If you’re the owner of a small business, you’ll know that for the most part, the key to success lies in having a good workforce. However, it could be said that you only get out what you put in, and if your employees don’t feel valued and appreciated, then your business just may not become successful.
Keeping your workforce content though, is often as straightforward as showing them that you care about their wellbeing, and what better way to show this, than by offering them all health insurance?
What are the benefits of offering health insurance to employees?
For many employees, a good benefit package is extremely important when they are looking for work, and they may even take health care benefits into account before applying for a post. If you already offer this, then you may have more luck in attracting potential staff, but if you don’t have a package in place and are looking for a way to improve the morale of your existing workforce, then it may be something that you look into right away. Also, if your competitors are offering health care insurance packages for their employees, then you are already one step behind and will need to act fast in order to keep up with them!
Not only will health care insurance reassure your workforce that you take their wellbeing seriously, but you may also be able to take advantage of less expensive health insurance for yourself and could even be awarded a tax break for the contributions made by your business.
Below are listed a few more reasons why it’s in you and your business’ best interests to offer healthcare insurance for your employees:
- At the beginning of 2015, a legal mandate came into effect from The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which stated that employers with 50 or more full time employees (or a combination of 50 full and part time) must offer appropriate healthcare coverage or be subject to an assessment if their employees receive premium tax credits to buy their own insurance. Avoiding assessment would naturally be in your best interests as an employer.
- Other than tax credits which you may be eligible for if you employ fewer than 25 people, you may also be able to gain other tax advantages such as being able to deduct 100% of your employee’s healthcare premium costs, meaning that your out of pocket costs equal less than the value of your employee’s benefits.
- The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) offers small businesses (typically those with 50 or less full time staff) a healthcare package through an insurance marketplace run by the government. But even if you choose not to offer your employees any insurance, you could still offer them the chance to obtain group rates for themselves through your business.