Beyond Medical: Building A Benefits Package That Actually Helps You Recruit
A lot of times, a client comes to us and says, “We just want medical, dental, vision.” That's a fine place to start. It's not a fine place to stop.
Here's the thing. Once the core is in place, there's a whole layer of benefits that cost the company next to nothing and mean a lot to the people you're trying to hire and keep.
Start With Life And AD&D
The next thing we usually bring up is basic life and accidental death and dismemberment. It's cheap. We're talking a few dollars a month per employee to add 25,000 or 50,000 dollars in coverage, employer paid.
Here's why it's such a good lever to pull. When you're hiring someone and you tell them, or their spouse, “You get 50,000 dollars in life insurance at no cost to you,” that sounds like a big number. They don't realize how little it costs you. That's a lot of perceived value for very little spend.
From there, we usually pair basic life with voluntary life, often another 50,000 dollars, on a guaranteed issue basis. Guaranteed issue means pre-existing conditions are waived. Cancer, chemo, three heart attacks, doesn't matter. Same cost.
Then Add Disability
Not everybody in America has three months of expenses saved up, and almost nobody can go without income until they're 65. Government disability is hard to get on and can take years. That's the gap short-term and long-term disability are built to cover.
Short-term disability typically covers up to three months, with a one week elimination period, meaning it's not there to cover someone out sick Thursday through Tuesday. It's there for the two, three, four, six week absence: a bad accident, a heart attack, something serious.
Long-term disability picks up where short-term leaves off, covering three months out to two years, five years, even up to age 65. Both typically pay up to 60% of gross income, and that benefit can be tax-free.
Layer In Voluntary, Worksite Benefits
The major voluntary products are cancer, critical illness, and accident, sometimes hospital indemnity.
Cancer policies typically pay a lump sum, and some products pay out for ongoing treatment with no cap on how long they'll keep paying. Critical illness covers heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrest, kidney failure, and similar events, another lump sum for something that's going to knock someone out of work for months and send them to a lot of appointments.
Accident insurance covers around the clock, on or off the job. It's the kind of thing that sounds small until it isn't. One of our team's daughters knocked out her two front teeth, and the accident policy paid out 1,000 dollars. Emergency dental to fix it ran 2,200 dollars. That 1,000 dollars sure helped, and nobody has time to budget for a kid's front teeth ahead of time.
How To Sequence It For A Growing Company
Here's the order that makes sense for most groups:
Core medical, dental, vision
Basic life, then voluntary life, short-term and long-term disability
Worksite products: cancer, critical illness, accident, hospital
Extras that add richness without adding much cost: legal help, virtual health, that kind of thing
At every step, we're looking for value. Benefits that cost a little and mean a lot.
What Employees Actually Choose, And Why It Matters
Life insurance gets a lot of love. We've seen employees pass away from accidents and illness, and that 50,000 dollars in coverage, plus another 50,000 in voluntary life, has made a real difference for families who didn't have a large policy of their own. It's a lot better than a GoFundMe page.
Short-term disability is popular too, especially when it's employer paid, since it covers pre-existing conditions. That matters a lot for young women in the office who may have a baby. Six weeks of maternity leave covered.
Long-term disability may be the most underrated of all of it. Short-term pays out more often, but long-term is the one that protects against the scenario almost nobody plans for: five years without a paycheck.
And cancer policies. We've paid out 30,000, 60,000, 70,000 dollars on individual claims. Employees who signed up 5, 10, 20 years ago and just kept paying the premium are awfully glad they did. It sometimes feels inevitable. If you don't get hit by a bus, you're going to deal with cancer one day.
The Best Of Both Worlds
You don't have to choose between a lean budget and a benefits package that actually helps you recruit. The trick is sequencing it right.
Want help building out your benefits package the right way, in the right order? Call McIlroy Insurance Group at 1-303-681-7785 or email info@migbenefits.com.
