VIEWPOINT | BUSINESS
Secrets to Building a Loyal
Small Business Workforce
When you run a small business, you don’t take your resources for granted. For your business to thrive, you rely on
your workers’ skills, interests and abilities. In-return, your workers rely on you to provide a great place to work with
competitive pay and benefits.
Often small businesses are at a disadvantage when it comes to providing competitive benefits. Larger companies
have greater purchasing power and can buy employee coverage at more competitive rates. With the opening of
health care exchanges, you may be wondering how much value employee benefits can bring to your company’s
success. A recent Aflac survey discovered key HR and benefits best practices revered by best-in-class companies
that can help small businesses better compete.
“Small businesses with less than 50 employees are not penalized for choosing not to provide health care, so
offering health care may show your willingness to go the extra mile.”
4 Talent Attractor Secrets Revealed
In the 3rd annual Aflac WorkForces Report, a study of 1,884 employers, and 5,299 employees across the U.S.,
an elite group of businesses earn the title “Talent Attractor.” These companies make up about 15 percent of U.S.
businesses today, however small businesses with less than 50 employees make up less than three percent of these
companies and a subset of those, employers with less than 25 employees, make up less than one percent. The
study reveals Talent Attractor secrets that small businesses, even with limited resources, can leverage to attract and
retain the best workers.
Improve your workforce loyalty and gain the advantage
against your competitors by:
1. Seeking to understand and prepare for health care reform
Health care reform is a complicated issue. This year, many regulation deadlines are approaching, still additional
guidance and uncertain outcomes make the impact of health care reform difficult to discern. In the study, 40
percent of Talent Attractor companies say they understand health care reform legislation extremely or very well
(compared to 27 percent of all U.S. companies). They are also significantly more likely to be taking steps to prepare
for health care reform.
Discuss with a broker or consultant
With health care reform implementation effective
January 1, 2014, discuss your benefits strategy
with a benefits consultant or broker. There are many
options including adjusting your current plan, selffunding, participating in a public or private exchange,
or considering a hybrid approach.
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Use reform as a place to begin talking about the value of your benefits
Leverage the upcoming health care reform changes
to explain the benefits your company provides to
your employees. Small businesses with less than
50 employees are not penalized for choosing not
to provide health care, so offering health care
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may show your willingness to go the extra mile.
Additionally, if you offer supplemental insurance or
other benefits, these will help bolster employees
overall coverage, even if they get insurance through
a Federal or State exchange.
Get more information
While heath care reform is complicated, there are
plenty of resources, with short webinars, videos and
graphics, to help simplify the complicated subject of
reform.
A few helpful sites include:
»» Aflac: aflac.com/healthcare_reform
»» U.S. Small Business Administration: sba.gov/
healthcare
»» U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: healthcare.gov
»» Kaiser on Health Care Reform: healthreform.kff.org
2. Linking benefits to profitability
Talent Attractors see a significant correlation between benefits options and other important human resources
outcomes, such as: job satisfaction, loyalty to employer, willingness to refer a friend, workforce productivity, and
decisions to leave their employer. They are also more than twice as likely to agree strongly or very strongly that their
organization’s profitability is due in part to offering a robust benefits package (71 percent vs. 28 percent of all other
companies). Key takeaways include:
Make decisions based on data
It is easy to guess what employees are interested
in, but to do so can be an expensive oversight. It
is important to understand your workers to make
the best benefits decisions, and one easy way is
to survey their interests. Informal interviews, as well
as short online or paper surveys can help you offer
benefits options that employees need, increase their
overall engagement, and help you save money by
making more effective investments.
Measure
Don’t forget to track the success of your investments.
Companies often compare workman’s compensation
claims, sick-days, absenteeism, and attrition rates;
use this information to see how you compare to
companies with best-in-class benefits programs and
HR best practices. The Aflac WorkForces Report
Benefits Assessment Tool can help you evaluate how
your company benefits compare.
3. Providing robust benefits options
There is strong evidence that a companies’ benefit program significantly influences employee attraction, engagement
and retention. Talent Attractor companies are significantly more likely to offer their employees a comprehensive menu
of insurance options, wellness programs and workplace benefits such as offering an Employee Assistance Program
(EAP) and flextime.
Offer a range of benefits
Consider ways to offer your employees a wide
range of benefits options, both insurance and noninsurance related benefits that are suited to worker
demand. Many small companies are looking to
self-funded benefits options, as well as supplemental
benefits, as low-cost solutions.
Choose supplemental offerings
Make supplemental insurance options available.
These options can provide employees with cash
benefits to help cover the costs associated with being
sick or injured. Supplemental insurance is also an
excellent companion to the health plans available in
public exchanges, and can be offered at little or no
cost to the employer.
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Encourage your employees to take an active role
Our health care system is becoming more consumerdriven, and this means employees will be taking more
control of their health decisions. Many health costs
can be averted with greater employee engagement
with managing their health by promoting wellness
and preventative care. Consider partnering with local
organizations to take part in a health fair, wellness
or education events. Additionally, choose health
plans that offer wellness options that compensate
employees for taking steps to protect and maintain
their health, such as getting an annual physical.
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4. Engaging in frequent and two-way communication
Keeping up with complicated, ever-changing regulations and being able to educate workers about benefits choices
is increasingly difficult, especially for small businesses. Yet, improving benefit communications can have critical
business results for smaller-sized companies. Talent Attractors are nearly 1.5 times as likely to communicate about
benefits 3-10 times throughout the year, compared to all U.S. companies. Here are tips to make your benefits
communications more effective:
Communicate about benefits 3+ times
each year
Mark it on your calendar, and plan to actively
communicate about your company’s benefits,
workforce health and wellness offerings three or
more times throughout the year to help employees
understand their benefits and to remember to take
action.
Tailor your benefits communications and resources
Based on the different employee life-stages,
employees will need specific information. For
example, an individual close to retirement will need
different information about their 401(k), than a
recent college recruit. You can also ask for life-stage
appropriate communications from you benefits
consultant or broker.
Discuss total compensation
When discussing benefits options, position them as
a part of the overall compensation package. Many
companies choose to send a total compensation
report, that helps employees understand the
breakdown of their compensation, including: salary,
health benefits, disability and other supplemental
insurance, and retirement benefits.
Small businesses, with limited resources, can learn valuable lessons from larger companies who have
invested heavily in understanding the connection between their benefits programs and key business
metrics. By levering these insights, small businesses can gain a competitive edge.
About the study
The 2013 Aflac WorkForces Report is the 3rd annual Aflac employee benefits study examining benefit trends
and attitudes. The study, conducted by Research Now in January 2013, captures responses from 1,884 benefits
decision-makers and 5,299 employees across the U.S. To learn more about the Aflac WorkForces Report, visit
AflacWorkForcesReport.com.
Keep up to date
and follow Aflac at:
@Aflac
YouTube.com/Aflac VIEWPOINT | BUSINESS
us.linkedin.com/company/Aflac
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