How Critical Is It to Offer Employee Benefits in Canada?

Employee benefits, plans, and insurance in Canada might be a little costly. But they have several advantages that companies need.

Employee benefits provide a win-win situation for both the company and the employee. For years, companies have received competitive insurance quotes for employee benefit plans. However, only a select few insurance companies can help these firms.

Some companies have practiced offering employee benefits to their prospective hires. These benefits cover the most basic yet underrated needs of an employee.

Companies use employee benefits as an extra offer to produce a competitive package. The common non-monetary benefits include paid vacation leaves, retirement plans, and health insurance.

But the company has sole discretion on what employee benefits they will offer. This means that the employee benefits vary from one company to another.

The Importance of Employee Benefits

Employee benefits are introductory offers a company makes for engaging their employees. In return, the company gets the following:

Employee’s Loyalty

A high-paying job is essential, but some employees choose employee benefits. This best applies to employees who are seeking long-term employment.

Motivated Individuals

Giving an employee his due employee benefits will make him feel that he is being valued. This will make the employee more focused, productive, and results-driven.

Lesser Attendance Attrition

Companies rely on employees. The employees’ attendance will significantly affect the business’ success.

Three reasons contribute to an employee’s absenteeism.

• Finances
• Family Commitments
• Health issues

If a company can address any of these, the employees can be more focused and productive. They can work without worries since their issues are already taken care of.

Attract Best Talents

The employee benefits that a company offers make it a high chance to attract the best talents. This is because benefits sometimes outweigh salaries.

Types of Employee Benefits

There are several employee benefits and the most common fall under these categories:

• Insurance
• Retirement Plans
• Monetary Compensation
• Flexibility of Time

There are several types of insurance. But most companies offer health insurance, life insurance, or disability insurance. Of the three, employees’ best pick is health insurance. This type of insurance covers the employee’s vision, medical, and dental concerns. 

In most countries, health insurance is a mandatory employee benefit. In some, it is a supplementary employee benefit.

If you want to have a competitive company, start calling insurance companies now. Ask for insurance quotes that will best fit your company and employees’ needs. 

Retirement Plans

This type of benefit promises the employees a monthly pension when they retire. Some employees prefer this type of benefit. An extra income can help the employee so much when you retire.

Insurance companies mainly pitch this plan to firms that need heavy employee retention.

Monetary Compensation

This is one of the most favored employee benefits. Employees who are in sales expect this type of employee benefit. Rewards through bonuses are usually part of an incentive scheme. The monetary compensation is traditionally used to motivate employees to deliver quality results.

This type of benefit is internal and shouldered solely by the company. This will rarely appear in an insurance quote.

Flexibility of Time

This could cover paid vacation leave, birthday leave, flexi-time, or sick leave. The companies that offer this type of employee benefit are already ahead of the game. A survey proves this, with 9 out of ten employees choosing companies with paid vacation leave.

The Best Employee Benefits in Canada

There are two types of employee benefits, mandatory benefits and supplementary benefits. Canadians both enjoy these types of employee benefits. Most companies in Canada also offer employee perks or fringe benefits. These perks are benefits given to employees on top of their employee benefits.

Canadians rank healthcare as the most critical employee benefit. Around ninety percent of Canadian companies offer healthcare coverage. Some companies also provide extended health care to their employees. Following healthcare are disability plans, retirement pay benefits, and accidental death coverage.

How to create a good employee benefit program?

The plan must benefit both the employer and the employee. Here are the key points that you must consider.

Know the company’s employee benefit goal: Align the employee benefits to the company’s purpose and employee’s needs. The company must also consider the nature of its business, size, and location. 

Check your company’s budget: When making a budget, the company must consider collective bargaining. This is one way to ensure that the program will not burden the employer or the employee. 

Research and Assess: Thorough market research targeting the best employee benefits is also needed. Most companies also give out a survey to their employees to find out what they need. Once everything is all set, the company must reevaluate the plan before finalizing it. 

Create a plan: An employer must review the program before deciding to add or remove an employee benefit.

Ideal Employee Benefits Plan Coverage

Offering employee benefits is costly. But for small companies and start-up firms, eighty percent (80%) coverage is the safest way to go. This coverage is already competitive enough to attract and keep employees. They can scale up to a hundred (100%) coverage later.

Investing in 100% coverage while in the early stages of the business is not advisable. Unless the company can sustain the cost for the next 20 years.

For more personalized employee benefits advice and quotes, you can always rely on Insurance Direct Canada, an established insurance broker in Canada.

Top Canadian insurance companies’ reviews for your reference: CIBC review, ScotiaLife Financial review, Manulife review, Assumption Life review, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions