If you have any employees,
then you want to stay tuned
for today's video,
because we're going to go through
one of my favorite topics,
which is employee benefits.
Hey, I'm Morgan from finepoints.biz
and my goal is to help business
owners and bookkeepers get organized.
I even have a whole YouTube
channel dedicated to that.
Today, I'm partnering with QuickBooks
to do a video series
about a whole bunch of topics
that are going to help
you run your business more easily.
One of the most important factors
in keeping your employees
happy is providing great benefits.
And this does come at a cost to you,
obviously, as a business owner,
but it's really going to go a long way
in creating that employee loyalty.
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linked in the description box.
Offering employee benefits
is really sometimes more
than just an aspirational goal.
There are certain state
and federal regulations
that you need to be aware of.
Number one is Social Security taxes.
You need to pay Social Security
and Medicare taxes
at the same rate as your employees.
You also need to withhold federal
and state taxes from their gross pay.
Number two, unemployment insurance.
So both federal and state
have unemployment programs.
Depending on your state's requirements,
you might need to pay
unemployment insurance taxes.
Number three, disability insurance.
Several states require
that your business
provides disability insurance
in case of injury or sickness.
There are certain benefits
that you can choose to offer
if you want to
and that does help you attract
and retain great workers.
Offering some of these
benefits really helps
keep your employees happy
and can improve their work performance.
So here are some of those
optional benefits.
The first one is medical benefits.
So this does come
as a pretty big cost
to you as an employer,
but it's something that goes
a really long way in
keeping your employees happy.
So if you do decide to provide medical
and dental coverage,
there's a couple ways you can do it.
You can either pay part of the premium
and have your employee
pay the other part,
or you could pay the whole thing
if you so choose.
The next one is flexible
spending accounts. Also known as FSAs
And this is an account
that your employees can contribute
pretax dollars to.
There are four common kinds
that I'm going to go over.
Number one is for medical expenses.
So this FSA would go
to any medical expenses
that aren't covered.
So that could be co-pays,
prescriptions, or certain procedures
also, possibly dental
and vision coverage.
Number two, dependent care.
So for this, your employee
can contribute up
to five thousand dollars
per year into their FSA.
And that usually goes to pay for daycare
for children under 13.
Number three is health premiums.
This can be used
instead of health insurance.
and your employees
can put those pretax dollars into the FSA
and they can use it on premiums
that they get on their own.
Number four is adoption assistance.
So adoption costs can be very high.
And if your employees
have the option of
using their FSA for that,
that can go a long way in helping them
fulfill their adoption dreams.
Another great benefit
to offer is paid leave.
So employers will often offer vacation
time, sick time and personal
time to their employees.
And you can do this in a variety of ways.
Maybe it is based on the number of years
employees worked
or a number of hours
that they have accrued.
You can also do vacation or sick
time as a bank of ours
that you give them annually.
The next one is a
retirement savings plan.
So one of the most common is a 401K.
and this is kind of similar
to an FSA where employees contribute
pretax dollars to an account.
And in this case, it's
managed by a third party
investment company.
Many companies also provide a match
to their retirement savings plan,
which just means that
if your employer
contributes a percentage,
then you would match
part of that investment also.
Next, we have tuition reimbursement.
So this is a great way
to keep your employees engaged,
keep their minds working
and keep them happy.
And you are welcome
to put any restrictions on this
you would like.
Maybe you only want to pay
for the coursework
that directly relates to their business,
or maybe you want to require
that they work for a
certain number of years
after they complete their education.
And I actually did work for a company
that offered this,
and I'm still super mad
I didn't take advantage of that free
MBA that they would have paid for
if I had stuck with
the company for five years.
Next, we have transportation
and parking benefits.
So consider offering
public transportation
or parking reimbursement,
especially if you're
located in a big city
or don't have good access
to complimentary parking.
Food and snacks.
A well stocked kitchen really
helps your employees feel cared for.
Many offer free drinks and coffee,
and some go as far as ordering lunch
or having fresh fruit every week.
The last one is discounts and offers.
So there are organizations
like Working Advantage
or Tickets at Work,
and they'll help offer
discounted tickets
for either entertainment
or travel to your employees.
The benefits you offer
are going to go a long way
in shaping your team culture.
Different people
are going to like different things.
So think about the culture
that you want to cultivate and offer
those benefits and benefits.
may carry more weight than you realize.
A study by cookbooks found that 87
percent of small business
employees would accept benefits
instead of a five percent pay raise.
It's a balance between cost and benefits.
But when the payoff is
the longevity of your employees,
hopefully it's an easy decision to make.
Here are a couple of resources,
if you're interested.
QuickBooks has partnered
with simply insured
to offer health care benefits,
and you can manage them with your payroll
all in one place.
And it's super affordable too.
QuickBooks also offers 401K plans through Guideline,
which connects to
your QuickBooks Payroll.
And that can help you
help your employees plan
for their future.
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