PVMA Keystone Veterinarian Fall 2020 - 24

Practice Pearls

Voluntary Benefits

How these can benefit both
your practice and your employees.
By Sam Boore
Founder & CEO of Focus HRO

Your employees are your practice's most
valuable asset, and in exchange for their
commitment of time and work you offer
them compensation and benefits, also
known as rewards. The more attractive
the rewards package, the higher quality
talent you can recruit. In a market where
positions are becoming harder to fill and
the talent pool is low, it's time to take a closer look at what is in
it for your candidates and current employees.
In a recent survey done by Willis Towers Watson (2019-2020
Global Benefits Survey) 37% of employees responded that they
wanted a more generous benefits package, and 42% said they
would give up pay for better health benefits. The survey also
concluded that 57% of workers wanted a moderate number of
benefit options. This reminds me of the story of Goldilocks: Not
too many - not too few - but just the right amount.
Of course, when running a practice, one must also be budget
conscious. If you spend too much on employee rewards, and
the spend is in excess of the revenue generated, it could turn
into real problems for the long-term success of the business.
On the other hand, if you don't offer enough rewards you could
be looking at poor employee retention and difficulty in hiring
new talent. Finding the balance can be done effectively and
efficiently by offering your employees voluntary benefits.
24 | Keystone Veterinarian

Before we dive deeper into voluntary benefits, let's look at the
results of a 2019 study by Metlife, where employees were polled
to determine the most important employee benefits and what
percentage of them say they are a "must have".
1. Group Health Coverage - 88%
2. Prescription Drug Coverage - 72%
3. 401k/retirement - 72%
4. Dental Insurance - 68%
5. Life Insurance - 57%
6. Vision Insurance - 51%
7. Long Term Disability - 43%
8. Short Term Disability - 43%
In looking at this list, did you know that #4 through #8 can all be
offered with no direct cost to your practice? You can offer these
benefits to your employees on a voluntary only basis, where
they can pick the benefits that best meet their needs. Even
better, you can offer these on a group policy, which most often
results in little to no requirements for medical questionnaires,
guarantees insurability, ease of enrollment, and costs less than
an individual policy. Your only responsibilities from a practice
perspective is to set up the plan, offer the opportunity to enroll,
deduct the cost per pay from payroll, and pay the monthly
invoice. Voilà, you've just expanded your benefits portfolio and
your employees will be grateful! Congratulations!
continued on page 26 >
PVMA Keystone Veterinarian Fall 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PVMA Keystone Veterinarian Fall 2020
