Hiring employees when we don't offer benefits

It's getting harder.. Any ideas?

[Dogza]

I'm sure there are other small business owners here with the same problem so I thought this would be a good place to get suggestions.

We've been trying to hire some full time employees for our small firm but everyone we interview "needs" Health Insurance..

No way we can afford to offer it, at least not from what I can tell. The biggest problem is that I feel we've lost some good talent because we aren't offering the insurance.

Anyone else in this boat?

[rfontaine]

Yes. people currently employed where health benefits are offered cannot leave for fear of losing them.

What this means is there are alot of people with great vision and ideas who are not starting new businesses (small business is what drives the US economy). Also, existing small businesses are hurt by high health care costs - as in your case, you cannot find good employees because you cannot afford to provide health insurance.

This is great for the the larger Corporate America - they get to keep their employees PLUS stifle potential competition from startups and small fry.

Another legacy of the current political administration. 45-million Americans without health insurance.

Keep on rocking in the free world.

[JollyK]

Dogza, I'm sure you've already explored this, but in case you haven't, there are often companies that you can outsource your payroll and benefits administration to. Since these companies manage group health benefits for many small (and even larger) businesses, they can sometimes get better rates on medical than the individual small business can. If you haven't looked into it, you might want to contact one or more of these companies in your area (assuming there is one) and see about getting a quote.

Also, I don't know where you are, but if you're in the US, have you tried Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield? They have fairly low rates comparatively, and you might be able to offer one of their plans to your employees and, say, pay half.

When was the last time you actually got quotes from benefits companies, by the way? It's a bit of a pain since you usually have to have all your employees fill out medical background questionnaires to get a quote, but if it's been awhile, I'd definitely check into it.

I'm not sure how "small" your small business is, but I've seen companies with very very strapped cash flow and maybe 6 or 7 total employees being able to offer health benefits of some kind.

There are also those "medical discount" kind of plans, which aren't really insurance, but for a low cost, basically give you and your employees the same rate insurance companies get for services. For example, the list price of a certain medical procedure I've had done was over 700 dollars. The insurance company was only billed 300 due to the negotiated rate. If I had no insurance, I would have had to pay 700. With the medical discount plan, I would only have to pay 300. Things like this can run as low as 80 - 100 for dental, and 200 - 400 for medical per person per YEAR, so it is something that some small businesses are thinking about.

It's not as good as insurance, but it's definitely better than nothing.

Oh -- see if you can find a good insurance broker. We don't deal directly with the individual insurance companies -- we have an insurance agent who goes out and gets quotes for us and acts as a middleman. (Err ... middlePERSON. She's great!) Like a good travel agent, a good insurance agent can often find you the best deals.

JK