You want what’s best for your employees, but are you working hard to make the right choices for them? As an employer, it can be tempting to sometimes choose the easiest way to do something instead of choosing the best way because the path of least resistance often gets the job done quicker.We see this in the healthcare industry frequently. Employers set their employee benefits and don’t give them another thought. This could be because healthcare is confusing and time-consuming, and many employers simply feel they don’t have the time to make changes to an existing plan.But, if you want what’s best for your employees, you need to prioritize your benefits and make them part of your business culture. In doing so, you can promote a healthier and more focused workforce. When you continue to be passive about your healthcare program, you could be missing opportunities to truly show you value your people.
Protecting your people. Medical debt is a growing problem in America and that debt is affecting employees in a significant way. Your employees could be struggling with these debts, leaving them with difficult financial and healthcare decisions. They could be risking their life by going to the wrong place for surgery, missing opportunities for preventative medicine, or declining proper healthcare recommendations. This is why you need to dive into your benefits program, because you could save or radically improve the lives of your employees. Isn’t that worth it? There’s a call for you to try. You don’t want your people in medical debt. With a poor surgeon or a bad health outcome. There is no room in modern business to neglect the needs of our employees, especially when it comes to their health.
Delivering the best. If you aren’t thinking about your benefits plan and simply sign the dotted line yearly, you need to start making a meaningful effort now. Your employees depend on it. Some key areas to begin your focus are:
- Education. Your employees might not understand how your benefits work, what they are eligible for, or even how to apply. By educating employees about their benefits — new hires and continuously throughout their employment — they will have a better understanding of what’s being offered to them.
- Plan ahead. Set a schedule and assess your timing. Know when to address your benefits plan and address it regularly, especially before renewal season begins. Don’t avoid or delay this process.
- Revenue options. Your spend can do more than you think. By analyzing your data you can gain insight about where your money is going and if you are getting a return on your investment.
- Communicate with your leadership team. They may have concerns that need to be addressed such as employee engagement, retention, or absenteeism.
- Communicate with your people. Your employees are a reliable source of knowledge, only they can tell you what they need and if the benefits are working for them.
Many times putting the effort into these areas doesn’t seem like a priority because it doesn’t feel core to the business, but your people are core to the business. They are the most important part of your business because you truly cannot operate without them, therefore we owe it to our employees to attempt the more difficult path. After all, employee benefits are there to protect your workforce, to keep them from wondering what will happen if something goes wrong. Your people deserve the best options that are available and that means you need to make the best choices, not necessarily the easy ones. Sometimes the best things in life are the hardest to accomplish. Likewise, the best choices for our business are often the ones that are more challenging to execute. Prioritize your employee benefits, ensure they are current and complement your unique workforce. Because if you do, you can say with confidence that not only do you want what’s best for your employees, but that you are delivering the best for them.
