Tag Archives: Employee Benefits

We May Not Own The Building, But Our Name Is On Top!

The “CorpStrat” headquarters is located near Desoto and the 101 freeway.

How We Celebrate

CorpStrat celebrates its 25^th year in business this year, and what better way to showcase our success than with our logo atop our new headquarters. In January, we moved to Woodland Hills CA, and we officially emblazoned our new offices this past month.

CorpStrat has been named one of the Top Insurance Brokers 2017 by both the San Fernando Valley, and Los Angeles Business Journals. The firm is a member of Anthem’s ACE team, Blue Shields’ President Council, and the firm’s principals maintain Life and Qualifying Member status of The Million Dollar Round Table, an elite group of professionals representing the top 1% of successful insurance and financial service advisors in the USA.

We are proud of our growth, our success and future. Our staff stands ready to help companies and professionals with Employee Benefits, Payroll, HR Technology, HR Compliance, and Business insurance planning.

HR Outsourcing: The Secret Weapon For Today’s Business

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More than ever, today’s businesses are running lean and seeking ways to mitigate their risk while increasing efficiency. In a recent survey conducted by SHRM, they identified the most common reasons why companies choose to outsource their HR:

Save Money – 26%
Focus on Business – 23%
Improve Compliance – 30%
Lack of In-house Expertise – 20%

Human resources is more than hiring and firing. Much more. With new laws being passed more and more often, compliance, concrete HR systems, and training are key components businesses of every size need. Noncompliance and lack of systems cost businesses 10’s of thousands of dollars every day.

Options For Managing HR

Employers often try to manage HR themselves with little to no expertise. This often leads business owners working in their business versus on their business. To minimize the challenges posed by HR management, many businesses are turning to CorpStrat HR.

Benefits our clients love:

Support in navigating complex legal issues.
Cost effective solutions.
Effective management of performance issues.
Reduced pressure on internal HR staff.
Updated practices and policies.
Increased productivity.
Risk Management.

If you haven’t given serious thought to HR outsourcing, the range of support you can have just might surprise you. Contact CorpStrat today to free up your time so you can focus on your business.

How CorpStrat Helps Employers Manage Open Enrollment

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Identify Risk

Open enrollment season is upon us and if you are like most employers, you’d like to bury your head in the sand and pretend that it’s not happening.

What is Open Enrollment?

Open enrollment season occurs annually and is the time when your employee benefit plans renew. During this time, you, as the employer, should reevaluate your plan offerings and employer contribution. This is the time to choose a benefits package for the new plan year that balances cost and value. In addition, carriers typically implement rate and benefit changes during open enrollment.

This all needs to then be communicated and rolled-out to employees. As employer-sponsored benefits transition to more voluntary, employee-paid or employee-subsidized offerings, employees must assume more control in making smart decision. Benefit information should be provided and communicated to employees in an easy to understand way.

All in all, this is typically a 60 – 90-day process and can become quite cumbersome.

How a Cutting Edge Broker Can Facilitate the Process

This is where an OUTSTANDING benefits broker comes into play. Leave it up to the team at CorpStrat to make the open enrollment process smooth for both you and your employees.

Following are just some of the tasks CorpStrat’s Employee Benefits Specialists can handle for you during open enrollment:

Collect, negotiate and communicate the renewal specifics to you, the employer
Shop the insurance market to ensure your company is set-up with the benefits that fit your needs, at the most competitive rates
Present clear options, discuss each and make a recommendation of how we suggest you should proceed for the upcoming plan year
ALWAYS ensure you are in compliance with benefit mandates
Communicate all changes and options to your employees in an easy to understand manner
Answer all questions and concerns employees may have – ‘handhold’ them through the process
Process all changes and follow-up until all are completed

Working with CorpStrat will help you develop a strategic benefits package that works for your budget and offers attractive options to your employees. We can also give you access to educational materials for your employees as you launch your new or improved benefits package. Contact us at 800-914-3564 or send an email today.

The Benefits of Employee Benefits

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Remaining competitive in the hunt for the right job candidates who will propel your business to success is a struggle. Once you find the people you need, you have to convince them that your company is a better place to work than your competitors. A strategic, quality benefits package can help you attract and retain your top employees.

Employees value a well-rounded selection of benefits, and health insurance, a 401(k) plan, life insurance and dental coverage are a few of the plans that you can consider offering.

Employee Benefits Plan Examples

Benefits packages offer value to your employees and help you boost productivity and retention in a cost-effective manner. Here are a few of the advantages of offering employee benefits as part of your compensation package.

Talent Attraction and Retention

Employees highly value a good benefits package. Developing a strategic benefits package that targets specific types of employees can help attract the right job candidates to keep your organization running at peak efficiency.

Once you have these top-performing employees at your company, providing a tailored employee benefits package will serve as a barrier to them leaving—a great benefits package can be a huge advantage when looking at retention strategies because it holds more than just monetary value for the employee. A bigger salary at another company likely won’t be as strong a pull for an employee tempted to leave if the other company’s benefits package isn’t as attractive as yours.

Healthy, Productive Employees

When your benefits package includes a combination of health insurance and dental and vision coverage, you will have employees who are able to take a proactive role in managing their health. They will have easy, affordable access to health care, reducing absenteeism due to illness.

When they are on the job, healthy employees are more productive than sick ones. It’s beneficial for your company’s productivity and your employees when they have access to medical coverage and time off when they are sick.

Satisfaction

A good benefits package leads to satisfied employees with higher morale. Employees who find value in their benefits are typically more willing to commit to their company because it helps make them feel valued—which leads to increased productivity and decreased absenteeism.

Efficient Use of Resources

Offering valuable benefits can help lower top employees’ expectations for salary. Many employees are willing to accept good benefits in lieu of a slightly higher salary.

This is an advantage to your budget because the value you present to employees with benefits, especially health insurance plans, can be monetarily equal to a raise in salary for them, while costing you less due to group rates and lower payroll taxes. Employers can avoid the hidden cost of paying extra payroll taxes on higher salary by instead offering benefits to provide similar value to employees.

Thinking Long-term

Even if you think you can save a little money in the short term by skimping on employee benefits, you will eventually face the consequences through a lowered ability to attract high-achieving employees, increased difficulty retaining your top performers, and lowered morale and productivity.

Offering a quality array of employee benefits will pay off through a stronger, more productive workforce with employees committed to your company.

California Employer Health Benefits: Workers Pay The Price

Heidi Whitmore and Jon Gabel, NORC at the University of Chicago June 2016

A majority of Californians rely on their employers for health insurance, but many with workplace-sponsored coverage are faced with reduced benefits and increased costs.

The percentage of employers offering coverage has continued to decline in California, while coverage rates have remained stable. Only 57% of firms reported providing health insurance to employees in 2015, down from 69% in 2000. Twenty-seven percent of California firms reported that they reduced benefits or increased cost sharing, and 41% of firms reported that they were very or somewhat likely to increase employees’ premium contribution in the next year. This trend will have major implications for household budgets.

California Employer Health Benefits: Workers Pay the Price presents data compiled from the 2015 California Employer Health Benefits Survey. Other key findings include:
• The percentage of firms with many low-wage workers (those earning $23,000 or less) offering health coverage to employees more than doubled between 2014 and 2015, from 18% to 42%.
• Health insurance premiums for family coverage grew by 4.5%, a slower growth rate than in recent years. Family coverage premiums have seen a cumulative 216% increase since 2002, compared to a 37% increase in overall prices.
• The average monthly health insurance premium, including the employer contribution, was $573 for single coverage and $1,554 for family coverage in California, and was significantly higher than the national average.
• 4 in 10 workers in small firms faced an annual deductible of at least $1,000 for single coverage, compared to 1 in 10 workers in larger firms.

June 2016 Employer Benefits Study