Ace Benefits Group - Business Planning Categories

Employee Benefits

A good benefits program is essential for attracting new employees and retaining current ones. Surveys show that three in four

workers

consider benefits a decisive factor in weighing new job opportunities.

Benefits like health or disability insurance and retirement plans are very desirable to employees, but they can also be very costly to

employers. That’s why almost all employers share the costs with their employees. There are also voluntary benefit programs that allow

employees to purchase or increase their benefits themselves, often through automatic payroll deduction.

An insurance professional can help you select the right mix of benefits and guide you through the various plan options. This section

highlights the main benefit plans you’ll want to consider in crafting your employee benefits program.

Health Insurance

The one thing that almost every employee wants and needs is health insurance. More than 80 percent of employees say that hospital

and

medical coverage is the most important benefit an employer can provide. Fortunately, there are plenty of options, each offering

tradeoffs

between flexibility and affordability.

The most common health plans are health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs), point of

service

(POS) plans and indemnity plans. Choosing the right program for your employees involves careful tradeoffs between cost and

choice. If

cost is your paramount concern, an HMO or POS plan might be your best bet. If choice is what you’re after, indemnity plans

and PPOs often

offer the greatest flexibility when it comes to picking providers.

Life Insurance

Over the past several decades, Americans have become increasingly reliant on employers for their life insurance coverage. Today,

percent of Americans have life insurance coverage through work. Roughly the same percentage of the population has individually

purchased coverage, down from 59 percent in the 1960’s.

Compared to other popular benefits, a basic life insurance benefit is relatively inexpensive to provide. Some employers provide a

modest

lump sum benefit (e.g., $10,000 or $20,000), while others offer employees a multiple of their income (e.g., one or two times

their annual

salary). For those employees who only carry group insurance, the mean coverage is roughly $100,000. Because many

employees have

needs greater than that, you should consider giving employees the option to purchase additional coverage through

your group plan. It doesn’

t cost more to offer this option, and it will give your employees the opportunity to get the right amount of

coverage for their specific needs,

something that might not occur if they had to purchase additional coverage on their own.

Visit our

section to learn more.

For more information and help with your business planning needs, contact an ABG representative.

Employee Benefits