Cost of benefits?

Brando CalPankian

Brando CalPankian

Carpal tunnel level member
Location
Pine City, MN
Starting to price out benefits for us and the guys. The final piece of us being able to really get after it.
Looking at the full shebang of health benefits, hopefully 100% company covered. Really most worried about the health/dental/vision. Retirement and stuff is covered under the bank.
Anyone dabbling in this have any estimate for costs? I'm getting quotes when I get home next week
 
Brando CalPankian said:
Starting to price out benefits for us and the guys. The final piece of us being able to really get after it.
Looking at the full shebang of health benefits, hopefully 100% company covered. Really most worried about the health/dental/vision. Retirement and stuff is covered under the bank.
Anyone dabbling in this have any estimate for costs? I'm getting quotes when I get home next week
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I don't know anything about it, but glad to hear that you're about it
 
RogerM said:
100% would be real incentive to get the hires your looking for. I have never worked for anyone who offers 100% coverage like that, nor do I know of any company around here that does. Seems, unfortunately, unrealistic for a newer small business. Please keep us updated. Not trying to be all negative, genuinely curious about this.
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From what I've seen it's around 3-5$ an hour per employee, could be as high as $10. That's just Google searches though.
When I was union our lineman benefits were 100% employer paid, which was amazing.
 
Brando CalPankian said:
From what I've seen it's around 3-5$ an hour per employee, could be as high as $10. That's just Google searches though.
When I was union our lineman benefits were 100% employer paid, which was amazing.
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You know, around here, the rebuilding of a significant percentage of our electrical infrastructure has produced such an overage of work that people are moving here for it, and all the tree workers are covered by the electricians union. They get paid so well, and they have the capacity to hire everyone with the qualifications, that it raises the bar around here quite noticeably. I would attempt to start an arb union here if it wasn't such a flooded market that not many see any reason to organize right now.
 
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I work for a couple of small companies not associated with any line clearance, but I still make fair enough money for the area to not complain. I also have a schedule that suits my needs better, as I can't afford full full-time hours every week. The companies around here have gobbled up every CA, especially those with a TRAQ, so if a company around here is looking to find a new hire, they gotta put some meat on the table to make it enticing to sit down. I don't have enough hours or anyone willing to fudge the numbers to the ISA, so I can't start down that road yet, and I have heard that the couple of extremely large companies around here controlling all that work absolutely suck to work for unless you have that TRAQ- that gig is sweet. They're getting $55-125/hour, based on job postings I have seen regionally.
 
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allmark said:
A non Union company can do much better for their employees at much less cost. I have done both.
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Which is what makes it so infuriating when most companies don't- at least most around here. If the Union outfits didn't pay so well, I would likely be making much less, like it was before the fires that wiped out a shit load of towns around here.
 
I tried health insurance, one of the major issues I ran against is I NEED good insurance which comes at a price. That and the better plans require 100% employer contributions and the cost was nearly 25/30% of average monthly payroll.
I’m not sure how legit it is but I do give the crew a monthly Health Bonus that they are unsupervised in spending but the intention is clear it’s for their health related needs.
Over all I think it works better as one of them gets great state health insurance from their partners job and didn’t even want company health insurance. I rather pay well than deal with the added burden of more management
 
evo said:
I tried health insurance, one of the major issues I ran against is I NEED good insurance which comes at a price. That and the better plans require 100% employer contributions and the cost was nearly 25/30% of average monthly payroll.
I’m not sure how legit it is but I do give the crew a monthly Health Bonus that they are unsupervised in spending but the intention is clear it’s for their health related needs.
Over all I think it works better as one of them gets great state health insurance from their partners job and didn’t even want company health insurance. I rather pay well than deal with the added burden of more management
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I wonder if they might be tax benefits for both parties if that health bonus was DDed into an HSA or similar?
 
Matias said:
I work for a couole of small companies not associated with any line clearance, but I still make fair enough money for the area to not complain. I also have a schedule that suits my needs better, as I can't afford full full-time hours every week. The companies around here have gobbled up every CA, especially those with a TRAQ, so if a company around here is looking to find a new hire, they gotta put some meat on the table to make it enticing to sit down. I don't have enough hours or anyone willing to fudge the numbers to the ISA, so I can't start down that road yet, and I have heard that the couple of extremely large companies around here controlling all that work absolutely suck to work for unless you have that TRAQ- that gig is sweet. They're getting $55-125/hour, based on job postings I have seen regionally.
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Debated flying out for a while when I saw those wages.
 
evo said:
I tried health insurance, one of the major issues I ran against is I NEED good insurance which comes at a price. That and the better plans require 100% employer contributions and the cost was nearly 25/30% of average monthly payroll.
I’m not sure how legit it is but I do give the crew a monthly Health Bonus that they are unsupervised in spending but the intention is clear it’s for their health related needs.
Over all I think it works better as one of them gets great state health insurance from their partners job and didn’t even want company health insurance. I rather pay well than deal with the added burden of more management
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I can set them up for HSA too, or give flex spending for that sort of thing. I know it's expensive but I've needed insurance and will otherwise I'll go broke due to my spine issues. Kinda a double edged sword.
 
If an employee wants to buy their own health insurance, are they allowed to use money from an HSA to do that?

Also, consider an HSA might not work for everybody. For our own health care, we participate in a health care sharing program instead of traditional health insurance. We are not allowed to have an HSA per the Affordable Care Act because of that
 
Ask around about MEWA - Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement. The idea is that multiple small employers come together to have the same buying power as a larger single employer would have. I learned about these talking to a local insurance agent. So you might start with insurance agents that do business insurance and health insurance.

I haven't looked too much into it, but I have also heard advertisements for a program that Medical Mutual of Ohio has that sound like it's similar arrangement but it is directly through the insurance company? Obviously if you are not in Ohio that doesn't do you any good but I'm guessing other companies would have similar programs?
 
evo said:
I tried health insurance, one of the major issues I ran against is I NEED good insurance which comes at a price. That and the better plans require 100% employer contributions and the cost was nearly 25/30% of average monthly payroll.
I’m not sure how legit it is but I do give the crew a monthly Health Bonus that they are unsupervised in spending but the intention is clear it’s for their health related needs.
Over all I think it works better as one of them gets great state health insurance from their partners job and didn’t even want company health insurance. I rather pay well than deal with the added burden of more management
Click to expand...

That's exactly what my payroll person told me to do, a monthly or whatever 'non hourly bonus' that amounts to a number in the range of the plans on WA Healthplan Finder so it actually IS enough to afford coverage. I'm not currently doing it for my only employee as they are just part time, but would for a full time person.

Seattle Tree Preservation, back when I first started had health care for everyone but I was still covered by my parents plan which was much better, so I did not use the work plan and would have preferred a higher pay instead. That said, some people need hand-holding to actually get on and use a health insurance plan rather than just spend the extra cash...
 
I'm seriously considering metashare. It seems to be the most cost effective option thus far, and the coverage is really good. Around $200 a month for a single person, 750 for a family. Still shopping though.
 
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