It seems to me that employee benefits might be good for the employee's morale, but it certainly does cost the company quite a sum. Yet, a lot of companies, mine included, are talking about increasing their benefits. Am I missing something here?

Hi. Actually, that's just it. A lot of companies are looking to increase the benefits because I think with the recession last year and the sluggish business and all the lay offs, employees are much demotivated now more than ever. That's why the benefits are being strengthened.

I agree. What's more, you do spend for recruitment and training. Can you imagine if your employees resign? You'd have to start the process again and look for somebody new, train them, have the make mistakes all over again? Now think if you have to do that 5x a month or more! Remember what they said about a bird in hand being worth two in the bush??? Well, this is a classic example.

I get what you're saying! The costs of recruitment for our company is outstanding that retaining employees really makes sense... and one of the most effective way to do this is to offer more benefits.

I agree with what all of you said. And get this, with annual review of costs, you can be sure that you have a comprehensive benefits programme at a fraction of what it costs. All it needs is for you to have good negotiation skills with the providers.

Uhm, we have a foolproof system for lowering costs. We have a flexible fund for our employees. We set up a choice of benefits that the employees select from. Now we often have a cap, so employees would need to choose what they need most for themselves. They go beyond that cap, or if the premius increase next year, the employee would have to pay for it. It's kept our benefits costs down while also keeping our employees happy.

Wow, i think that's a great idea. We have also been looking at flexible benefits for quite some time now but we're not sure that it works, and how it would work.

I think that it works. Remember that employees tend to have different needs so the ability to choose their benefits for themselves would make the benefits system even more valuable for them. This makes the loyal, even if they have to shoulder any excess.

Thanks for this system, I think that it's worth looking into.

Insured benefits are often available at a lower cost, especially if your company has a very low claims record. What's more insurance is very competitive right now, so it's easy to find a company that would offer you a good price for insurance cover