being as lives continue to be impacted by COVID-19, inflation and any other personal challenges.
Reach out to RISQ Consulting to learn more about trending employee benefits.
- Published in Blog
Tips for Effective 2023 Open Enrollment Communication
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
Now more than ever, employees are looking to their employers for guidance on navigating their available benefits and how to stretch their dollars further. As such, effective open enrollment communication is critical this year. According to a Voya Financial survey, nearly one-third of American workers (31%) eligible for benefits admitted they don’t fully understand any employee benefits they selected during their most recent open enrollment period. However, employees are likely paying more attention this year as they also navigate record-high inflation and work to maximize every hard-earned dollar.
Many of today’s workers want help understanding how much money to put aside for retirement, emergency savings and health care expenses. That means employers have an opportunity to shine by effectively communicating and guiding employees throughout the open enrollment process and even the rest of the year.
As the 2023 open enrollment season approaches, employers are poised to provide their employees with resources and digital tools they can use to better understand and act with more confidence when making benefits decisions. This article highlights communication tips for employers.
Communicating With Employees
Educating and informing employees about their benefits package is an integral part of open enrollment. Effective communication is critical to educate and inform employees about new, returning or expanded benefits options. Consider these eight communication tips:
- Start early. Get the word out early about benefits offerings so employees have ample time to understand their benefits, consult with family members and determine their needs for the following year. There’s no such thing as communicating “too soon” about enrollment. Research shows that repetitive messaging and reminders increase the odds of an employee seeing enrollment information and understanding the upcoming benefit changes and how they work.
- Develop key messaging. After solidifying benefits options, employers need to plan their communication strategies. The first step is figuring out key messaging, focusing on new or updated benefits offerings, and developing FAQs to address common concerns quickly.
- Select a mix of appropriate channels. Just as many workplaces operate in a hybrid model, employee communications can be successful when done in a similar manner. For example, digital channels can help distribute and house information virtually, allowing employees to access it when and where they need it. Chat functionality with benefits vendors can also be a helpful digital tool to assist employees in figuring out which benefits they need. Alternatively, there’s still a time and place for companywide on-site meetings and mail-to-home print communication. Postcards and other mailers are still relevant and can serve as a reminder to discuss and review benefits options at home. Every workplace is different, so it comes down to selecting various channels that are relevant and engaging to each organization’s specific employees.
- Keep it simple. It’s vital to simplify any benefits information being shared. Employees don’t need to know everything, so employers should highlight what’s necessary to understand about the benefit and the information to help them decide if they need it. Links or attachments could explore the benefits further and offer the fine print.
- Make it digestible. It’s crucial to catch employees’ attention and present the key message immediately before they lose interest. Traditional benefits booklets can be lengthy; instead, employers could deliver bite-sized information to employees through methods such as videos and emails. If all open enrollment information is given at once, it’s easy for employees to become overwhelmed and, ultimately, disengage with employer-provided information. Digestible communication makes it easy for employees to know what to focus on and take action.
- Use real-world examples. When possible, employers can put benefits offerings in context with real-world scenarios. Employees can relate to stories, so find ways to bring the options to life. For example, instead of describing telemedicine as a 24/7 benefit, highlight that an employee could get health care answers in the middle of the night when they or a child are running a high fever. The chances of employees needing to use health care benefits during the next year are highly likely, so help reiterate the importance of complete coverage.
- Avoid jargon. Avoiding HR or benefits-related jargon is best to help make benefits easier to understand. Additionally, many benefits are acronyms, so employers should help decode and explain the alphabet soup to employees.
- Personalize communication. Ultimately, employers want to engage employees with open enrollment information, and a personalized approach can help. It’ll depend on the workforce and their working environments, but employers will likely need to segment their employee audience and tweak messaging so it resonates. For example, open enrollment methods and communication would look different for remote, on-site and nonwired employees.
Benefits can be complicated. Although open enrollment is the most pivotal time to highlight benefits to employees, employers have an opportunity to educate employees throughout the year. Ongoing communication after open enrollment can help encourage employees to understand and utilize the benefits available to them.
Summary
Educating and informing employees about their benefits options is an important part of open enrollment. Effective employee communication is an ongoing process, but it comes down to helping employees feel well-informed about their benefits options and confident about their choices.
Reach out to RISQ Consulting for additional open enrollment support, including employee communication resources.
- Published in Blog
Employer Considerations for Coverage of Abortion Benefits
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
In anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade, states have enacted various laws regarding insurance coverage of abortion. Some states have banned or restricted abortion coverage, while other states require plans to cover abortions.
Certain states (such as Oklahoma and Texas) now enable individuals to bring civil lawsuits against anyone who assists in the performance or inducement of abortion, including paying for or reimbursing the costs of the procedure through insurance or otherwise. It is unclear whether individuals can sue companies that cover travel expenses for legal out-of-state abortions.
This Compliance Bulletin outlines the factors for employers to consider regarding providing abortion-related benefits. However, many of the issues surrounding these types of benefits remain open questions at this time. Legal challenges to these laws are already underway, and more are expected in the future.
Employers may need to closely analyze any abortion benefit offered under their group health plans to ensure full compliance with applicable restrictions. Carriers and third-party administrators may be able to provide information regarding specific plan provisions.
Depending on the situation, employers may also wish to consult with an employee benefits attorney regarding compliance.
Coverage of Abortion Benefits
There are a number of ways coverage of abortion-related expenses may be provided through a health insurance plan. Several factors may affect the benefits that are offered, such as plan funding (fully insured or self-funded), location, tax considerations and the applicable state regulation (such as whether coverage is required or prohibited).
Federal Law
Two key laws address abortion benefits at the federal level: the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), which amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The PDA applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) protects women from being fired for having an abortion or contemplating having an abortion. It also prohibits adverse employment actions against an employee based on their decision not to have an abortion. For example, it would be unlawful for a manager to pressure an employee to have or not to have an abortion in order to retain their job, get better assignments or stay on a path for advancement.
Insurance Coverage of Abortion
The PDA makes clear that if an employer provides health insurance benefits, it is not required to pay for health insurance coverage of abortion, except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or medical complications have arisen from an abortion. If complications arise during the course of an abortion, the health insurance plan is required to pay the costs attributable to those complications.
In addition, an employer’s health plan is permitted to provide health coverage for an abortion, although not required. If the plan covers the costs of abortion, it must do so in the same manner and to the same degree as it covers other medical conditions. Potential problems could arise, for example, if the plan covers abortions but on different terms and conditions than those that apply to other medical conditions, or if the plan provides comprehensive medical benefits but doesn’t cover abortion when the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.
Open Issue: Whether the PDA’s protections will play a role in cases involving state anti-abortion laws. |
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not require abortion coverage beyond what is already required under Title VII, as amended by the PDA. According to Executive Order 13535, the ACA was intended to maintain the abortion-related restrictions found in existing law (“Hyde Amendment” restrictions) at the time of the ACA’s enactment. Under the ACA, federal laws to protect conscience (such as the Church Amendment and the Weldon Amendment) remain intact, and new protections prohibit discrimination against health care facilities and health care providers because of an unwillingness to provide, pay for, provide coverage of or refer for abortions.
State Law
While there is no specific mandate or ban on covering abortion costs at the federal level, many states have passed their own regulations regarding abortion coverage. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, more states are likely to ban or restrict abortion coverage under all health plans. The scope of benefits that may be provided by a health plan will depend on the specific restrictions that are imposed at the state level. This section outlines key state law issues to consider.
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction
In states like Texas and Oklahoma that bar “aiding and abetting” the procurement of illegal abortions, it remains to be seen how these laws will apply to employers providing benefits for their employees to receive legal out-of-state abortions. While the plain text of the laws state that paying for or reimbursing the costs of abortion “through insurance or otherwise” is prohibited, it is unclear whether, and to what extent, this would apply to coverage of lawful out-of-state procedures. This type of jurisdictional issue will likely need to be decided in court.
Open Issue: The extent to which one state’s insurance laws will apply to employers’ reimbursement of travel expenses for employees to procure out-of-state abortions. |
ERISA Preemption
In general, self-insured health plans are not subject to state insurance laws because of the preemption clause of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). If a self-insured plan is not subject to ERISA, ERISA’s preemption clause does not apply, and the plan may be subject to state laws. Similarly, state insurance laws generally apply to ERISA-covered fully insured health plans.
ERISA preemption could potentially be used as a defense for self-insured health plans providing abortion benefits in states that regulate abortion. However, it is unclear whether a state law criminalizing the practice—or state laws that prohibit persons from “aiding and abetting” the procurement of illegal abortions—could be used against employers providing abortion benefits through self-insured, ERISA-covered plans.
Open Issue: Whether ERISA’s preemption provisions can be used as a defense in any potential criminal or civil case brought under state anti-abortion laws. |
Tax Considerations
As with any employee benefit, employers will also have to analyze the tax treatment of abortion-related coverage. Legal abortions are considered a deductible qualifying medical expense (for which Health Savings Account, Health Reimbursement Account and Flexible Spending Account funds may be used on a tax-free basis). However, the open legal questions regarding reimbursing travel-related expenses for out-of-state abortions may also affect tax treatment. Employers may need to consult with a tax advisor on any questions regarding the tax implications of these benefits.
- Published in Blog
Combating Rising Benefits Costs During Periods of High Inflation
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
The U.S. inflation rate has increased by 8.3% over the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This has led to significant price increases across various consumer goods as well as employee benefits such as health insurance. In fact, one-third of U.S. employees have already seen an increase in their health costs in the last year, a survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute reported.
This increase in costs presents challenges for employers facing one of the most difficult hiring markets in recent memory. Luckily, there are some strategies employers can utilize to mitigate increasing benefits costs without shifting the burden to employees, thus remaining attractive to current and prospective employees.
Eliminate Underutilized Benefits
One simple strategy is to eliminate underutilized benefits. Resources from unused benefits can then go towards more expensive benefits. An easy way to evaluate which benefits best suit a company’s needs is to regularly send out benefits surveys to the company’s employees. These surveys can help employers know which available benefits may not be providing value to the company.
Wellness Programs
While there are skeptics and believers when it comes to actual cost savings provided by wellness programs, they often play an important role in other positive workplace developments. For instance, promoting and achieving a healthy workforce often improves morale and productivity. These programs are also valuable because they can lead to improved employee attraction and retention as well as increased loyalty to the employer.
There are a variety of wellness benefits employers can offer to suit the needs of their company. Potential options include providing in-office perks for nutrition, fitness and stress management, or gym memberships.
Telemedicine
Taking time off to go to the doctor can often be a time-consuming and expensive undertaking. Telemedicine may help lessen these issues by eliminating associated costs, such as transportation, and providing faster and more affordable care to those seeking medical services. By meeting with health care providers over the internet, employees can get the care they need more quickly and are likely to be more productive as a result. Additionally, telemedicine allows employees to take less paid time off of work and makes it much easier for them to avoid obstacles that could get in the way of seeking health care, such as child care.
Conclusion
As employers adjust to increasing inflation rates and the rising costs that follow, there are several strategies they can use to help offset the severity of these increases. From providing wellness programs to facilitating the use of telemedicine, employers will need to think carefully about which strategy would work best for their unique situation.
Contact us today for more inflation-related content.
- Published in Blog
Attraction and Retention Tips for Small Businesses
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
Businesses of all sizes are currently facing attraction and retention challenges. Successful efforts to win over employees can require an investment of time and carry high costs. Unfortunately, small businesses often don’t have an excess of resources to invest in attraction and retention efforts in today’s worker-friendly labor market.
In what’s been labeled as the “great resignation,” an increasing number of employees are leaving jobs not only for better compensation and benefits but also to prioritize desires such as flexible work arrangements or career development opportunities. Losing an employee is particularly costly for small businesses, impacting both attraction and retention. Along with costs associated with recruiting, hiring and training a replacement, the employee that left was likely a key contributor in the smaller environment, potentially leading to a significant impact on the operations and culture of a workplace.
Amid these labor obstacles, smaller employers should focus on what’s feasible. Often, small employers have the agility to respond to the employment market with new strategies. This article highlights some attraction and retention tips for small businesses.
Select the Right Benefits
According to a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, small firms are less likely to offer health insurance versus businesses with more employees. Health insurance is valued highly by workers who often don’t have access to this coverage, which often includes part-time employees, those in the service sector—and workers employed by small businesses. Thus, for small businesses, even simply offering packages that include health care can offer a competitive edge against those that don’t.
Health insurance is just one component to consider as part of a benefits package, and small businesses should tailor their offerings to meet the specific demands of current and prospective employees. One way to start this process is by surveying employees on what types of benefits would interest them the most and then using that data to inform benefits decisions. The best benefits to offer will vary in each small business depending on the needs of the workforce—but they can be leveraged to attract and attain the right employees.
Revamp Recruiting, Hiring and Onboarding Practices
Small businesses often have limited resources when it comes to recruiting, hiring and onboarding, so it’s important to be as efficient as possible. These restraints may include insufficient financial resources to put into these practices—but also a lack of time. Often, it’s an owner, manager or lone HR professional who also takes on recruiting duties. However, a thorough review of the current status of these practices may uncover ways to create improvements.
Leveraging technology is one way to improve these practices. The good news for smaller employers is that many tools available today are relatively feasible to set up—even for a team of one— and often cost-effective.
Employers can consider using tools such as an applicant tracking system that collects and stores candidate resumes and helps automate common recruiting and onboarding tasks. To further ease the onboarding process, employers could consider leveraging cloud-based and digital tools designed to help manage the process for completing Form I-9 or direct deposit, which can be tedious for both the new hire and the employer.
By improving these processes, employers can reduce costs, and recruiting efforts can focus on finding new employees rather than dealing with tedious tasks. Every employer will be at a different place in terms of their existing processes and their current operational challenges, but a best practice to get started is to focus on what the current pain points are and how they can be improved.
Expand Recruiting Reaches
If an employer isn’t receiving the number of quality job candidates they desire, it’s worth strategizing to grow this pool. A good starting point for small businesses looking to grow their recruiting reach is to expand their online presence. This may include creating and maintaining multiple online profiles, posting content regularly and educating prospective workers about job opportunities. If limited by time, it’s OK to focus on managing one or two key profiles. It’s best to pick a platform where potential employees may likely be and focus on developing an active presence—even if it just means putting in a few minutes per day.
Employers can also focus on managing how potential candidates view their employer brand—or reputation as an employer. While small businesses may not have as developed an employer brand as their larger competitors, they may have more agility to establish—or revamp—their branding. An example of this could be to focus on highlighting the core values and impact of their organization. Surveys find that a majority of employees are more likely to work for an organization with values that align with their own.
These illustrate a few ways small employers today are expanding their reach into the employment market. Ideally, the right strategies can lead to more passive recruiting leads and improved efforts to attract employees.
Focus on Developing Employees
Attraction and retention challenges aren’t always about bringing enough employees through the doors—today, many small businesses face skills gaps. In fact, a survey in 2020 from GetApp found that one in five small businesses cited a lack of employee skills as the single biggest challenge they faced in response to COVID-19. For example, an employer’s workforce might lack the skills to use technology effectively. These gaps could also exist with soft skills, such as communication abilities or emotional intelligence. While a solution to this may be to recruit for specific skills to close these gaps, existing employees are often overlooked. While recruiting for talent with desirable skills may require significant resources, small businesses should also consider how they can bridge these gaps in-house.
Small businesses generally won’t need to develop skills for large groups, so it’s a good idea to focus on individualized learning. Some ideas or opportunities include providing career pathing plans, creating mentorship programs, offering microlearning workshops to focus on a specific skill, or paying for employees to attain certifications or further their education outside of the workplace.
Learning and development efforts can not only help employers address skills gaps; they can help employers retain existing employees and even attract new ones. Surveys find that employees are more likely to stay with an employer if they feel the organization is investing in their careers. Putting a plan to action can not only help win over employees but help prepare an employer for its future talent needs.
Offer a Flexible Work Environment
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees have been afforded the opportunity to work remotely or have flexibility with their schedules. Surveys overwhelmingly indicate that many employees prefer to retain flexible work options. These offerings include work-from-home arrangements, hybrid work schedules (working part of the week in the office and part of it remotely) or flexible work schedules. If a business has primarily administrative employees, remote or hybrid work could continue to be an option even as COVID-19-related precautions loosen. For small businesses, offering these types of arrangements can help maintain a competitive edge over competitors that don’t offer such flexibility.
However, not all organizations allow for remote or hybrid work. If a small business is in the service industry, for example, remote work may not be an option. Yet, even working with employees to create flexible scheduling options can go a long way. The feasibility of a small business being able to offer these types of flexible arrangements will vary, but these offerings remain a priority for many workers today.
Create a Strong Workplace Culture
While topics such as compensation and benefits matter for attracting and retaining employees, so does the culture of a workplace. Even if they have limited resources, small employers should focus on fostering a desirable workplace. A healthy company culture can help retain employees—and, in turn, create an environment that is attractive to prospective job seekers. In fact, company culture is important enough that it often drives employment decisions.
As such, many small businesses are focusing on creating a strong workplace culture. Leaders are pursuing initiatives such as training managers on how to identify employee burnout, designate fair workloads and support the needs of their individual team members. In addition, many small businesses are developing programs to help create an inclusive work environment.
These types of efforts can help foster a healthy workplace culture. Each small business will be at a different place concerning the current and desired state of their work environment—and leaders can consider what types of efforts can help bridge this gap.
Employer Takeaway
Like most organizations, small businesses face a set of challenges with attracting and retaining the employees they need. Fortunately, smaller businesses have the ability to stay agile and should consider what strategies they can leverage to compete in today’s labor market.
Contact us today to learn more about attraction and retention or for additional resources on any of the topics discussed in this article.
- Published in Blog
Understanding Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs)
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
You may have heard of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) before. These are employer-sponsored savings accounts that reimburse you for certain medical expenses.
An individual coverage HRA (ICHRA) is similar—it uses funds from your employer to help pay for certain medical expenses. However, there are some important features of ICHRAs that you should understand.
This article explains more about ICHRAs and how they may be used.
Comparing HRAs to ICHRAs
As previously stated, HRAs reimburse you for certain medical costs. Such expenses might include those associated with doctor visits, medical procedures and prescriptions, depending on the plan. To qualify for an HRA, you must be enrolled in your employer’s group health plan.
ICHRAs are a bit different. These accounts can reimburse you for certain medical expenses, your insurance premium or both. Whether your ICHRA will cover both your premium and medical expenses (or just one) will vary by employer.
ICHRA Eligibility
To qualify for an ICHRA, you must enroll in individual health coverage using a Health Insurance Marketplace (Marketplace), a private insurer, Medicare or another method. In other words, you cannot be enrolled in an employer’s group health plan and qualify for an ICHRA.
Additionally, any dependents (e.g., a spouse or children) you have on your individual health plan would also be able to use ICHRA funds.
How ICHRAs Work
On a very basic level, here’s how an ICHRA works:
- You obtain individual health coverage through a Marketplace or another method rather than purchasing health coverage through your employer.
- Your employer contributes a set amount every month into your ICHRA so you can be reimbursed for certain expenses as they are incurred. Contributions and reimbursements are both tax-free. Your employer decides which expenses are eligible for reimbursement under the plan’s terms.
- Unused funds at the end of the plan year may go back to the employer or carry over, depending on the plan.
It’s as simple as that!
More Information
Speak with HR to learn more about the ICHRA options available to you.
- Published in Blog