Question about employees and benefits

[BergLawnCare]

i was wondering if anyone offers there employees benefits such as health insurance, dental, vision, etc...? i would like to get some feed back on this as far as how to go about getting them, rough costs for the benefit package. Thanks again for ahy feed back.

[NeilG]

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At this time, no, not really. I offer the standard holidays (7 per year plus one other day of their choice). One week vaction the first year. I have looked into health insurance. The local Blue Cross company would cost around $265 per month for the employee and around $550 for him and his family. That would come to over $2.50 per hour in additional cost. Would love to offer this at some point in time, just not able to now.

[Scaper-S2k]

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We cover 100% health insurance, including vision and dental. Tha may change down the road, but we have been doing it for quite some time.

Neil, depending on your state, you are normally only required to pay 50% of his health insurance....he would be responsible for the rest, including his family.

I also think your rates are very very high.


Here's what you need to do. Call your local Chamber of Commerce. Many cities have plans that get all small biz owners under one huge group plan. This plan is the best insurance going that competes with ANY large industries insurance plan. Non smoking employees under 25 are only about $100 per month, and that is top of the line coverage including vison. I think Dental added another $12 per month.

In Ohio, if you offer coverage, the law says the employer pays at least 50%, but with those rates, we are able to pay 100%.

Good luck.....when I learned of this plan, it was one of the better biz choices we had made.


As for other benefits....anything any other large industry offers, we do the same. From sick days, personal days, even % discount for materials purchased!!

[NeilG]

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Scaper, I thought the rates were very high also, in fact, out of my range. The Blue Cross in our area would be considered the Cadilac, I plan (and will) look into other plans. Would love to find something in the $200 per month range. We are members of several Chambers in the area. I will contact them and see if something the Ford line is more in our price range.

[Scaper-S2k]

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We are currently under United Health Care. We had our choice between that and Humana. UHC had better plans. From what my employees have told me...and their families, they haven't seen a better plan. We did go with the top of the line from UHC...which really wasn't that necessary. I would have probably dropped it down to the 2nd notch out of the 5 they offered.

I hope you find something good in your area.