Your Employee Handbook

(5) Shop smart

Consider the following guidelines when shopping for benefits: For starters, find a go-to advisor who can help devise a benefits strategy, then shop on the business owner’s behalf. “You don’t want a policy peddler,” Roper says. “You want someone who’s going to hold your hand and walk you through the process.” 

It’s also vital to involve yourself and employees early in the process. “The companies that appear to be having the most success managing their benefits are those that say to their employees, ‘Let’s look at our options together,’” says James Gelfand, senior manager for health policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Lay a foundation and build on it. Start with a solid group-benefits foundation and “layer on voluntary products that meet workers’ expectations and add little or no direct cost to the company’s bottom line,” Unum says.

That approach applies to health and retirement plans alike, says Aliya Wong, the U.S. Chamber’s director of pension policy, who suggests business owners start with a simple retirement savings or prototype 401(k) plan. She says, “These types of plans are generally less expensive, and they let you start small and build your way to a larger plan.” On the health side, consider flexible, multiple-option plans that allow employees to select among various plan configurations, from bare bones to robust. 

Given the steady stream of new plan designs, features and cost structures, DiFiore recommends that small businesses and their brokers make benefits shopping an annual exercise in tandem with a yearly market analysis. And keep in mind that the lowest-cost package isn’t always the best fit.