Why the need for a comprehensive health benefits plan?

December 20, 2012 Occasional Contributors Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Recruiting and Hiring, Wages and Compensation

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To many, comprehensive health benefits are second nature. We don’t think about them often because if we’re lucky, we don’t need to use them often (except the massages, of course). In fact, the majority of people won’t need (and might not even be aware of) the larger part of their policy coverage. So why is comprehensive health insurance so important? Let’s start with the basics.

A definition

Comprehensive health benefits simply means that you are covered under a company health plan for services such as vision care, dental care and medicare. In other words, comprehensive health benefits ensure you are protected at all time. Today, many comprehensive health benefits plan include extended health care – medical equipment and supplies, nursing care, extended vision care and dental care, emergency out-of-province travel coverage, registered therapy services among others.

Why is it important that a benefits package be comprehensive?

Hindsight is 20-20

We never think we’re going to be in a place where we’ll need emergency medical care, and there is usually very little planning for it. In this case, employees are covered under almost every circumstance. From an employer’s standpoint, comprehensive group benefits reduce any liability that may be associated with workplace strain. Benefits provide employees the resources they need to appease any anxiety, tension or stress.

A healthy staff increases productivity

You know what they say – happy employees are productive employees. A comprehensive group benefit plan that offers employees everything from massage therapy to physiotherapy will ensure that employees are healthy. Many comprehensive plans offer extended services when it comes to registered therapy. These might include chiropractic services, acupuncture services, naturopathy, podiatry, and speech therapy. Sitting at a desk for the better part of the day is taxing, and can put a strain on daily work. Having massage therapy available and almost entirely covered by a benefit plan, provides an incentive to be productive.

Attraction and retention

Retain your most valuable asset, your staff. Prospective employees look closely at benefits packages when they are considering a job. Comprehensive benefit packages are an essential component in a compensation package. Today, many comprehensive packages are driven by employees – what they want is what they get. There is more opportunity to pick and choose benefits as requested by employees. Providing employees with the power to decide what they would like in a benefits package is a powerful, and engaging action.

Reduce absenteeism

Improving employee health and morale means there are more happy and healthy people at work. It’s simple – provide staff with the resources required to live a healthy lifestyle and absenteeism will be reduced.

A health benefits package is more than just an opportunity to provide supplementary health care. It’s a chance to provide employees with resources and control in order to ensure a productive and happy work life. Offering employees coverage for services like physiotherapy and massage therapy will increase productivity and internal motivation. Motivated and productive employees yield much better results for a company than those who feel the company is not working in their best interest. A comprehensive employee benefits package is one of the best way to foster this feeling.

About the author
Meghan Tooley is a commerce student and active online blogger from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She often offers her views on creative human resource development, as it relates to industry trends. She writes on behalf of Metric Marketing, a marketing firm specializing in tactics like Search Engine Optimization also based in Winnipeg.

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In addition to our regular guest bloggers, First Reference Talks blog published by First Reference, provides occasional guest post opportunities from various subject matter experts on the topics of payroll, employment and labour law, payroll, HR analytics, corporate immigration, accessibility related issues in Canada. If you are a subject matter expert and would like to become an occasional blogger, please contact Yosie Saint-Cyr at editor@firstreference.com. If you liked this post, subscribe to First Reference Talks blog to get regular updates.