Running a Business

Every business owner comes to appreciate the advantages of running their own business. Being your own boss, setting your own schedule and working at something you love are just a few of the benefits to being self-employed. With such great opportunities to grow both personally and professionally, it’s no wonder we see so many successful business owners thriving in communities like Medicine Hat. However, despite the great advantages that come with being a business owner, there are also some significant challenges.

One of the most difficult challenges we face as business owners is the trouble of building an effective team to help us run our business. As they say, “Good help is hard to find.” No matter what the industry in which a business happens to operate, a business owner is bound to face the challenge of finding and retaining good employees.

So, what can we as business owners do to attract the right people to our team? Flexible work hours, paid vacations and comfortable work environments are all inviting perks to attract good staff, but we all know that in the end it all boils down to compensation. Fortunately, we don’t have to focus on salary alone. A comprehensive Health Benefit plan makes any compensation package look better.

What are the best options for Health Benefit Plans out there? There is no right answer to this question for all companies, but thankfully, there are plenty of options.

1. Group Health Insurance

The general belief behind group health insurance is that a company needs to have a large employee base to qualify, but this could not be farther from the truth. In fact, a business with only one employee can still qualify for coverage. That said, qualifying for coverage doesn’t make it the best option for every business.

Since health & dental coverage for small groups tends to be more expensive on a per-person basis, this may not be the best option. However, there is one specific value to consider when it comes to benefits for small groups: People generally have a good understanding of how these policies work. As a result, their familiarity with the plan may be reassuring.

Giving your employees the piece of mind can often save headaches. It’s up to you as a business owner to decide whether the cost is worth the relief.

2. Informal Stipend

For many companies, making the benefit as plain and simple as possible seems to be the answer. Offering an informal health and wellness stipend to the compensation package is a simple and easy fix. No contracts, no arguments, no problem! Right? Well, maybe so, but what about the extra taxes?

Obviously, paying this stipend is really not much different than giving the employee a bump in pay rate. Hence the reason why it’s so easy. Taking the easy way out may not always be the answer. The stipend is a taxable benefit. No different than the base salary the employee receives. By the time income tax is deducted from the overall income, there really isn’t much left of that wonderful stipend that supposedly saved so much time and effort.

Now if you’re okay with giving your money away to the government, maybe this solution is fit for you after all!

Aside from all that, employees are typically not inclined to put the extra funds toward health spending anyway. As well, the stipend may not even be considered a benefit by the employee. If you take into consideration that 69% of job seekers say they would take a lower paying job with a good benefit package over one with no benefit at all, the idea of paying a stipend seems impractical.

3. Health Benefits Spending Account

After considering the cost of a benefit plan a small business owner might come to the conclusion that it costs too much for the amount it will be utilized. After all, it really doesn’t make sense to pay a premium for a policy if the total health and dental expense would come in at a lower cost than that premium.

We’ve also established that paying a stipend to the employees is not practical as it doesn’t really appear as an actual benefit. So, what’s left for the small business owner to offer to their employees?

A third and highly practical option is to offer a health spending account (HSA) to your employees. This allows a company to offer an allowance of health spending on an annual basis to all of your valued employees and staff.

The result is a 100% Tax-free health spending solution for businesses and employees, as well as a 100% tax deductible expense for the company itself. Alongside of that, there are no monthly fees. The company only sees an expense if a claim is submitted.

Conclusion

There are dozens of options out there when it comes to health and dental benefit packages. From the largest group of employees to the individual private contractor, there is a plan that will meet your needs. Whether you need to put together a competitive package for your top staff members or you need to have a conservative expense account to be used on an as-needed basis, we can help you find the right product to help you retain the best employees and grow your business to its full potential.