Why Should Your Small Business Offer Health Benefits?

If you own a small business but aren’t currently offering health benefits to your employees, you’re missing out on an opportunity to save money, attract and retain top talent, and even improve the productivity of your existing employees.

Many small business owners assume that health insurance are the prerogative of the “big players” in the corporate world, and not something they should be concerned with. This article explains why this simply isn’t true, and delves into the benefits you can expect to gain by offering your employees access to quality health insurance.

Attract (and keep) top performers in your industry

The national unemployment rate in the U.S. dropped 4.8% from July 2020 to July 2021. While this is great news for job seekers, it carries different implications for you as an employer.

A significant drop in unemployment means that competition among employers to attract and retain top talent in their fields has grown rapidly. Employees are beginning to enjoy a larger number of potential employment options again, so they’re far less likely to stay at a job that doesn’t offer competitive benefits and pay.

Employees routinely say that one of the things they most value (or most dislike) in a company is its health plan, or lack thereof. Offering a small business health plan at your company will help attract highly qualified professionals, and keep them around longer as well.

Small business health plans may reduce your taxes

It may seem counterintuitive that spending money can actually save you money in the long run. But when it comes to small business health insurance, this is indeed the case.

Although you’ll be required to devote capital to the health program itself, you can expect to see fairly significant savings when tax season rolls back around. As a business owner, your contributions to your employees’ health premiums are completely tax-deductible.

Some employers have even gotten strategic about this, and chosen to offer more comprehensive health insurance in place of higher wages.

A robust small business health plan could raise your revenue

Employees without access to small business health insurance may wait longer than they should to see a doctor when health problems arise. Or they may not seek medical care at all, due to the financial strain involved in doing so.

While this may not seem like it could impact your company’s bottom line, rest assured that it most certainly can. The overall costs of an absent employee who has taken sick leave are 28% higher than that employee’s ordinary wages, due to lost productivity.

Additionally, absenteeism costs American businesses roughly $84 billion in lost profits on an annual basis.

A healthy and productive workforce is the backbone of your annual bottom line. If you want consistently high profits, it pays to take care of your employees.

Small business health insurance, small business health plans

Are you legally obligated to offer health benefits?

From a technical standpoint, no, you are not strictly obligated to carry small business health insurance for your employees. But you should keep up to date on the local regulations around this issue for your particular state, as legal requirements for insurance shift on a regular basis.

We’re here to help you succeed

Holloway Benefit Concepts can help you find the perfect domestic or international health plan for your small business. We put our clients first, and specialize in bringing a human touch to the world of small business health coverage.

Contact us today for more information, or explore our company blog to learn how we can assist your company with HR needs, streamline your onboarding process, help with insurance, and more.

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