Guide: Small Business Employee Benefit Packages

Having a customized group benefits package keeps your current employees secure and happy and can help you attract the talent you need to grow your business and reach your goals. 

Employee benefit packages can be complex and challenging to manage. Packages include health spending allocations, group retirement savings plans, tax-free savings accounts, and executive compensation plans. As an employer, it’s your responsibility to determine what to include that is of most value to your employees.

It’s essential to understand which benefit packages are available to you. A financial advisor can help you customize your plan to meet your needs to help you discern what the best direction for your employees and your company’s future is.

Group Health Benefits

Group health benefits offer your employees the chance to access health care not covered by their public health insurance plan. Some of these benefits covered by a group health plan include:

• Mental health 
• Chiropractic care
• Dental care
• Prescription drug costs
• Life insurance

A group health plan is flexible and can be customized to the size of your business and amount of employees you have. This customization is essential to small businesses as it leaves you with the ability to tailor your plan to your business goals and employee needs while reducing costs.

Health Spending Accounts

A Health Spending Account (HSA) can be an add-on to your company’s existing group health benefits or serve as your employees’ access to health coverage. HSAs are tax-deductible, and employees are reimbursed after paying for the service with their own money.

A traditional HSA provides coverage for dental care, massage therapy, prescription drugs, and other costs. A wellness HSA can provide your employees with funds for other health-related expenses like a gym membership. A flexible spending account is often a great way to balance your team’s medical and wellness needs.

An HSA typically works by categorizing employees and their expense limits. For example, an executive may have a limit of $5000 per year, whereas a full-time employee may have access to $2500. Another benefit of an HSA is that there are no premiums like there are with a traditional insurance plan, so your employees get more cost-benefit in the long run. 

Group Retirement Savings Plans

Retirement savings are essential as they provide your employees with peace of mind throughout their time at your company. They are more flexible and offer your employees more control over their financial future than a traditional savings account. 

A Group Retirement Savings Plan (GRSP) commonly works similarly to an investment fund, except only you and your employees can pay into it. A qualified financial advisor helps you manage the portfolio to maximize its profit for your employees. 

GRSP plans are fully customizable to you and your employees’ goals. In addition to a retirement savings plan, you can also look into:

• Group Tax-Free Savings Accounts
• Individual Pension Plans
• Retirement Compensation Agreements
• Deferred Profit-Sharing Plans

All contributions to a GRSP are tax-deductible, including yours as the employer and your employees. Additionally, all GRSP earnings are non-taxable, so you and your employees can keep the profit. Your employees also benefit from having their GRSP contributions deducted from their paycheque, making payments simple.

Executive Compensation Plans

As a small business owner, it’s vital that you attract and retain elite, top-tier talent to grow your business and find success. You can design executive compensation plans to create added incentives and offer enhanced benefits like private health services. 

Executive compensation plans are highly subjective to your business needs. Whether you’re deciding on a revenue-sharing structure or offering elevated critical illness and life insurance packages, getting advice on the ideal executive compensation structure can significantly impact your business’ growth.

Why Consider Employee Benefits?

Offering a competitive group benefits package can give you an advantage over other companies when attracting talent. In addition, it also provides your employees the safety and security they need to make the most of their time at work. 

As a business owner, you can write off premiums paid on group benefits as a business expense and save money on salary increases since group plans aren’t tied to EI, CPP, or Workers’ Compensation rates.

The Qopia Difference

Your advisor at Qopia Financial can help you tailor your employee benefit packages with both your business and your employees’ best interests at heart. Get started today by taking our benefits quiz to get an idea of what plans might work best for you. After that, get in touch with one of our talented and dedicated financial advisors, so we can work together to take your business to the next level.

Qopia Financial is a trade name of Aligned Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI). ACPI is regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (www.iiroc.ca) and a Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (www.cipf.ca). Qopia Financial is registered to advise in securities and mutual Funds to clients residing in Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Colombia. This publication is for informational purposes only and shall not be construed to constitute any form of investment advice. The views expressed are those of the author and may not necessarily be those of ACPI. Opinions expressed are as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice and information has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable. This publication has been prepared for general circulation and without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive it. You should not act or rely on the information without seeking the advice of the appropriate professional.

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Investment products are provided by ACPI and include, but are not limited to, mutual funds, stocks, and bonds. Non-securities related business includes, without limitation, fee-based financial planning services; estate and tax planning; tax return preparation services; advising in or selling any type of insurance product; any type of mortgage service. Accordingly, ACPI is not providing and does not supervise any of the above noted activities and you should not rely on ACPI for any review of any non-securities services provided by Qopia Financial.

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