5 Reasons Employers Should Provide Good Health Benefits

By: Devin Morrissey

Good health benefits are one of the main make-or-break factors for a lot of people searching for companies to develop their careers in. The idea is that any reputable company will care enough about their employees to offer competitive health benefits, which is why this benefit is listed on job descriptions along with 401K plans and PTO.

To attract and keep the best employees, you’re going to need to provide them with what they need to live happy and healthy lives. Here are five reasons to provide good health benefits to your employees.

Happy and Healthy Employees

Employees who are offered health insurance through their employer are more productive all around and more able to focus on their work. According to a study by Metlife, 74 percent of employees agree that having insurance benefits provided them with peace of mind throughout their workday. Not only does offering health insurance maintain happier employees, but providing them with health insurance gives them the chance to go to the doctor regularly, which means fewer sick days from employees.

Increase Retention Rates

For any employee hoping to start or grow their family, health benefits will be the difference between whether they work family development around your company or whether they’ll go somewhere else. An uncomplicated pregnancy can cost between 10,000 and 15,000 dollars.
Easing these costs by providing health benefits will show you care about your employees’ family and home life, which is a good step toward work-life balance. Additionally, if you’re looking to maintain quality employees, offering great health benefits is a good way to attract top talent, and some employees will even choose better benefits over a higher salary in their job search.

Save Money on Taxes, Turnover

The tax break for employers who provide health insurance is the largest one in the tax code. The value of health insurance that employers provide their employees is the largest tax revenue the government forgoes each year, coming out to about $250 billion. While offering health insurance will still cost more than you are saving with your tax break, offering health insurance will help your company reduce turnover costs and production losses due to not providing something employees need to work somewhere long-term.

Improve Reputation

Companies with a good reputation attract not only the best employees but the best clients as well. A company’s reputation can be the difference between whether they flourish into companies that everyone wants a hand in or whether they remain a company that simply gets the job done. Offering good health benefits is one of the first aspects of a job employees tell their friends about working somewhere. People with physical health problems are not the only ones who will talk positively about the benefits. Individuals needing coverage for mental health often won’t consider working somewhere that doesn’t offer insurance, and like those with physical health issues, they will be grateful for good health benefits.

It’s Simple

It’s not difficult to find out how much an employee costs your company, and with the help of an insurance broker, the additional cost for employer provided insurance shouldn’t be difficult to calculate either. A health insurance advisor is able to break down what kind of health insurance plans are in a company’s budget to provide, and from there, it’s just shopping. The advisors are able to answer any questions you or your employees may have and are often available to go to your workplace to facilitate insurance related meetings.

While costs may fluctuate depending on innovation in the medical industry or change in government regulations, you can rest assured knowing that the tax break is unlikely to go anywhere and that you can always change the benefits you provide and the employee contribution required. Happy and healthy employees are productive employees who will stick around because their employer is meeting all of their needs. This will end up saving your company money overall and will foster a positive reputation for your company.

By Devin Morrissey