Being a small business owner is not easy. Small business are severely disadvantaged when it comes to the time, money and resources needed to compete with large corporations. Finding the best places to spend and save money is crucial to success. We often come across business owners who believe they can’t afford to offer health insurance to their employees, or that the ROI for offering benefits just isn’t there. A recent article from the Harvard Business Review makes a great business case for offering benefits to employees.
Regardless of your opinion on this issue of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or your political stance, you can;t deny that right now there is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to health insurance. Especially for individuals relying on Marketplace plans. If you are not currently offering a group health plan to your employees in favor of them obtaining their own coverage on the exchange, you likely have some anxious employees. The stability offered by an employer-sponsored health plan has a number of business benefits.
Health insurance is linked to lower stress
Research shows that employees who have health insurance are less likely to be stressed. This is easy to imagine given that the medical debt is the source of the majority of collection agency calls. Stress can be detrimental to your workforce. Employees who report high levels of stress are more likely to burn out and less likely to be high performers. Stressed employees negatively impact your bottom line, and anything you can do to alleviate that stress will improve it.
Health insurance improves long-term decision making
Employees who are struggling to make ends meet often have a difficult time making log-term decisions. Often these individuals are so focused on getting through the next week or the next pay period, that they lack the attention to long-term goals needed to be a high performer. Reducing an employee’s financial stress helps them be a better long-term decision maker and offering health insurance is way employers can do this.
Not having health insurance hinders cognitive ability
When financial stress weighs on a person’s mind, they are less likely to be able to pay attention to much else, including the work they do for your organization. If you are looking for innovative, bright employees, you need their focus and attention on their work. And is not just about the “what if” scenarios. Over 1/3 of employees have chronic ongoing medical issues that don’t just go away. The peace of mind provided to employees who know they will be able to go to the doctor or get the medication they need, allows them to perform at higher levels in your organization.
The uncertainty in the current healthcare market makes this the perfect time to consider whether offering health insurance may be what you need to take your company to the next level. Not only will you be able to attract and retain the best employees, but you will also get higher levels of performance out of your employees who are able to focus their attention on their work.