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employee benefits

Jean Shimp

New Member
We are a small company, just 3 people. I'm looking for information on employee benefits - health insurance, 401K plan, etc. Any suggestions? I know the franchises offer benefits, do they get group rates? I've looked around before at a trade discount (USSC) program but did not see much advantage to that.
 

FatCat

New Member
We're in the same boat as you. Would like to offer benefits but its just too cost-prohibitive since we are so small. From what I've been quoted (ballpark) it would be almost $4k/mo for just the 3 of us...crazy
 

equippaint

Active Member
You can always offer to pay up to a certain amount towards a private plan. Talk to an agent and see what they can do that way.
 

bannertime

Active Member
We're looking into ADP for this. We only have 3 full time but contract up to 10 during the summer. We have a meeting with them next Tuesday about their products they offer for employees. Mostly to move our payroll over to them since WF sold out again. They offer benefits that are supposed to be little and maybe no cost to the employer unless you offer matching or sponsorship. Will know more next week.
 

Aflac

New Member
We use Paychex for payroll and they offer a benefit program. I have my family of 5 with Anthem and the 2 shop employees with Kaiser (both plans with dental and vision). I cover 100% of my GM's insurance benefits (non taxable wage increase) and 50% of the other employees. Our monthly is about $2,000.00, our shop is located in Southern California. After 10 years of not offering benefits the employees are much happier and we seem to get better candidates when hiring.
 

Aflac

New Member
If you have time look into Paychex. I found they are more suitable and cost effective for smaller shops ( we also have 3 full time). ADP will rip on their customer service but they have been fine since we switched over from Quickbooks payroll in January.
 

2B

Active Member
we have recently started looking at Liberty National, they have what is called a WORKSITE ADVANTAGE program that the employee pays for directly but the company files taxes on
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
We use Paychex for payroll and they offer a benefit program. I have my family of 5 with Anthem and the 2 shop employees with Kaiser (both plans with dental and vision). I cover 100% of my GM's insurance benefits (non taxable wage increase) and 50% of the other employees. Our monthly is about $2,000.00, our shop is located in Southern California. After 10 years of not offering benefits the employees are much happier and we seem to get better candidates when hiring.

I wish we had Kaiser here... I had it when I lived in Atlanta and it's sooooo much cheaper then regular insurance.
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
We use Paychex for payroll and they offer a benefit program. I have my family of 5 with Anthem and the 2 shop employees with Kaiser (both plans with dental and vision). I cover 100% of my GM's insurance benefits (non taxable wage increase) and 50% of the other employees. Our monthly is about $2,000.00, our shop is located in Southern California. After 10 years of not offering benefits the employees are much happier and we seem to get better candidates when hiring.
That isn't legal btw... under the new Obamacare laws if a company offers health policies it has to be equal across the board. You cant offer a 50% reimbursement to some but 100% to yourself or others. If you get audited you will get fined and the fine is not light from what we were told. You may want to talk to you agent about it.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
That isn't legal btw... under the new Obamacare laws if a company offers health policies it has to be equal across the board. You cant offer a 50% reimbursement to some but 100% to yourself or others. If you get audited you will get fined and the fine is not light from what we were told. You may want to talk to you agent about it.

I thought that too but wasn't sure if it was a law I heard. If you offer something to one, you have to offer it to all.
 

FireSprint.com

Trade Only Screen & Digital Sign Printing
We offer the same to all employees, but there are some variances allowed for different categories of employees. It's not 100% cut and dry I don't think. Speak to your benefits person.

Also, we just started using Paychex and it seems to be going alright so far. Seems to me that it would be a good option for
 

GB2

Old Member
I just spoke to my insurance agent, who I feel gives us excellent service and the best options available for insurance, and he is able to offer insurance in any state. We could possibly set up an association insurance plan for Signs101 members but I'm not sure who to speak to about that, and I know there would have to be a minimum of 100 people participating in order to set it up. So if someone could let me know who to present that to I would appreciate it.

If we didn't do that, then my agent would be able to provide individual companies with state specific plans that he could offer you. If you would like that information, please let me know and I will provide you the contact information.

Please be clear that this is not a high pressure gimmick to sell insurance but just a genuine effort to possibly provide a benefit to Signs101 members. Thanks!
 

Reveal1

New Member
We are a small company, just 3 people. I'm looking for information on employee benefits - health insurance, 401K plan, etc. Any suggestions? I know the franchises offer benefits, do they get group rates? I've looked around before at a trade discount (USSC) program but did not see much advantage to that.
You might consider a Small Business Qualified Health Reimbursement Plan (QHRP). These became legal in 2017. You can legally reimburse employees up to a set annual amount (mine is $2700) with a monthly maximum of 1/12 of that. . You must use a third party administrator (mine is Peoplekeep). Employees submit expenses on app and you are notified by TPA to reimburse up to the monthly amount. Expenses over monthly amount carry over to next month until expense paid or maximum reached. This is NOT insurance, only cost is admin fee ($75 in my case up to 5 employees) and actual expenses reimbursed. Covers Obamacare but not private insurance premiums, covers deductibles, co-pays and virtually any medical expense. Those with spousal insurance really benefit as spouses insurance covers main expense and QHRP covers deductibles and copays. (Since it's not legally insurance, no coordinating benefit restriction) Tax deductible and far less expensive alternative to provide something valuable other than insurance.
 

Jean Shimp

New Member
You can always offer to pay up to a certain amount towards a private plan. Talk to an agent and see what they can do that way.
My accountant told me this is not an option as this would be considered additional income, which would be subject to all the payroll taxes.
 

Jean Shimp

New Member
I just spoke to my insurance agent, who I feel gives us excellent service and the best options available for insurance, and he is able to offer insurance in any state. We could possibly set up an association insurance plan for Signs101 members but I'm not sure who to speak to about that, and I know there would have to be a minimum of 100 people participating in order to set it up. So if someone could let me know who to present that to I would appreciate it.

If we didn't do that, then my agent would be able to provide individual companies with state specific plans that he could offer you. If you would like that information, please let me know and I will provide you the contact information.

Please be clear that this is not a high pressure gimmick to sell insurance but just a genuine effort to possibly provide a benefit to Signs101 members. Thanks!
Sounds interesting - I'd like to know any/all options.
 

Reveal1

New Member
My accountant told me this is not an option as this would be considered additional income, which would be subject to all the payroll taxes.
Respectfully, I believe your accountant may be dealing with out of date information. I initially had my CPA check this out and he sounded surprised at the time (early 2017) to find out the law had changed. Check out https://www.zanebenefits.com/hubfs/...to the Small Business HRA.pdf?t=1498253766507 for a complete overview. If you google QSEHRA you or your accountant will find all kinds of information regarding this.
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
Not all franchises offer benefits, FYI.

[Edit: That was not to dissuade you from getting insurance for your employees, that's a HUGE benefit for your company AND anyone working for you and can go a long way towards keeping good employees.]
 
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