Health Benefits for Employee Retention: Is Your Company Missing Out?
Retaining top-talent employees is vital to any business, and health benefits can go a long way in helping your retention rate. After all, it is one of the primary benefits that most working professionals seek when job hunting. However, you need to be strategic with your health benefits options. Offering the wrong options, charging too much for healthcare, or making your policies confusing can make employees want to switch and find their health benefits coverage elsewhere.
To help you provide employees with the best health benefits package, let’s dive into why health benefits matter along with the top sources for employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Why Do Health Benefits Matter?
Health insurance benefits are key for any employee. After all, they depend on it to protect both the individual and sometimes their families, too. No one ever wants to deal with the stress of their child getting sick or hurt, only to deal with more stress because of expensive healthcare costs. You can bet that many employees bring that stress back into the work office, too.
Health insurance works to provide a buffer between a covered individual and these expenses. They work to offset costs associated with medical and surgical expenses and other preventative care options for employees. These can include doctor’s visits, prescription medications, medical devices, and many other health-related costs.
What Health Benefits Promote Employee Satisfaction?
Satisfactory health benefits are one key to attracting top talent. Additionally, they can be one of the primary reasons an employee chooses to remain with your business even if they get higher salary options elsewhere. But what factors of a health benefits plan promote employees to stay?
#1 Comprehensive Coverage
The most valued factor of a satisfactory health benefits plan is how comprehensive it is. If a given plan covers a wide range of health-related expenses, employees are much more likely to stay with their company than if the policy options are limited. Typically, a comprehensive plan will include physician visits, hospitalization fees, and emergency room visits.
#2 Affordable Coverage
Once you have a comprehensive plan in place, you need to make sure it’s affordable. Employees don’t want to overextend themselves in trying to pay for their healthcare, so while you’re looking to make your plan comprehensive, try not to make it outrageously expensive in the process.
#3 Choice of Providers
Employees don’t want to be forced to choose from a limited list of providers. Your employees want to stay with their trusted family doctors and select professionals they know. By permitting employees to choose from several providers, you can ensure they stay with your company longer.
What Health Benefits Promote Employee Dissatisfaction?
While many factors promote employee satisfaction with health benefits, many contribute to employee dissatisfaction. These can include expensive costs, inadequate coverage, out-of-network costs, and confusing policies.
#1 Expensive Costs
More than anything else, the top reason employees are dissatisfied with their healthcare coverage is tied to how expensive it is. It doesn’t matter how many bells and whistles and extra benefits you add to your plan to attract employees if they’re battling expensive costs associated with their coverage. Make sure you select comprehensive plans that don’t break your employees’ bank accounts. Alternatively, consider reimbursement options that help offset the cost of care. For example, a health savings account.
#2 Inadequate Coverage
While you’re working to cut the costs of coverage, don’t cut too much in the process or you may lose employees due to inadequate coverage. You want to ensure that your plan options are balanced between coverage and cost so that you can retain as many employees as possible.
#3 Out-of-Network Costs
People like working with doctors and other healthcare professionals that they trust, so if you limit your coverage options to a specific pool of professionals and add on high out-of-network coverage costs for other doctors, you may lose employees. Make sure to include either an incredibly wide range of covered medical professionals with your plan or eliminate the need for in-network coverage.
#4 Confusing Policies
No matter what your plan options cover or how costly their expenses are for your employees, make sure that the benefits you offer are easy for your employees to understand. Don’t overcomplicate plan options so much that your employees are confused about what benefits they qualify for or even what benefits are available.
Beckham Insurance Group Has You Covered
We hope you enjoyed this guide to health benefits for employee retention! If you’re considering adding new health benefits for your employees, it’s important to speak with a professional to determine the best policies for your company. If you need help navigating the complicated world of employee benefits, our team at Beckham Insurance group is here to help. Located in Charleston, SC, and St. Simons, GA, we are proud to offer full access to all group health and supplemental insurance markets and products. Creating a competitive benefits package that meets the needs of your business couldn’t be easier. To get started, contact us today for a free quote. We can’t wait to help you create a healthier and happier workplace!
