We at The Hire Sense have been focused on employee retention this year. Pretty smart of us, I know (especially when the national unemployment rate is 4.4%). Michael at Hidden Business Treasures pointed us towards the Herman Group’s Trend Alert e-newsletter and I received my first one this week. The topic – wellness programs and their impact on benefits.
This shocked me:
The financial impact of healthcare spending is indisputable. Starbucks spends more money in one year on health insurance for its employees than it spends on coffee for its customers. The US automakers will spend more money this year on health insurance than they will on the steel that goes into their automobiles.
Amazing, but then I read this nugget:
Also, employees who are in the middle of a weight-loss or smoking-cessation program are much less likely to leave. Reducing employee turnover also decreases benefit costs, mostly because there is lower utilization of the healthcare system. When you bring on new people, they have often avoided visiting doctors, because they had no coverage. Once on your system, it€™s time to visit the doctors. This increased system usage produces higher insurance premiums.
Yet another reason to put an increased effort into your retention programs. Turnover is expensive unless you have underperforming salespeople (then it is needed).
We have seen benefits enter the interview process earlier in the discussions. This approach used to be a flag for us back around 2001. Now we consider it a standard aspect of qualifying opportunities. If your company offers a strong benefits package, introduce the package early in your hiring process.