Employee Benefits – Choices, Compliance and Engagement

Employee healthcare benefits are at the center of many business decisions today. Will employees be offered benefits?  If so, what benefit options will be available to them? And how do these decisions impact your business in terms of cost and employee engagement?

The answers are not simple. And, the impact of these decisions is far-reaching. The first consideration always seems to be focused on cost, but the greater consequence of strategies regarding employee healthcare benefits extends to employee satisfaction and engagement, service and productivity, and turnover versus tenure. 

As a personnel service provider with more than 60,000 employees, these are decisions that Allied Universal takes very seriously. When the Affordable Care Act was passed, we made a commitment to doing what is in the best interests of our employees and our clients. Remaining true to that commitment makes finding the right benefits strategy easier.

• Allied Universal will continue to offer healthcare benefit options to our employees that meet or exceed the benefit options required by the ACA.

• Because each employee has individual needs, our employees value having choices.

• Controlling costs for our employees and clients is critical. Allied Universal has taken the lead in dealing with the rising costs and other challenges associated with the ACA.

• Many of our employees find that lower price, fixed-indemnity plans are an attractive, cost-effective option for their healthcare needs.

Recent benefit enrollment data validates that our benefit offerings are what our employees want.

In addition, a recent survey of security industry leaders told us that security officer attitude is the number one criterion for selecting a security officer services company. We know that having meaningful benefit programs lead to engaged employees with great attitudes. Offering employee benefits is the right thing to do for our employees and our clients. 

  About the Author
  David Buckman is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Allied Universal. He has led the Healthcare Reform Committee since it was established in 2010 and is a board member for Education Law Center of PA, Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania College of Art & Design and NASCO.