United States of America
Most United States employees say health insurance is their most coveted benefit. Utilizing the private health system without any health insurance benefit is an extremely expensive proposition, often prohibitively so. Also, the United States has almost no government sponsored, public health care system so the majority of affordable health care benefits are delivered through employer-sponsored plans.
When asked to rank four other common benefits in order of importance American employees are likely to respond with: Dental, Retirement, Life, and Disability.
Trending Now
It’s a priority to pay attention to the ongoing impact of the federally mandated Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the United States health care reform laws passed as a result of the ACA. The ACA touches both employers and employees and it is constantly being revisited, updated and revised.
Average Cost For Employer Sponsored Benefits
Typically benefits cost between $500-800 a month, but it all depends on the demographics of the employees. It also depends on if the employer contributes to the cost of dependents. Historically employers sponsored some or all of the costs for dependent cover, but over the last ten years that’s changed substantially. Now, employers are not incentivized to sponsor dependent coverage.
Advice
Set up a US benefit plan that reflects your company’s global, or headquarters’, culture. It’s not possible to replicate all benefits or benefit levels in all countries, but employers should organize their plans to have some parity to other population’s plans. Because employees work across physical and virtual borders all the time, having similar benefits makes it easier for teams to work together when they feel they are all being treated in a similar way.
Surprising Fact
The costs, the costs and, the costs. The percentage of total business costs employee benefits will cost for an employer in the United States is often shocking for foreign companies to comprehend. For example, it costs a Canadian multinational company five to six times the cost in Canada to cover their US employees. And for employers who have a US workforce who earn on the lower end of the salary scale, the relative costs for their employees’ benefits can be striking.
This information about employee benefits in the United States is provided by Alliant Employee Benefits, Asinta’s employee benefits consulting Partner in the United States.