The State of Employee Benefits

If you're the average small business owner today, trying to wade through the complex maze of employee benefits, then you're not alone. I thought it would be valuable to share some market perceptions of other small business owners just like you. I'm generally not obliged to overwhelm you with a bunch of meaningless statistics but here are just a few that I think are valuable:

1. 64% of small business owners are not confident picking a health insurance policy that fits their budgets and their employees' needs.*
2. Furthermore, 60 percent said they are not confident they understand the tax implications of paying for a portion of their employees' health insurance premiums.*
3. Only 27 percent say they understand all the factors that can affect their small group health premiums.*
4. Employer-sponsored health plan costs are going to see a 10.5% spike on average over the next year. (side note; that percentage of increase is on a declining trend)*
5. 10% of employers surveyed indicated they reduced or eliminated retirement benefits as a cost-cutting measure in the past 12 months.*
6. 74 percent of Americans have a less than complete understanding of their retirement plans.*

* source for these statistics October 2009 issue of Benefits Selling Magazine

These figures seems to indicate that the overall broker/agent community hasn't done a real good job taking the time to understand the needs of their clients and what it is they're buying. That's why I specialize in the small business community of the Lehigh Valley. It's a market that has been completely under served and in large part ignored by the brokerage community. If you're a business owner that can relate personally to some of the statistics then maybe we should have a productive conversation. You can always email me at bknauss@employeemployersolutions.com or visit my website at www.employeemployersolutions.com or follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mployebenefits