Life insurance is common, though not as common as health insurance. As per the BLS, 59 percent of civilian companies and 55 percent of private firms offered such policies in March of 2016.
Many employers offer life insurance in the amount of the employee’s salary at no charge to the employee. If that price tag seems a bit too hefty for you, you can offer to pay for part of the policy and require that the employee chip in the rest if they choose to participate.
Paid Leave
Different companies choose different paid holidays. In general, Labor Day and Memorial Day are accepted days off, but beyond that, working days are at the discretion of the employer. Government employees and teachers typically get lots of paid days off (President’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Veteran’s Day), while private sector companies may work through them. As with any other employee benefit, you must weigh your options and make this decision based upon what is best for you and your staff.
Vouchers
If your company has 50 or more full-time equivalents, you are required to offer medical leave through the Family Medical Leave Act. This includes maternity leave, time off work for employees to recover from surgery, and time off work to care for ailing family members. FMLA requires that you keep the person’s job open for 12 weeks, but does not require that you pay your employees for their time away. However, many companies (especially large ones) offer at least some compensation in these situations.
In the case of maternity leave, specifically, it is recommended by doctors that women take at least six weeks off work after the birth of a child, so most companies use this as a guide. It’s common for employers to offer six weeks paid leave (oftentimes, in full) and then let the employee use vacation or sick time if they wish to take additional weeks. Others offer the six weeks in full and then another six weeks at half-pay.
Training
Companies like Home Depot and Starbucks offer tuition assistance to employees looking to earn a degree. From a tax perspective, there are some advantages to doing so, but more importantly, employees that feel as though their company has invested in them are more likely to invest back into a company.
Sometimes, business owners get nervous that employees will leave the company when their education is complete and they will not get to reap the educational rewards. In order to avoid these situations, some businesses require that an employee stay with the company for a certain amount of time after the completion of a degree.
Paid Medical Leave
If your company has 50 or more full-time equivalents, you are required to offer medical leave through the Family Medical Leave Act. This includes maternity leave, time off work for employees to recover from surgery, and time off work to care for ailing family members. FMLA requires that you keep the person’s job open for 12 weeks, but does not require that you pay your employees for their time away. However, many companies (especially large ones) offer at least some compensation in these situations.
In the case of maternity leave, specifically, it is recommended by doctors that women take at least six weeks off work after the birth of a child, so most companies use this as a guide. It’s common for employers to offer six weeks paid leave (oftentimes, in full) and then let the employee use vacation or sick time if they wish to take additional weeks. Others offer the six weeks in full and then another six weeks at half-pay.
Bonus
These days, it’s basically unheard of for a company to not offer at least some paid time off (PTO) in their employee benefits package. Two weeks (10 days) is a common time period granted to full-time employees and some companies allow employees to accrue additional PTO if they stay with the company for a good chunk of time (ex: an additional week after 5 years).
Some companies choose to wrap up their PTO into one collective pile, while others keep it separated into vacation, sick, and personal. There are pros and cons to both ways of structuring these benefits and you’ll just have to decide what makes the most sense for your business.
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