Quality Employee Health Benefits Increase Productivity & Revenues

By: Updated: April 13, 2017

 

A healthy, productive and happy workforce is a strong asset that powers a business’ bottom line.

Surprisingly, many businesses do not recognize a quality health and dental benefits program as a key method in achieving these results.

Few would argue that one of the most important components of running a successful business is keeping employees happy and providing them with enough incentive to maximize their productivity. While there are different ways to accomplish this, offering your employees health and dental benefits that go beyond the basics tends to be effective.

Let's first look at some distinct ways that a solid health and dental benefits plan helps your business.

1. Increase Your Appeal

The acquisition of skilled and dedicated workers will help create a strong foundation for your business. To bring these individuals on board, it helps to offer tangible benefits that differentiate your business from others. Rather than offering the bare minimum, a quality health and dental benefits program will make your business more attractive to employees that you want to attract and retain. It also demonstrates that you believe in your company enough to invest in your employees, and indicates that you are stable, which can help you acquire A-list talent.

2. Minimize Turnover Rate

It’s difficult for a business to make serious progress when employees are constantly coming and going. When this happens, it’s hard to establish a veteran team of experts, and the overall talent level will lack. Fortunately, offering a quality health and dental plan is often enough to make employees stick around for the long run. By investing in your employees' health, it shows that you have their best interests in mind and value their job performance. This can help you build a tight-knit team of professionals that will stay for years.

3. Improve Morale

Another advantage of offering substantial employee health benefits is the boosting of employee morale. Showing that you care about your workers is a natural way to increase their loyalty and often to get their best work in return. Nothing can put a damper on productivity quicker than a bad attitude. By providing adequate health and dental benefits, you can help keep your employees happy.

4. Healthier Employees

By offering a flexible health and dental plan, your workforce should be in relatively good health. A substantive plan will result in a better likelihood that they will have regular checkups and take preventative medical steps, which should help in ensuring they don’t take many sick days.

5. Better Job Performance

By offering benefits, you give employees more of a reason to care about your company and remain loyal. As a result, they should be willing to work harder, which can lead to greater productivity and higher quality.

While offering a high-quality employee health and dental plan may cost a bit more initially, the long-term advantages can greatly outweigh those costs and contribute to your overall success. Your business will be poised to acquire true professionals who are in it for the long haul. This will help create a stable workforce and position your business as an industry leader.

Happier Employees Results in Greater Productivity

A recent study provides concrete evidence that happier employees are more productive in the workplace.

The 700-person experiment was conducted in Britain by the Social Market Foundation and the University of Warwick's Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy.

The study concluded: "Having scientific support for generating happiness-productivity cycles within the workforce should ... help managers to justify work-practices aimed at boosting happiness on productivity grounds." This result underscores the return on investment that employers may gain by providing a solid health and dental plan to their employees.

Which Type of Plan is Best?

Regardless of the size of your company, if you have a traditional group benefits insurance plan, you’re almost guaranteed to pay too much. A Health Spending Account (HSA) will save you money, while also providing employee benefits your staff will actually use.

A Health Spending Account (or HSA) is an easy way to make benefit plans more relevant to today’s diverse workforce. It provides dedicated funds for health and dental expenses to each employee such that they decide what to use it for, without restriction.

What is an HSA?

An HSA is a self-insured, private health spending plan that can be used as standalone coverage for employee health or dental expenses or to supplement a traditional employee benefits plan. There’s no maximum number of employees, and the minimum number is just one employee (the business owner themself).

Under an HSA, employees are not restricted by the type of health or dental expense; they have access to  a wide range of eligible expenses without co-payments, deductibles, recall limits and fee guides.

With an HSA, employees have the flexibility to use their eligible amounts according to their needs, which generally makes them happier. For example, the medical needs of a 25-year-old single person will typically vary considerably from those of a 46-year-old, married with children. A traditional group insurance plan simply won't provide your employees with the ability to care for their specific needs.

Moreover, since an employer has complete control over what they spend each year under an HSA, this type of benefits solution provides cost certainty.

How does a Health Spending Account work?

An employer contributes up to a predetermined amount per employee to their Health Spending Account, from which employees can be reimbursed tax-free for a wide array of health-related expenses. Employers determine how much they'd like their employees to have access to, and only pay for the expenses that employees actually claim.

HSAs also provide employers with additional savings when an employee is covered under a spousal plan. As an HSA falls outside the coordination of benefits rules, all expenses for an employee and their dependents would be submitted under a spousal plan first. Any remaining balance can then be submitted through the HSA.

Given the high degree of flexibility associated with an HSA, employers find that using one leads to maximum employee satisfaction.

Related Reading: This Health & Dental Plan Gives Canadian Businesses a Competitive Edge

Are you an incorporated business owner with arm's-length employees? Learn how the Olympia Health Spending Account can provide significant value for your employee benefit program by downloading our free guide: The Beginner's Guide to Health Spending Accounts.

Download Beginner's HSA Guide for a small business with employees

Write off 100% of your medical expenses

Are you an incorporated business owner with no employees? Learn how to use a Health Spending Account to pay for your medical expenses through your corporation: 

Download the HSA Guide for Incorporated Individuals

Do you own a corporation with employees? Discover a tax deductible health and dental plan that has no premiums:

Download the HSA Guide for a Business with Staff

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