What is the major concern for an employer? Taking very good care of their employees is a must. Many have perceived that as an expensive task to overcome, as it means providing the employee with vacations, bonuses, incentive pay, insurance, etc? While all of them are valid reasons there are many ways in which employees can be given benefits that do not drill too deep a hole into the employer's pocket.

Medical Spending Accounts: MSAs offer benefits and cost-control advantages like no other policy. Self-employed people can use this as also a small group of 50 people. There are two parts to the MSA, one is the high-deductible health-insurance plan (HDHP) and the other is the insurance policy. HDHP offers deductibles in the range $1,500 - $2,250 for single people and $3,000 - $4,500 for families. Medical insurance is claimed using an MSA in a manner similar to any other insurance policy.

CDH, or Consumer-driven Healthcare plans are a good option for those employers who want to involve their employees in framing insurance policies for the firm. There are options like HSA, Healthcare Savings Account and HRA, Healthcare Reimbursement Account, among many others.

401(k) and Savings Benefits: Many small companies have a 401(k) plan or savings plan in place, but hardly any money is contributed to these plans. In spite of this situation, growing companies do not fund more than $2,500 every year to an employee's saving plan. Most of the small company contributions lie at the maximum of $1,000. Hence funding such saving programs would be a good benefit for the employee. Also identifying a tax-saving scheme would help the employer also.

ESOP, Employee Stock Ownership Program permits the employees to buy stocks in the firm. Stocks can also be offered as incentives and bonuses. ESOP has a tax-deferred status that is valid until the retirement of the employee. Similarly Pension Plans can be devised where an employee can either have a fixed income upon retirement or contribute to the pension fund.

Offering assistance to the employees who have relocated to work with the firm can be a good way to build good-will that will go a long way. Business travelers can be offered perks like being able to take their families on a tour once a year. ?Life-style? benefits like grocery coupons, dry-clean services, health insurance for pets, etc? give a sense of belonging to the employee. Having a child-care center is a great way to provide support to working mothers.

Employee Benefits A Consultant can help you!