Author Archives: CorpStrat News

What’s the hottest, zero cost benefit in Employee Benefit planning today?

two coworkers meet to discuss voluntary benefits

The answer may surprise you. Hint: AFLAC

58% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck after the inflation spike. This means that most of your employees are relying heavily on their paycheck to keep them from becoming financially vulnerable. If an employee falls ill or gets hurt, they’ll likely have little to no income coming in. On top of that, state Disability is so restrictive and can involve such an arduous process that your employees simply can’t count on it.

Voluntary Benefits

Voluntary Benefits, commonly referred to as AFLAC, can help employees maintain their income by paying cash benefits directly to them. Employees can use these cash benefits to help cover rent, groceries, and other daily living expenses while they’re out of work.

It’s true, major medical policies can be adequate for addressing most of your employees’ direct medical expenses. However, out-of-pocket medical expenses like deductibles, co-insurance, office visits, etc. aren’t covered by a primary healthcare plan and can still present a problem. These expenses add up quickly and can become an insurmountable financial burden for employees.

Voluntary Plans can help cover some of the large financial burdens employees face. Did we mention there’s no cost to you as the employer? Consider offering these plans to your employees on a voluntary basis:

Accident
Short Term Disability
Life, Dental
Vision
Cancer Expense & Critical Illness

Don’t forget, you can offer these programs on a pre-tax basis. This can help lower your FICA and FUTA contributions, making these plans even more affordable to your team.

We think Voluntary Benefits are a win-win for you and your employees and should be a part of any comprehensive Benefits Package. If you have any questions regarding how to get this set up, please contact us at marketing@corpstrat.com

What Does It Take to Keep Your Top Employees?

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“Some employees are worth a lot of money… Some employees are worth a hell of a lot of money.” – Tom Peters, best-selling author

Don’t think for a minute that your competitors don’t know who your best people are, because they do.

2022 marks the lowest unemployment rate in U.S. history. What happens in a thriving economy is the best employees become even more sought after. Those employed are valuable assets and you have to work to retain them if you want to remain successful. So, what does it take to keep the best?

For us the answer is simple. It takes:

Recognition
Rewards
Strategy
Commitment

As a leader, you need to be proactive on improving the size, shape, and value of a benefit package for any key employee. Recruiters are on the prowl and technology, such as LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, and CareerBuilder, make the process of benchmarking and reviewing “better” opportunities really easy.

Today we’re going to share a simple idea with you that could change everything — let’s call it the “Golden Handcuff”.

“Golden Handcuff”

A “Golden Handcuff” is a way to describe a specific arrangement that addresses an annually funded plan to retain and reward a Key employee or employees. The difference is these benefits are doled out over time instead of all at once. What follows is a short list of recommendations that can be implemented in a proactive effort to retain key employees who genuinely make a difference

Identify who is critical to the success and growth of the company. Make a list of the employees in your company who must be retained.
Conduct a salary survey for each position to find out what the competition is paying its people. Identify the gaps in salary and benefits that need to be closed and put a dollar amount on it, position-by position.
Reinforce the bridges of communication and strengthen the relationships with those indispensable employees that must be kept on board.
Consider the possibility of giving those essential employees an auto allowance, health insurance incentives, or additional PTO.
If a bonus incentive plan is not already in place, consider creating one that will strengthen a bond with those employees who will feel that the extra work they do will not only benefit the company, but themselves and their families as well.

Now these benefits are provided “over and above” those available to most employees in a qualified retirement plan. These agreements are considered a non-qualified arrangement, which means you don’t need government approval. Instead it’s a “deal” between a corporation and a selected set of key executives in which the company promises to pay the executive a specified benefit later on, with a restriction on the employees’ ability access the accumulated asset for a certain period of time. Most plans also have a survivor benefit so if the employee passes away, the family gets a benefit as well.

These designs aren’t one size fits all, there are absolutely ways to be nimble and creative to suit your budget. The bottom line is you want to give a Key employees an enticing offer that they won’t want to walk away from. Can you imagine someone walking away from a guaranteed lump sum of money if they stay at least five, seven or ten years?

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Get to work retaining and rewarding your top performers before your competition does. Need help? Email us at marketing@corpstrat.com

The CorpStrat Experience: What to Expect When Working With Us

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People often ask us, “What make CorpStrat different?”

At the heart of it, we work hard and we care about our clients. In today’s fast moving world, people have little time to waste. They need fast reliable answers to their questions and need a team of advisors to make sure that their business is protected.

When you work with us, you’re working with dedicated and experienced people, not bots or call centers. We’re a team of real folks who value teamwork, put our clients’ interests first, are passionate learners and dedicated to client service.

When people do business with us, here’s a quick overview of what they can expect from the experience.

1. The CorpStrat Conversation™

When we begin working together, we’ll start with what we call The CorpStrat Conversation™. This is a unique, forward thinking conversation that will help us uncover what is and what isn’t working in your business. We zero in on what needs to be changed in order for you to best meet your goals. So many times these conversations are about so much more than Employee Benefits or Human Capital Management, it’s our opportunity to set the foundation for a true partnership and advisory relationship.

2. The CorpStrat Intake™

During The CorpStrat Intake™, our veteran advisors work directly with your team to audit, review, and gather data. We go to great lengths to ensure that this process is as painless as possible.

3. The CorpStrat Analysis™

After getting the lay of the land, we draw from our experience and wisdom combined with our marketplace savvy to evaluate opportunities that benefit you.

4. The CorpStrat Consult™

Once we have a plan in place, we’ll schedule The CorpStrat Consult™. During this, we’ll discuss, review, and propose the best plan we have in mind for you that will put you on the best path for future success.

5. The CorpStrat Deploy™

Throughout this entire process, you’re never alone. Even during the CorpStrat Deploy™, our team helps implement, execute and communicate strategic planning so you’re never left in the lurch.

6. The CorpStrat Review™

The final step is The CorpStrat Review™. Even after we implement the strategy, we continue to actively stay involved to support and assure that your company’s objectives are achieved.

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Need help with Employee Benefits, Insurance, Payroll or Human Capital Management? We’d love to work with you. Let’s talk.

M&A in your future? You need an Employee Benefits Audit.

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The recent trend of mergers and acquisition of closely held businesses is on the minds of so many business owners these days. Virtually unlimited sources of Venture Capital coupled with inflation, rising overhead expenses, and the great resignation has made pursuing exit strategies increasingly attractive.

A thorough employee benefit review is critical for every company, but particularly those that are considering entering and preparing for any M&A activity.

Here’s a quick hit list of issues that should be reviewed and addressed:

Have you benchmarked your Employee Benefits package against companies of similar size in your industry? Is your benefits package competitive enough to attract and retain talent?
Are your retirement plan programs in full compliance with ERISA and fiduciary responsibilities including filings of all required tax reporting? Do you know who the fiduciary on your plan is? If you don’t know, its likely you — the business owner
Do you have key people coverages that can assure prospective purchasers that their most important people are protected and insured?
Review any and all TOP HAT or executive compensation programs, and be sure to address any unfunded liabilities or promises like bonus agreements.
Prepare any desired severance and retention bonuses and consider equity/phantom stock agreements that could help assure continuation for key people.
Be sure your company is fully compliant on ACA reporting as well as affordability of benefits for firms 50 and up.

Review all HR documents, time keeping systems, PTO , OT, etc and ensure the are all in compliance and up to date

Have an outside advisor review your HR and audit your processes to be sure that you do not have any potential exposures.

This really is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many key details that need to be addressed but this list is a great start to helping your company prepare for the best outcome in any potential transactions.

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If you’re interested in an Employee Benefits Audit, we can help with that. Learn more here.

How to Simplify Communicating New Hire Rates to Employees

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Communicating new hire rates to employees has grown increasingly complex in recent years. Back in the day, it was simple and straightforward: rates were the same for either single employees, an employee plus a spouse, or an employee with a family. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

Since the inception of the ACA in 2010, California employers with 100 or less employees have a rate based on each employee’s actual date of birth and their home zip code. On top of that, each eligible dependent has a rate based on their birth date. When you combine that with most companies having somewhere between six to eight plan choices, the layers of complexity really start adding up.

How can you simplify this?

Between differing rates, benefits plans, multiple products, regional variances, state requirements, and demographics, you need to find a sustainable way to communicate these specifics in a clear and easy to understand way to your employees. To us, this really starts and ends with automating the process. If you’re not embracing technology for this, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Automating this process means employers can deliver all of their rates, plan options, benefit summaries, and even the SBCs to remain compliant in a seamless, paperless experience.

If your Employee Benefit enrollment experience is clunky or is still paper based, let’s talk. We can help you save time, save money, and increase efficiency and compliance. We’d love to help make your organization look great to your team and your potential new recruits.