Employee Benefits

[Jallz]

Hi all

My company is looking at implementing insurance benefits for employees. Can anyone advise what type of insurance benefits are common for Australian employees? Thanks.

[Cottoneyes]

Hi Jallz,

I wouldn't class insurance benefits as being too common as yet, however the number of companies offering them is increasing.
Most common is the company going into partnership with a private health company to offer a slight discount on Private health insurance to their employees, generally around the 4% mark. Sometimes a further discount can be offered if there is a direct deduction from the payroll to the health company, however this is becoming less common. Note that the 4% in my opinion is the same as most insurance companies offer for taking out a policy on a direct debit basis, so I doubt there is any real benefit to the employee.
Other insurances that occur in larger organisations is Salary continuance insurance and Total and Permament Disability (TPD) or Death insurance.
Most common policies under the salary continuance insurances is to pay 75% of the employees salary (up to an automatic acceptance level (AAL)) after a qualifying period of 2 or 3 months, for a period of 2 years or until the age of 65 on the better policies.
The TPD or death policy typically will pay 6 times the annual salary up to the AAL if the employee is medically deemed unable to work at all, or dies.
There are lots of insurance companies around that offer both of these insurances, usually combined together as a package. I've known most companies to engage an Insurance broker to go to the market and find the best deals for them.

[Jallz]

Thanks for the information

Our company currently provides optional term life and disability insurance to our employees through their superannuation - but we realize that the take-up rate has been very low throughout the years. So was wondering if we should implement group insurance for such since the employees do not view it as that important.

We are also looking at providing standardized health plans for all employees & their partners, something like group health insurance, partly in hope of achieving cost savings (employees currently buy themselves and we reimburse them). Any views on this?

If there's anyone who have experience in this area, recommendations are also welcomed =)

[MyCarBudget]

Maybe a start could by your default Super Fund. All of the major Superannuation/Insurance companies offer Group level Life/TPD cover. At one company I worked for we all have a $50,000 death cover, paid for by the company.

Try AXA or NAB (Norwich Union) they can assist with investigating how it would work and what it might cost.

Here at FleetPartners we have an arrangement with NIB who offer staff a discount as mentioned in an earlier post on health insurance. Try NIB as a starter and see if they offer it as a service.

[Shine]

Hi Belinda,

If you are still looking for ways to provide employee benefits to your employees I have a solution that may be of interest to you.

We provide an Employee Benefits Program that includes:
* Debt management
* Superannuation and retirement planning strategies
* Life insurance and income protection review and recommendations
* Monitored cash flow/budget management
* Investment advice (shares, managed funds and direct property)

This program is at no cost to the employer and is only implemented for an employee if they feel we can add value to their position.

I am happy to discuss further if you wish.

Regards,

Damian Dunell

[johnandle]

Hello

In return for this, they have their normal 4 weeks Annual Leave per year, plus 4 weeks pre approved Leave without Pay. This gives them a total of 8 week's leave per year.

Deferred Salary: Under this scheme, the employee is paid 80% of their salary so they can take one full year of paid leave upon completion of their fourth year of service.

You also might like to try changing your Bereavement Leave so that the employee is automatically entitled to 3 days of Sick Leave on the death of a family member in addition to the 2 days Bereavement Leave, as it usually takes most of us 1 week to arrange funerals etc before returning to work (most are not really fit for work during this time anyway).

Thanks

philip k dick

[MichelleOslon]

Celebrating a holiday, festival or birthdays at the workplace construct positive fellow feeling and team spirit, which results in increased employee motivation. Such practices if implemented properly help better your business and build strong relationships.