Morale is a tricky thing in the workplace, and it’s often difficult to ensure your employees feel their contribution is valued. When morale rates truly suffer, turnover increases, and more and more employees flock to the job market for better jobs with better pay and better benefits packages.
Good help really is so hard to find and keep.
One way to improve retention is by offering benefits that other organizations will not, like long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance is excellent for employees who may struggle with medical costs related to long-term care, but equally excellent for the employer to promote positive company culture and image and get that morale right back up where it should be.
What is long-term care insurance?
Long-term care insurance has been available for decades but often was not included in an employer’s standard offering if offered at all. By paying a relatively low out-of-pocket premium, employees received insurance for long-term care-related expenses that conventional healthcare coverage does not include.
While traditional coverage assists with doctor and hospital bills, long-term care insurance offsets the cost of long-term care.
What constitutes as long-term care?
Long-term care refers to an ongoing medical condition that affects an individual’s quality of life. This may include bathing, dressing, toileting, eating, transferring, or continence. Long-term care insurance also assists when someone’s cognitive function becomes severely impaired whether due to age-related illness or accident.
Again, regular insurance is great for doctor and hospital visits, but costs associated with long-term treatment of the above is often not included and will add up fast.
Is it worth it to the employee?
Comprehensive savings and retirement plan is an excellent first step for employees looking to ensure they guarantee a good quality of life in their later years while also being prepared to manage health and living costs.
More and more, people are finding these methods of preparation inadequate, and the burden falls on their family members who are often ill-equipped to manage the monumental expense of assisted living, illness and pain management, and other health-related cost creeps.
That’s where long-term care insurance comes in. By paying a premium for long-term care, the often astronomical costs associated with long-term care become significantly more manageable and save loved ones from having to absorb the costs instead.
Is it worth it for the employer?
The employer will incur a cost to offer long-term care insurance to their employees, and many organizations still do not offer it. For this reason, employers may find it difficult to justify the added and perceived extraneous expense.
However, a new trend is finding more and more companies adding long-term care insurance to their offerings.
For one, it’s relatively inexpensive to the employer. Most of the premium is paid out-of-pocket by the employee, so the employer is only left with some residual expense to foot.
Most importantly, it sends a positive message to the employee and promotes good company culture. Employees often feel that their work is underappreciated and that their employer does not value them. Offering long-term care insurance that will help assist your employees live a great quality of life even in their twilight lets them know that their contribution is appreciated and that the company does value them as individuals and as people.
Contact ERB now for more information about long-term care insurance and if it’s right for your organization.
