CORPORATE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
CORPORATE EMPLOYEE BENEFIT SCHEMES
Once you have great employees on board, how do you keep them from jumping ship? One way is by offering a good benefits package.
Many small-business owners mistakenly believe they cannot afford to offer benefits. But while going without benefits may boost your bottom line in the short run, the ‘penny wise pound foolish’ philosophy could impact the chances for long-term prosperity of your business. By providing employees such benefits, it will give employees a sense of value thus better retention.
Corporate Employee Benefit Schemes are designed to provide coverage for employees of small businesses or large corporations.
The employee benefits provided usually include
a) Personal Accident cover which provides benefits upon partial/total and/or temporary/permanent disability due to accident.
b) Hospitalisation & Surgical benefits which cover in-patient medical expenses as well as outpatient accidental, cancer or kidney dialysis treatment.
c) Term Insurance which provides lump sum benefits upon death and total permanent disablement.
The employee benefits can be extended to include critical illness cover and retirement funds.
These Benefit Schemes can be specially customized to meet the requirements of participating companies. Some of the benefits like Personal Accident and Hospitalisation & Surgical may be tax deductible to the corporations or companies if properly designed.
The premiums are usually more attractive than personal policies due mainly to the spread of risk. As such, the premiums are dependent on the number of participating employees, gender distribution and job classification.
The Benefit Schemes are usually non-contributory, that is, the company pays the full premium. It can also be partial or fully contributory, especially retirement schemes. For retirement schemes, it is common to include a vesting clause which helps promote employee retention. Defined contribution schemes are more commonly used for Employee Benefits as the expenses are predetermined and easier to manage compared to Defined Benefit Schemes.
Due to the complexities and the various regulatory requirements, it is advisable to work with insurance advisors who are familiar with the intricacies of the corporate employee benefit schemes, starting with the objectives or purpose of the corporate schemes.