Human Resources :  Compensation & Benefits

Employee Benefits

Author: MySolutionSpot Editor
Published:  Fri, Jul 11 2008

 Does employee benefit administration have you more confused than ever? If so, it's no wonder. Even a simple employee benefit plan can create mounds of paperwork and management problems for businesses. To make matters worse, it has become increasingly difficult for businesses to compete in today's labor market without offering an employee benefit program of some kind. Most employees today expect full employee benefits and many believe they should receive benefits equivalent to a federal employee benefit program. Even employees that work for minimum wage commonly expect to receive employee benefits similar to the Wal Mart employee benefit program.

 

Whether you like it or not, employee benefits have become a must have for most employers. Not only does offering employee benefits help you to keep up with the competition, but it can also be a good way to attract and retain quality employees as well as promote teamwork and morale in your organization.

If you are considering offering an employee benefit plan to your employees in order to remain competitive and retain quality employees, it's important to understand the key components of a plan and employee benefit management.

 

So, what is the minimum employee benefits you should offer? Take a look at the basics below.

 

Health benefits are considered to be the core of any employee benefit plan by most employees. Today most employers offer a choice between either an HMO or a PPO and cover approximately 80% of the premium for their employees as well as the dependents of their employees. You may also consider offering dental and vision coverage.

 

The other key component of an employee benefits program is a savings program. By and far, the most popular plan of this type is the 401(k) savings plan. Keep in mind that you can offer a 401(k) to your employees without actually contributing any funds yourself. If you do choose to generously make contributions to your employee's savings plan, you might consider setting a cap out amount. For example, you might agree to contribute no more than $1000 a year per employee. That is quite standard among most small businesses that offer this type of plan.

While health and savings benefits comprise the core of most employee benefit plans, it's important to recognize that you can be flexible when designing an employee benefit program. Many employers today are offering employee benefits in a most creative way to satisfy the emerging unique interests of their employees. For example, many businesses are now offering onsite child care, pet insurance, domestic partner benefits and meal reimbursements for employees that typically put in overtime.

 

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http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_4290.shtml


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1  Comments
Oscar Santiago
Wed, Apr 15 2009 1:53 PM

Re: Employee Benefits

While 401(k) plans are a very common retirement plan, it is generally not the most of appropriate plan for small businesses.  These plan require siginifcant setup, documentation and annual governmental filings.  Two plans that small businesses may want to investigate are: 1. Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) and 2. Savings Incentive Plan for employees of Small Employers (SIMPLE).  

Both of these arrangements use Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) as the funding mechanism.  The employee must set up and owns the account which makes things easy for the employer when an employee leaves.  The employer only needs to coordinate with its payroll provider to transmit contributions to the employee’s IRA. These plans are also great choices for self employed individuals looking to maximize their retirement contributions.

 

To keep most of the contributions for the owners of the business, the employer is permitted to impose service requirements to receive a company contribution but must generally include part time employees if they have satisfied the requirement.

 

The SIMPLE plan is similar to a 401(k) but with lower contribution limits and a required company contribution. An employee who receives $5,000 in wages in any two of the past five years must be included in the plan. SIMPLE Plans are a good choice for self employed individuals with small profits who want to maximize their contributions.

 

The (SEP) which provides higher limits and more flexibility in contributions does not permit employees to make their own contributions. The employer can decide based on business conditions whether they will make a contribution, however if one is made it generally must be made on the same basis to other similarly situated employees. The most restrictive service requirement that may be imposed in a SEP is to require an employee to have worked three years out of the past five.

 

 

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