Yesterday, we looked at the large margin by which employees underestimate the amount it costs you to provide them with various benefits. Today, we’ll look at the one benefit employees refuse to give up — at nearly any cost.
I’d rather cut my pay than …
While employees may underestimate the value of the total benefits package, there’s one benefit they’d be loathe to give up, even to the point of having to take a pay cut to keep it. That’s health insurance, says the National Business Group on Health (NBGH), as reported in Workforce Management.
NBGH recently conducted a survey of 1,619 workers at large companies. Here are some of the key results:
- 75 percent said they would forgo a pay raise if it meant they had to buy health insurance on their own.
- 60 percent would not trade a drop in health benefits for a better retirement plan.
The hot-button compensation issues coming at you in 2011
- 60 percent said they’ve had to pay more for their health plans over the last 3 years, but…
- 70 percent felt that, even costing more, those plans did give them the healthcare access and services they needed.
- 65 percent said they felt smokers should pay more for health coverage, but only 49 percent would favor increases for the obese.
- Perhaps most telling about how much workers value their plans, 83 percent said that if employers had to reduce total comp costs, they’d rather have their pay or retirement plans cut than give up any of their health benefits.
“Overall, no aspect of a job is more important to workers of large companies than having good benefits,” said NBGH President Helen Darling. “And our survey results clearly show that the benefit most important for most workers is the health plan.”
Health benefits are only part of the compensation package…
Bonus pay, commissions, deductions, reimbursements — any one of these issues can create a litigation nightmare for you and your company if you don’t handle it properly.
Your good intentions won’t help you at all, and the fact that you do business in California makes compliance just that much more complicated.
Start the new year off right with an in-depth rundown of what you need to watch out for in 2011. Join us tomorrow for an informative,
Compensation in California: Hot-Button Issues Coming at You in 2011
Laura Innes, an experienced California-based employment attorney, will explain:
- How to properly calculate bonuses (so that a gift for employees doesn’t turn into a nightmare for you)
- Proper ways to calculate and pay commissions, and avoid unlawful chargebacks
- What to do with expense reimbursements — a new court decision clarifies how and when expenses must be reimbursed
- Everything you need to know about the salary basis tests for overtime exemption
- How and when you can make lawful deductions from exempt employees’ salaries
- An effective, legal strategy for recovering training costs from employees who resign shortly after your company has invested in them
Sign up now! Can’t make it tomorrow? Order the CD and learn at your leisure.
Executive Summary: Healthcare Reform for California Employers