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What Does It Take to Keep Your Top Employees?

“Some employees are worth a lot of money… Some employees are worth a hell of a lot of money.” – Tom Peters, best-selling author

Don’t think for a minute that your competitors don’t know who your best people are, because they do.

2022 marks the lowest unemployment rate in U.S. history. What happens in a thriving economy is the best employees become even more sought after. Those employed are valuable assets and you have to work to retain them if you want to remain successful. So, what does it take to keep the best?

For us the answer is simple. It takes:

Recognition
Rewards
Strategy
Commitment

As a leader, you need to be proactive on improving the size, shape, and value of a benefit package for any key employee. Recruiters are on the prowl and technology, such as LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, and CareerBuilder, make the process of benchmarking and reviewing “better” opportunities really easy.

Today we’re going to share a simple idea with you that could change everything — let’s call it the “Golden Handcuff”.

“Golden Handcuff”

A “Golden Handcuff” is a way to describe a specific arrangement that addresses an annually funded plan to retain and reward a Key employee or employees. The difference is these benefits are doled out over time instead of all at once. What follows is a short list of recommendations that can be implemented in a proactive effort to retain key employees who genuinely make a difference

Identify who is critical to the success and growth of the company. Make a list of the employees in your company who must be retained.
Conduct a salary survey for each position to find out what the competition is paying its people. Identify the gaps in salary and benefits that need to be closed and put a dollar amount on it, position-by position.
Reinforce the bridges of communication and strengthen the relationships with those indispensable employees that must be kept on board.
Consider the possibility of giving those essential employees an auto allowance, health insurance incentives, or additional PTO.
If a bonus incentive plan is not already in place, consider creating one that will strengthen a bond with those employees who will feel that the extra work they do will not only benefit the company, but themselves and their families as well.

Now these benefits are provided “over and above” those available to most employees in a qualified retirement plan. These agreements are considered a non-qualified arrangement, which means you don’t need government approval. Instead it’s a “deal” between a corporation and a selected set of key executives in which the company promises to pay the executive a specified benefit later on, with a restriction on the employees’ ability access the accumulated asset for a certain period of time. Most plans also have a survivor benefit so if the employee passes away, the family gets a benefit as well.

These designs aren’t one size fits all, there are absolutely ways to be nimble and creative to suit your budget. The bottom line is you want to give a Key employees an enticing offer that they won’t want to walk away from. Can you imagine someone walking away from a guaranteed lump sum of money if they stay at least five, seven or ten years?

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Get to work retaining and rewarding your top performers before your competition does. Need help? Email us at marketing@corpstrat.com

The CorpStrat Experience: What to Expect When Working With Us

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People often ask us, “What make CorpStrat different?”

At the heart of it, we work hard and we care about our clients. In today’s fast moving world, people have little time to waste. They need fast reliable answers to their questions and need a team of advisors to make sure that their business is protected.

When you work with us, you’re working with dedicated and experienced people, not bots or call centers. We’re a team of real folks who value teamwork, put our clients’ interests first, are passionate learners and dedicated to client service.

When people do business with us, here’s a quick overview of what they can expect from the experience.

1. The CorpStrat Conversation™

When we begin working together, we’ll start with what we call The CorpStrat Conversation™. This is a unique, forward thinking conversation that will help us uncover what is and what isn’t working in your business. We zero in on what needs to be changed in order for you to best meet your goals. So many times these conversations are about so much more than Employee Benefits or Human Capital Management, it’s our opportunity to set the foundation for a true partnership and advisory relationship.

2. The CorpStrat Intake™

During The CorpStrat Intake™, our veteran advisors work directly with your team to audit, review, and gather data. We go to great lengths to ensure that this process is as painless as possible.

3. The CorpStrat Analysis™

After getting the lay of the land, we draw from our experience and wisdom combined with our marketplace savvy to evaluate opportunities that benefit you.

4. The CorpStrat Consult™

Once we have a plan in place, we’ll schedule The CorpStrat Consult™. During this, we’ll discuss, review, and propose the best plan we have in mind for you that will put you on the best path for future success.

5. The CorpStrat Deploy™

Throughout this entire process, you’re never alone. Even during the CorpStrat Deploy™, our team helps implement, execute and communicate strategic planning so you’re never left in the lurch.

6. The CorpStrat Review™

The final step is The CorpStrat Review™. Even after we implement the strategy, we continue to actively stay involved to support and assure that your company’s objectives are achieved.

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Need help with Employee Benefits, Insurance, Payroll or Human Capital Management? We’d love to work with you. Let’s talk.

M&A in your future? You need an Employee Benefits Audit.

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The recent trend of mergers and acquisition of closely held businesses is on the minds of so many business owners these days. Virtually unlimited sources of Venture Capital coupled with inflation, rising overhead expenses, and the great resignation has made pursuing exit strategies increasingly attractive.

A thorough employee benefit review is critical for every company, but particularly those that are considering entering and preparing for any M&A activity.

Here’s a quick hit list of issues that should be reviewed and addressed:

Have you benchmarked your Employee Benefits package against companies of similar size in your industry? Is your benefits package competitive enough to attract and retain talent?
Are your retirement plan programs in full compliance with ERISA and fiduciary responsibilities including filings of all required tax reporting? Do you know who the fiduciary on your plan is? If you don’t know, its likely you — the business owner
Do you have key people coverages that can assure prospective purchasers that their most important people are protected and insured?
Review any and all TOP HAT or executive compensation programs, and be sure to address any unfunded liabilities or promises like bonus agreements.
Prepare any desired severance and retention bonuses and consider equity/phantom stock agreements that could help assure continuation for key people.
Be sure your company is fully compliant on ACA reporting as well as affordability of benefits for firms 50 and up.

Review all HR documents, time keeping systems, PTO , OT, etc and ensure the are all in compliance and up to date

Have an outside advisor review your HR and audit your processes to be sure that you do not have any potential exposures.

This really is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many key details that need to be addressed but this list is a great start to helping your company prepare for the best outcome in any potential transactions.

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If you’re interested in an Employee Benefits Audit, we can help with that. Learn more here.

5 Tips for Bringing Your Team Back to the Office

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After over two years of working remotely, we know a lot of employers are grappling with if and how to bring their teams back into the office. They’re faced with a barrage of questions: Should they bring employees back full time? Keep them remote? Should they offer set hybrid programs or let employees decide their own schedule? The risk of losing great employees by pushing them to return to the office looms large however, full-time remote work doesn’t suit every business.

The answer is there is no right answer. It’s almost impossible to establish a protocol that makes sense for everyone. The bottom line is companies have to get creative with how they balance safety, productivity, and culture as we begin returning to the office. We do think companies will likely employ various hybrid work iterations for the foreseeable future.

Here are our best ideas to help find balance between encouraging company culture while your team is remote and building rapport back in the office:

1. Give Employees Their Own Work Spaces.

Try rewarding employees with their own work spaces as opposed to the shared work spaces that are so popular nowadays. The pandemic has created all sorts of uncertainties about touching other people’s stuff.

2. Offer up free lunches.

We know there’s “no such thing as a free lunch” but we’ve seen companies have tremendous success when they offer their employees meals as a gesture of appreciation. Sending your remote employees a voucher for a food delivery app and an invitation to join a team Zoom hang out is a great way to allow your team to interact more casually. When your team is in the office, providing free lunches allows people to connect with each other. We’ve found that this desire for connection is greater than ever since the pandemic began.

3. Create Memorable Moments to Connect

Try and use culture building opportunities as frequently as possible. This is where employers can really get creative. Consider setting up both remote and in-person fun experiences like an Escape Room or a virtual Pub Quiz. Give away memorable gifts, company merchandise, or a welcome back to the office care package so employees feel that their experience is being valued.

4. Provide Gas Cards

Send gas gift cards to anyone who comes into the office on a regular basis. Gas is expensive right now so this is an easy win because it makes employees feel valued for their efforts.

5. Use Social Media to Show Off Company Culture

Make sure your employees are proud of the team that they’re on and feel included. One way to do this is share notable team experiences on your public Social Media channels and in your internal team communications, like a Slack channel or team newsletter. You’ll be able to show the community being built back up in the office and ease the minds of employees still on the fence about returning to the office.

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Need help creating positive Company Culture? We can help with that. Contact us.

5 Tools for Creating the Near Perfect Open Enrollment Process

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The perfect open enrollment process: does such a thing even exist?

COVID-19 has changed how businesses operate, the most dramatic of these changes is managing open enrollment for benefits. Gone are the days of handing out papers at in-office lunch meetings where an HR professional would walk the team through new benefit plans. Now, employers have to find creative ways to clearly lay out benefits to remote employees so they can choose their plans easily.

This year’s open enrollment process does not come with the additional pain of high increases in premiums, however, employees’ expectations of what makes a benefit plan appealing have changed. They are much more interested in benefits—their cost and how their coverage will hold up in light of the pandemic.

Here are some helpful tools to guide and create the near perfect open enrollment process:

1. Go Digital.

If your company is still processing Open Enrollment through paper, you’re behind the curve and could lose current and prospective employees. The employees of today expect automation—they want to be able to sign documents, change information, and make requests online or through a mobile app. Automation also does so much for your company in terms of efficiency and compliance. Be sure you’re using one of these automation tools, it’s an absolute must.

2. Be Bold & Vibrant.

It might be a little hard to build a great story and message through plain text but if you use videos and some cool graphics, you can really help employees understand what benefits are best for them and help them determine what programs compliment their family’s needs.

3. Explain Cost.

Be sure to clearly explain the deductions that employees will make from their paychecks. How frequently it will happen and that they’re pre-tax so they know they’re getting more bang for their buck.

4. Offer Voluntary Benefits.

More than ever, employers need to build a robust package that includes things like voluntary benefit programs. In the past some of these programs were seen as a bit silly but in today’s diverse workplace, employees want more options—disability, accident, cancer, critical illness are all great add-ons.

5. Tell Your Story.

Tell it loud. Be sure you build a comprehensive overview of your entire benefits package. Not just singular pieces of health and 401K. To your employees, it all melds together. Employees are going to measure these offerings as a whole. They may not know the key difference between Aetna and Blue Cross, but what they do know is the difference between what they pay when they go to the doctor and what and what comes out of their paychecks. Be sure to communicate this clearly to your people. Don’t be shy about reminding employees about the power of your benefit plans, both at open enrollment and throughout the course of the year.

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Have questions about Open Enrollment? We’re here to help. Reach out to us at 818.377.7260 or marketing@corpstrat.com