Hi, my name is Candice Elliot, and I am human resources strategist. Thank you for joining me today to learn more about the benefits that you can offer in your company. I just want to start out by talking about your work environment, because really the foundation of what keeps your employees with you for a long time is what it feels like to work with you. Whether or not people feel safe and welcome, and they're making a contribution, and what they do matters.
The first and most intangible thing to talk about that's related to benefits is really your company culture and the way that people are talking to each other and communicating about projects. It can be pretty easy for that to get derailed and for things to get contentious or difficult. It's important to just always be attentive to that culture and to the way that people are treating each other and to keep the work environment a place that your employees want to keep coming back to you, that they're excited about what they're doing and not just grinding day-to-day. That's one piece. Then to move on to more formal benefits offering.
Medical insurance is one typical benefits offering. Small group employers have a different premium rate for medical insurance than large group employers that counts for medical, dental and vision insurance. The idea when all of the insurance became a thing [00:02:00] and businesses started purchasing for their employees was that a larger business would be able to spread risk across a larger number of people, and so should have lower insurance rates. That a smaller business would have a smaller number of people so they wouldn't be able to spread that risk out as much. Things have changed since the beginning of insurance, especially with the Affordable Care Act. I see a lot of unfairness for small businesses built into that structure, and I'm working with people to try to find ways around that.
One way to provide your employees with tax-free dollars for medical insurance premiums is through something called an ACRA, and I'll have more information about that below. If you're going with a traditional medical insurance plan, there are a lot of avenues to go down. One of the companies that I've worked with a lot is called Gusto. They do payroll processing and provide benefits and also medical dental and vision benefits, and they also provide a 401(k).
Another option to go down if you really don't want to be paying those small business premium rates is to join what's called a PEO. That's a professional employer organization. This is a conglomeration of businesses where they basically put all of their employees into the same company. Your employees would be co-owned by you and the professional employer organization. [00:04:00] The PEO has to co-employer-employees because the only way to access the large group medical insurance plans is if you have a large number of employees under the same EIN or Tax Identification Number.
That sounds a lot to be co-employed, but it is a very typical arrangement that smaller companies move forward with if they're looking for more affordable healthcare options that increase at a lower rate year over year. Some other benefits to think about are something that I've seen recently that I really like, is when employers provide matching funds when an employee donates to a nonprofit organization. I work with and donate to a lot of nonprofit organizations, and so that's one that's close to my heart and is a way where you can, as a company, give back to your community and your employee can give back to your community and you can make those community connections through those donations.
Another category of benefits that I can't speak to specifically in your business because I don't know what kind of business you have. It could be anything, which is very exciting. These are industry-specific or product-specific benefits. If you are the owner of a company that makes sports bras, like my sister, having some amount of outdoor activity that [00:06:00] is a part of your employee benefits package, or if you are a restaurant, including some meals as a part of the benefits package, or if you are a retailer, some classes about styling as a part of your benefit package.
Those could all be things that could help you to retain your employees. Important things about benefits are to just make sure that they're affordable for your company, that it's the right time to move forward with them. That the benefits that you're offering are going to have a good return on your investment, that there is something that your employees really want, and that they're aligned with your business and what you want to be putting out into the world. A lot of businesses have decided to start being very public about the benefits that they offer so that anyone who's looking for a job at any time would know what they're offering.
I hope that helps demystify a little bit the world of benefits for you and helps you make some decisions about what you want to offer for your staff.
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