It’s no surprise—the rising costs of health care are smacking small business owners throughout the state. Ask any small business owner about health care, and you’re likely to hear a response that includes phrases like “skyrocketing premiums,” “decreased coverage” and “disgruntled employees.”
“Over the last ten years, we’ve been faced with double digit health care increases,” says Karen Saul, president of Nashville-based consulting firm HR Group.
When tackling the problem of expensive health care, the first thing most employers do is seek the help of employee benefits consultants in order to lower costs. Benefits consultants examine the needs of the company and negotiate with insurance companies to provide the maximum coverage at minimum cost.
Sometimes consultants recommend giving employees more up-front options.
“The best thing you can do is give people more flexibility in terms of what they can do with their money,” says William Abernathy, founder and president of Memphis-based Abernathy & Associates. He recommends looking for plans that give individual employees options regarding how much money they can spend on different aspects of their health care plans. However, these types of plans aren’t always readily available to small businesses at reasonable prices since, in general, small business health care plans are less flexible than those for larger companies.
So what happens when the company has done all it can? How can small business owners keep their employees happy when decreased coverage and/or higher premiums are the only viable options for a company that’s struggling to turn a profit?
One suggestion is to keep employees involved, says Susan Goyer, president and CEO of Aabakus Inc., a Nashville-based human resources consulting firm.
“Most employees don’t have a clue about how much employers are paying for health coverage on their behalf,” Goyer says. “When employees are angry about their medical coverage, most of the time it’s because they don’t understand—they don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. It’s amazing how different their attitudes become when you make them a part of the process.”
And even if full disclosure of operating costs isn’t a desirable option, Goyer suggests that employers at least give workers some input when it comes to choosing a plan—be it through an anonymous survey or a company meeting. Employees are less likely to be disgruntled when they feel they’ve at least been involved in the process of choosing the health care plan, Goyer says.
Another suggestion is to concentrate less on the numbers and more on the people. Improving workplace morale will always have a positive effect and may even take some of the sting out of a less-than-perfect health care benefits package.
“In order to keep employees happy, it’s basically a matter of sitting down with them and saying you understand that they have life needs,” Goyer explains. “Letting employees know that they can come in thirty minutes late sometimes or take longer lunches on stressful days without jeopardizing their jobs can take a tremendous amount of stress off of them and lets them know that you understand.”
Business owners can find out what’s important to their employees by implementing suggestion boxes, says Veronica Franks, a consultant with Avant Resources. “We’ve found that if suggestions are acted upon in a timely manner, they can be a real morale booster because people feel as if they have a real voice within the company.”
Even better is when company leaders come out to mingle with the workers. “You can’t just sit in your office and think you know what’s important to the people working for you,” HR Group’s Saul says.
Management can show its care and concern for employees by taking time to work side by side with them. When CEOs set aside time to mop floors or work in the production assembly line for just one day—talking to the employees about their lives, their cares and concerns—it really changes the way people feel about their company, says Brent Ballow, a partner at management consulting firm Avant Resources.
“People don’t realize how important the little things are,” Ballow says. “People jump from one job to another for the nickel. You have to concentrate on creating the type of environment that makes people want to stay, makes them enjoy coming to work each morning. That’s what makes people happy in the wake of rising health care—their love for their jobs.”
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