Staffing Industry Challenges
The staffing industry is battling a widespread challenge when it comes to employee recruiting and retention. With many organizations searching for the right methods to attract and retain top talent, it’s important for staffing companies to get ahead of the competition and understand what their employees and job candidates want.
Turnover is a very important stat for staffing companies. Lower turnover and longer tenure equate to improved margins and vice versa. Research from Time Rack shows that there is a 25% turnover rate in the staffing industry among full time employees. This means one in every four full-time employees will leave every year.
In addition, communicating to a dispersed employee population can be difficult. With employees and/or temporary workers in multiple locations, messaging can become unclear, and employees can misunderstand or miss out on important information. So how do you create an attractive benefits plan that draws top candidates to your staffing firm above the competition – and communicate it effectively?
Putting Money in Your Employees’ Pockets
High deductible health plans (HDHP) paired with a Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are growing in popularity among staffing companies and for good reason – they’re cost-effective and promote consumerism. Although these plans primarily apply to internal staff and professional contractors, HDHPs give employers the option to offer quality affordable healthcare to a larger population of their workforce.
For temporary workers, however, it’s beneficial to offer no deductible health plans. This can be done by replacing the old “MEC” plans with the new low-cost enhanced versions that cover office visits and prescriptions at essentially the same price point as the old MECs.
Voluntary benefit offerings like accident insurance, hospital indemnity, legal services, short-term disability and other individual coverages can put money in your employees’ pockets when the unexpected occurs. That money can be used towards the deductible or as cash to cover other related expenses. Employees can focus on recovery instead of their finances and get back to work sooner.
Best of all, voluntary benefits are often little to no cost to the employer. With a few options that employees can personalize, your plan looks richer and can be better positioned during the recruitment process to internal and temporary employees alike.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Creating a benefits package that allows for customization and personalized communication is essential. Seasoned, full-time professionals are likely going to have different needs than part-time or temporary employees. Identifying what employees and job candidates want in terms of benefits can be accomplished by using credible industry data and simply listening and communicating.
Using outside data will open up your staffing agency to a larger candidate pool. Then, listen and communicate with candidates starting with the recruiting process and continuing all the way through onboarding and employment. Finally, offer easy access to benefits information through multiple mediums and forms of technology. Better communication results in better employee experiences and higher engagement.
Next Steps
Employees want customization for their benefit plans, and simply put, most aren’t getting it. Offering coverage to suit the needs of all your employees (as well as attract new ones) seems like an impossible task – but that’s not the case. Pairing your medical plan with access to a variety of voluntary benefit options is one way to meet the needs of all your employees, while not adding additional cost or administration on to the employer.
To learn more about how to create a low to no cost, customizable benefits package plan that gives your employees the freedom to choose, contact an MMA advisor today.
