Exploring the 4 C's of Employee Benefits

A comprehensive set of employee benefits, including health insurance, has the power to entice exceptional candidates and retain valuable employees. Naturally, it's important to stay up-to-date with changes in the law, trends and available technologies to ensure you deliver optimum benefits packages to new and existing employees.

There are four distinct sides in the employee benefits quadrangle: culture, consumerism, cost and compliance. These four factors coexist in companies with the most inclusive and successful employee packages. They also help companies determine how much to spend on employee benefits every year.

1. Culture

Culture is arguably the most important component in the quadrangle. If your company has a strong employee-centric culture, it shows. A business' positive attitude toward employee benefits can turn it from a bland prospect into an industry-leading employer. When companies offer and expand great benefits, they attract better candidates and create solid human infrastructures.

2. Consumerism

Employees can be tough to retain. Millennials, for example, are much more likely than previous generations to jump from job to job — unless you give them solid reasons to stick around. This is where consumerism comes in: modern employees expect convenience and simplicity from the hiring stage onward. This also applies to the employee benefits selection process. By adopting an easy-to-use software system to help new and existing employees through the benefits application process, you create a friendlier environment in which job-hoppers are more likely to settle.

3. Cost

Naturally, many companies are concerned with cost when it comes to new technology. Software, particularly when it is custom engineered, can be expensive to create and maintain. Before dismissing a software upgrade, however, it is important to take into consideration the potential costs of older programming. Older software may be more likely to present a security risk, and may be much harder to use than software specifically designed for your company.

User-friendly employee benefits software also has another advantage: it can help you avoid lost man hours. When new and existing employees navigate intuitive software, you don't have to spend as much time helping them through the application process.

4. Compliance

Last comes compliance. Good health insurance coverage has been a vitally important part of employee benefits packages for decades. Since the introduction of the Affordable Care Act, however, things have become a little more complicated behind the scenes. Companies need to track and report enrollment on a monthly basis, and must submit certified ACA tax filings in a timely manner. Once again, well-engineered software can help you achieve success in compliance.

If you remain aware of the four C's of employee benefits and work to make sure they coexist, you can help make your company stronger. When you make your company an industry leader, you naturally attract better candidates, who go on to strengthen your business even more.

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