The Benefits of Offering Benefits

By Sue Fudge, Idaho AGC Senior Health Plan Director

In today’s competitive market, small employers cannot afford not to offer their employees benefits.

While employers with fewer than 50 full-time (or equivalent) employees are not required to offer medical coverage to employees, employers that do offer benefits such as medical, dental, vision, or more put their companies in a much better position to hire and retain top talent. While hiring and retaining talent in this competitive market is high on a company’s list of priorities, offering benefits has other advantages as well.

Not having employer-sponsored benefits impacts your employees, and your company, in ways you may not have considered. The additional worry and work of securing coverage on their own, or worse, going without adequate medical coverage, has an impact on employee performance and morale. Not having access to medical basics like annual physicals, immunizations, and wellness visits can all weigh on an employee and can lead to absenteeism, presentism, or an employee coming to work when they are not feeling well, spreading illness to others in the workplace. All of this leads to decreased performance.

Offering benefits that include health care can eliminate some of the worry for employees, while the ability to see a doctor on a regular basis or when sick will help employees get healthy and stay healthy. This adds up to less time away from work or working while ill, and more employees focused on their job and working at peak capacity, all contributing factors to a more productive workforce.

Employee benefits may also create a tax advantage for your company. The cost of many benefits offered to employees can be deducted as a business expense for the company. If the employees pay a portion of the cost, their deductions can also be set up as a pre-tax deduction, giving the employee a tax benefit as well. Utilize the services of your health care broker and CPA to ensure your company is getting all the tax advantages by offering a benefits package to its workforce.

Do not let shopping for an employee benefit package that fits your company be a deterrent. The Idaho AGC Health Plan is available to most Idaho AGC members. The plan has brokers throughout the state of Idaho appointed to quote and sell Idaho AGC Health Plans. If you are interested in learning more or getting a quote for your organization call (208) 344-9755 or email healthplanteam@idahoagc.org. l

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