What supplemental benefits do you currently offer to your employees? Employees are now looking for companies that offer some type of benefit to help with medical and other expenses.

Our company offers various paid and unpaid benefits including - medical (options from HMO, PPO, HSA) dental insurance, 401k and other supplemental options like life insurance, long term/short term disability insurance and accident insurance. My favorite is the Health Savings Account. I was one of the first to try it in my company and it has really worked for me. Not only do you save money and get similar benefits as regular insurance, but you can build up savings for retirement. I have saved a pretty large chunk of money by switching to an HSA. I recommend people check it out, run some numbers and see if it makes sense for them.

I offer a Flex account so people can at least save pre-tax dollars for dependent care and medical expenses. But, I dropped any medical plan, the rates for small business are 40% higher than the person can get on their own. (yes, even through NFIB and ADP). So why line the insurance companies pockets with my money.
I am so glad I am out of selecting plans to offer, I think the individual needs to own their own insurance, it should move with them like a 401K, and the employer witholds for it and contributes to it.

With more and more companies cutting workplace benefits many employers could offer their employees some value simply by having programs set up. For example, while even large corporations are cutting disability benefits, small companies can still offer their employees some benefit by working with a quality business planner who can offer disability benefits at a group discount. while the employee is still paying their own premiums they have the added benefit of their employer working closely with a qualified advisor and making the program available to them. This is at no expense at all to the employer.
The same goes for retirement plans. It's understandable that many small businesses simply cannot fit 401k matches into their budgets, but having such an option available to employees is still very valuable. In the very least, by having the retirement plan set-up it leaves the employees another qualified account to save to for retirement.

Supplemental benefits can be extremely helpful to employees by helping offset the costs of deductibles and out of pocket expenses. They can be voluntary or paid for by the employer which helps businesses with two of the biggest issues we face today; 1) the high price of major medical coverage 2) attracting and retaining quality employees.

Ruben, Thanks for your advice. Quite a few of our members contribute toward their employees' cost-sharing, as you suggested. We at NFIB appreciate the insights. (That goes for the others on this forum, too.), Bob

Thanks, I spent a great deal of time researching benefits when my wife and I initially began looking into business ownership. Having been part of a large corporation for so many years, we never took the time to fully examine the benefits that were offered to us. Come to think of it, we were never actually offered much counseling in the area. We simply signed up for the "magic card" which allowed us chose a physician whom would see us regularly for a small fee and meant we did not have to call the ER our primary physician anymore. Furthermore; we simply kept the same benefits year after year never making any changes unless we needed to add a new member of the family to the plan.
I quickly learned that there are too many under or uninsured individuals in San Antonio and I decided to pursue my TX Life and Health Insurance License last year. I am now working with a group of individuals that represent some of the best in class carriers, and offer one on one consultations to business owners and individuals to help them make the best decision possible when shopping for coverage. I love the fact that I work for the client and not for any one Insurance Company. It allows me to offer many services as well as products, but more importantly, it allows me to build lasting relationships.