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Employee Benefits and Compensation: Navigating Open Enrollment

Ben Renner

Ben Renner

taking notes during an employee benefits meeting

employee benefits

Open enrollment is in full swing and if you’re a small business owner with the ability to offer employee benefits and compensation packages, you’re probably already hearing all about it. Your employees are making the best decisions they can right now to make sure they’re enrolled in health insurance plans that make sense for them. Even as open enrollment progresses, there are still several considerations small business owners and leaders need to have.

Businesses are always competing for customers and workers. Recruiting and retaining rock star employees is a key part of employee communications because finding and keeping the best talent is a sure way to keep your business running smoothly without any undue expenses and potential catastrophes.

Here are some things to keep in mind as your employees sign up for health insurance:

Digital Resources Work

For employees weighing their options, ease of access to information is a huge factor. If employees know they can sign up for their employee benefits and compensation packages quickly and easily, they won’t dread open enrollment like many of us do. Instead, they’ll think of your leadership and your organization in a more positive manner.

Beyond enhancing your corporate culture, though, healthcare sign up portals utilizing video communications and online sign-up features increase enrollment numbers. Several studies have shown increases in employee benefits and compensation enrollment ratios if the enrollment process is enhanced with digital resources like online employee portals and video communications.

Promote Health Literacy

taking notes during an employee benefits meetingHopefully you’ve been trying to improve your employees’ understanding of commonly confused health insurance terms like ‘deductible’ and ‘premium.’ Beyond these basic terms is the alphabet soup employees find themselves in when they try to navigate open enrollment. Make sure you understand what your employees need to know about their health plans and coverage and make that information available to them. Hold teaching moments and seminars if you have to. Just make sure your employees don’t miss key details about their health coverage because they don’t understand the terms being tossed around.

Contain Health Insurance Costs

Health insurance costs cause many American small businesses to sweat. The vast majority of small business owners are concerned about health insurance costs, according to several studies, and it doesn’t take a genius to see why. But there are many ways to mitigate health insurance costs for small business owners.

Keep in mind that the average age of your employees, not their overall health, along with the insurance plan you choose, will affect the cost of health care coverage the most. Another way to limit costs is to take advantage of tax breaks for small business owners. The financial contributions you as an employer make to your employees’ premiums are all tax-deductible, while all employee financial contributions are made before taxes, decreasing your payroll tax. There are other conditions for small businesses to save money with tax breaks. If your company has fewer than 25 employees, you might be eligible for additional tax credits in some circumstances.

Open Enrollment Rolls On

Employees are hopefully making decisions about their health and financial wellness that make sense for them right now. With a little guidance and assistance from you, they’ll enroll in health insurance programs that keep them healthy and productive.

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