Employee benefits for my small business
Whether you work independently or run your own small enterprise, you face the unique and exciting challenge of setting up your business for long-term success. Not only must you adhere to a bottom line, you also need to help your employees – and yourself – feel fulfilled and well-prepared for whatever life may bring. To achieve that kind of fulfillment, you need more than compensation. You need benefits.
How can Guardian help your small business?
Learn how Guardian is supporting small businesses like yours, through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Growing my business
Benefits help you grow your business because they allow you to better recruit and retain great employees. In addition, happy employees may generally be healthier employees, which means your business enjoys better productivity.
But you might be concerned about whether you can afford to offer a comprehensive suite of benefits to your employees as a small business owner. This concern is understandable, but it shouldn’t stop you from offering benefits. If you’re on the fence, follow these steps:
Getting started with employee benefits
Benefits – for yourself or for employees – can mean something a little different to each person. Beyond paid time off, there are four major types of employee benefits:
- Health insurance
- Retirement benefits
- Life insurance
- Disability insurance
It’s true that with each of those benefits, there comes a cost. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that benefits cost an average of $11.55 per hour, per employee.1 As a result, many small business owners wonder if they can even afford to offer these kinds of benefits.
But in an increasingly competitive economy, with more people looking to employers to help them with financial confidence beyond their salary, the question becomes: Can you afford not to offer benefits? Offering voluntary benefits may be a more affordable option.
Employee benefits are an investment that not only help you attract and retain top talent, but also help set up your business for long-term success.
Benefits for independent workers
If you’re an independent worker, you are both the employer and employee of your own small business. The good news: there are a lot of you out there. According to the Freelancers Union and Upwork, 57.3 million Americans were working freelance in 2017.2 As a result of this growing gig economy, benefits are beginning to shift in response. While you enjoy more flexibility, you are not receiving benefits from a traditional employer model. So, what qualities should you look for in your benefits?
Benefits for small business owners
Small businesses must decide whether to cut into profits by offering benefits, or risk losing talented employees. For long-term success, the choice is clear: you need to offer benefits to not only keep your current employees happy, but to continue attracting great talent as your business grows. To get started, you need to consider the following benefits:
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