Private Companies Weigh Employee Options
You might be enjoying the benefits of working for a private company with flexible hours and a culture that values creativity. But what are your employee options if these benefits aren't enough to keep you around? Read this article to find out!
Read more at https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/employee-options-private-companies#ZN5GTdRJcNjJq3Fn.99
Most jobs in the United States offer some form of benefit, such as health insurance, retirement plans, childcare subsidies and paid leave time — benefits that allow people to work and have their needs met while they earn money. These benefits are often part of the deal when a company hires someone and offer financial security, which is why they're called "employee options."
Benefits aren't always offered to all employees. Accenture, for example, a multinational professional services company that works with Fortune 500 companies giving advice on strategy and technology, has more than 200 locations in over 50 countries but does not offer benefits to their employees. This means that accenture is exempt from providing benefits for its workers under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), because it does not have over a $5 million annual revenue from salary, overtime or tips.
The 2014 NLRB statistics show that when surveyed, just over half (53.3 percent) of private companies with at least 1,000 employees offered some form of benefits. Some benefits were offered to all employees while others were offered only to managers and executives. There were also variations in how many different types of benefit programs are offered to the public workforce, with more than half (52 percent) providing paid time off for personal emergencies or medical needs compared to just 27 percent for vacation leave and 14 percent for sick leave.
The Benefits Exemptions:
Health care plans: 49.5%
Retirement plans: 36.9%
Vacation time: 27.3% Sick leave: 14.3%
Personal days: 10.1%
Dependent care flexible spending account: 5.8%
Employee stock purchase plans: 3.5% Additional perks like tuition reimbursement, service awards, life insurance, tax-deferred savings plan, employee assistance programs and professional development opportunities are also available through private companies' benefits packages. [Source]
However, almost all of those companies surveyed offered some type of benefit program to the majority of the workforce—63 percent offer health insurance and 60 percent offer retirement plans to most employees. Meanwhile, fewer than half (47 percent) of all U.S. companies with at least 1,000 employees offered paid time off and just over a third (34 percent) offered pension plans.
Variations on Paid Leave Time
Just over half of all companies with at least 1,000 employees offer some type of paid leave program to their workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition to sick and personal days, other companies offer additional paid leave options for other circumstances like family medical issues or bereavement leave through short-term disability insurance programs.
Vacation time is another employee option more commonly offered to employees who have worked for their companies for an extended period of time. In fact, the average number of vacation days earned per year increases with tenure, from 6 to 11 days, according to the U.S. Bureau Labor Statistics' survey on employer benefits trends. But some companies offer unlimited vacation time or create a policy around how many days are actually taken by employees as opposed to how many that are accrued over the course of a year.
Flexible Benefits:
The growth in part-time work and independent contractors has led to an increase in what is called "flexible benefits programs. Two-thirds of all private companies with at least 1,000 employees offer some type of employee benefit program, but only a third (35.9 percent) of those programs is an employer-sponsored flexible benefit program. This type of flexible benefits present many varied opportunities to be used as they best fit the situation and are available to part-time and temporary workers who have been working for the company for one year or less.
One such form is dental reimbursement, which is when an employer pays a percentage of a worker's insurance premiums or pays them directly for services done by dentists. This is becoming one of the most popular forms of flexible benefit program because less than half of all companies with at least 1,000 employees offer dental insurance to their full-time workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014 survey on employer benefits trends.
Additional options available as flexible employee benefits include health reimbursement accounts (HRAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and dependent care flexible spending accounts (DC FSAs). Health reimbursement accounts are funded by companies but are used to reimburse employees for certain medical expenses that are not covered by traditional health insurance plans, like deductibles and co-pays. FSAs are tax-deferred accounts that are used to pay for qualified expenses like medical costs, dependent care, and educational costs — up to $5,000. DC FSAs work similarly with a limit set for dependent care and medical costs but also includes coverage for childcare.
The Growth of Employee Options:
"Employee benefits are becoming increasingly complex," according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Benefits Trends Report 2014, noting the recent growth of part-time employees and freelancers who have lost eligibility or have never had access to employer-based benefits through private companies. "As the economy continues to recover, the potential growth of contingent workers will probably lead to an increase in employers offering benefits in 2015 compared with earlier years, when many such workers worked only short periods," the survey predicts.
And, it seems, 2014 was a year in which employers started working on that. A recent study by Deloitte found 71 percent of employers surveyed offered a savings plan or match to their employees and 73 percent increased that program during 2014. Some companies did away with their 401k match programs but instead offered high-yield savings account options for their employees. Additionally, 37 percent of those who offer 401k plans now offer Roth 401k accounts for their employees to choose from.
The study also found that many companies were increasing their support of retirement planning and adoption of defined benefit plans to ensure workers had enough money for retirement. Not only does this help them with employee retention but it can also be a recruitment tool for companies who don't offer some form of retirement plan.
Overall, it seems that companies are offering more benefits and more options to their employees than ever, helping those employees maintain all levels of wellness. If your stress levels are getting to you and you are looking for ways to relieve the pressure a bit, consider joining a health and wellness program at work or enrolling in a healthcare flexible spending account as part of your employee benefits package.
Conclusion:
"While employers can continue to offer many benefits to their employees, employers and employees should carefully consider the long-term financial implications of the decisions they make on benefits," according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014 Benefits Trends report. "As health care costs continue to rise, employers should also consider how employee flexibility may affect retention and recruitment."
From wellness programs that help relieve stress and burnout to flexible benefit options that are designed for individual use, there is no doubt that 2015 will be a year in which companies look at how they can provide options for their employees so they can maintain a healthy work life balance in their personal lives as well.
For more information please visit: http://www.