Demystifying Benefits Administration: A Business Owner’s Handbook

Effective benefits administration is a cornerstone of HR and payroll management, playing a pivotal role in nurturing employee satisfaction and overall well-being. In this informative guide, we will demystify benefits administration for business owners, emphasizing its critical importance for your business. Whether you’re a small or medium-sized business owner seeking to revamp your employee benefits program or streamline your existing process, this post is your resource for mastering benefits administration.

Employco Employee Benefits Program Overview

At Employco, we provide customized solutions to businesses across the entire country.

In this video, Jason Eisenhut (Vice President of Human Resources) gives us an overview of Employco’s benefits program. “Today’s employee marketplace is super competitive. The number one area is wages as they continue to rise, and the number two area is employee benefits. As you look across that landscape of employee benefits, what makes Employco different?”

For more information feel free to reach out to us directly, we’d love to be a resource for your business.

Benefits Can Save You Money

Your benefits package is a powerful tool to help your organization and employees achieve their goals, whether they are focusing on fostering wellness, building financial security, or improving work-life balance. Going into 2023, most employers look at benefits packages as a recruiting tool to help them attract and retain top talent in a challenging economy, but did you realize the right offerings can save you money? More than 66% of organizations say they would like to decrease the costs of their benefits packages without sacrificing the benefits. By working with a company like Employco, that can happen. Maximizing your offerings to provide desired benefits while maintaining a budget will be vital to creating the right benefits package for 2023. As organizations start to plan for their 2023 enrollment periods, it’s important to understand how you can decrease costs without sacrificing the benefits you offer.

Benefits Planning for 2023 – Best Practices

Most organizations don’t think too much about their overall benefits strategy. They may just recycle the package they offered the previous year and use the same system and benefits to make decisions for the upcoming year, or they may try to craft a plan that fits into the same budget, despite increasing costs.  Regardless, balancing the desire for improved benefits with the need to minimize costs can make finding the right benefits package challenging. You need a plan. Here are some best practices when planning your benefits for 2023:

The Value of Voluntary Benefits in a Recession

Inflation is rising, and the fear of a recession is growing. A Bloomberg survey predicts a 30% chance of a recession occurring in the next year. Rising interest rates and a recession on the horizon are impacting everyone’s financials, and everyone is looking for ways to cut operating costs.

Recessions often lead to reduced profits. While nobody can entirely avoid an economic downturn’s impact, businesses should review their overhead regularly for ways to reduce costs. While reductions in profits can lead to concessions such as wage reductions and reduced benefits, revamping your benefits package to include more voluntary benefits is an innovative way to help make your business and your benefits recession-proof.

The Effect of Inflation on Your Employees

Inflation affects us all in various ways, including higher prices at the gas pump and increased prices on everything from rent to groceries and utilities. One of the critical effects of inflation that significantly impacts businesses is how it affects your employees’ bottom line. Inflation has a direct effect on everyone’s purchasing power, and that has a direct impact on the value of your employees’ compensation packages. 

Current wages have less value
Inflation has a direct impact on the value of your compensation packages. Inflation lowers the value of a raise or compensation package. With prices up 7.9% to 8.4%, the typical annual raise of 3%-4% is not enough to counteract the effect of inflation on the overall cost of living. It means that your compensation has less value and can leave your employees in the negative financially because their current wage may not be enough to cover their expenses.

Ambition on “E”: How Raising Gas Prices Could Lead To Another Great Resignation

Employment trends expert weighs in

Today Uber drivers from around New York will gather together to protest outside Uber’s Manhattan headquarters. Soaring gas prices and lack of benefits have led many ride-share drivers to protest their status as gig workers instead of employees, and Uber drivers in Illinois and California have also staged similar protests.

Rob Wilson, employment trends expert and President of Employco USA, a national employment solutions firm with locations across the country, says that Uber drivers are not the only workers who are decrying astronomical gas prices and its impact on their take-home pay.

“With gas prices this high, the sad reality is that a minimum wage worker can end up spending an entire day’s wages just to fill up their gas tank,” says Wilson. “If employers want to keep their workers satisfied and in the office, they need to get clever about how they can help employees survive inflated prices.”

HR Chat w/Employco USA: Navigating Telehealth

We receive a number of questions from our clients as we consult them on a variety of HR issues.

In this video, Rob and Jason discuss telehealth. They cover usage stats, appointment scheduling, some pros and cons, accessibility, copays, and more.

Questions? We’re here to help, hr@employco.com.

‘Tis the Season for Health Insurance Renewals: Prices to Skyrocket for Employers in 2022

Human resources expert Rob Wilson weighs in 

‘Tis the season to get new health insurance rates! Rates are dramatically on the rise, with some companies seeing increases in premiums from 20 to 40 percent. Due to COVID’s impact, hospitals need to pay their workers more than ever before, just to retain employees and ensure that they stay staffed. And, supply chain issues mean price increases across the board, even in the healthcare industry.

Here is what employers need to know:

“Inflation is higher now than it has been in years,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA and group health insurance expert. “Wages are going up, benefits are going up, taxes are going up. Businesses are already stretched to their utter limit. And health insurance companies are hedging their bets for all the upcoming claims coming up in 2022.”

HR Chat w/Employco USA: Health Insurance

We receive a number of questions from our clients as we consult them on a variety of HR issues.

In this video, Rob and Jason discuss health insurance. They cover open enrollment, renewal increases, employer tips, how to save money with Employco’s buying power, and more.

Questions? We’re here to help, info@employco.com