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 Nearly 80 percent of U.S. workers would rather have better health
insurance than a pay raise, according to Glassdoor.com, a jobs and
recruiting site.
But when handed an explanation of benefits booklet every year during
open enrollment, it is hard for most employees to tell if they are
getting a good deal or not.
"The best indicator of whether you have a good or bad plan is
talking to your friends and people who work at companies that
compete with yours. Sometimes you find, wow, my grass is a little
greener than I thought it was," says Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor's career
and workplace expert.
Here are some other ways to tell if you are getting a great deal:
WHAT'S MY COST?
Everyone wants to know right off what will be coming out of their
paychecks, but that is not the most important number to focus on,
says Hall Kesmodel, consultant for Sequoia, an employee benefits
firm headquartered in San Mateo, California.
To know if your employer is generous or not, you need to know what
percentage you pay and what percentage your employer pays.
Most employee benefits packets will have a percentage number
somewhere in the materials, or you can ask your human resources
department. The average single employee pays 18 percent of a health
plan's costs, according to Kaiser Family Foundation research.
In very competitive sectors like Silicon Valley's tech industry,
Kesmodel sees well-funded start-ups with 300 or 400 employees asking
employees to cover just 10 percent of healthcare costs. In a few
cases, employers cover the whole amount, even for family coverage.
Another clue is the pricing tiers available. Generally, the more
choices, the more cost savings the employer is giving to employees.
Some companies offer a family rate, but they may charge less to add
just your kids without a spouse. "They're giving a break to people
to cover your spouse elsewhere," says Tracy Watts, a senior partner
at Mercer, a benefits consultant.
At generous companies, there is also typically also no surcharge or
exclusion for working spouses who could get their own plans, which
is becoming more prevalent nationwide, says Kesmodel.
WHAT'S MY DEDUCTIBLE?
A low deductible is not the only marker of a good plan, says
Jennifer Benz, who runs her own benefits firm based in San
Francisco. The average healthcare deductible nationally for a single
employee is $1,318, according to Kaiser, which has been pushed to
that level because about 24 percent of employees are now in
high-deductible health plans, which have deductibles over $1,500 per
year.
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In the best high-deductible plans, Benz says the company will
contribute enough into a Health Savings Account to make the
out-of-pocket costs for the employee equivalent to having a $250
individual deductible.
But then the money in that HSA is portable if the employee changes
jobs and can be saved for retirement, tax-free. For young, healthy
workers, this can build to a considerable nest egg in just a few
years.
"People think they are less valuable, but they might be more
valuable," Benz says.
WHAT'S COVERED?
Coverage of infertility treatments is a common perk in Silicon
Valley, says Benz. Some larger firms, which foot the cost of the
healthcare bills themselves, go beyond the typical $3,000 to $5,000
to offer $15,000 worth of coverage, which is enough to cover a round
of in-vitro fertilization.
There is also a lot more that companies can offer under the banner
of "wellness." For example, Netflix set one bar with unlimited
parental leave.
Workplace yoga classes have become almost standard, too. Kesmodel
has seen companies hand out Fitbits to all employees in conjunction
with a wellness challenge.
Other perks: onsite acupuncture, life coaches and breastmilk
shipping for traveling moms, according to Glassdoor.
The idea is not necessarily to prevent diabetes and heart disease to
save dollars years down the line, but instead to make people happy
now.
"Employees are there a year or two, they are young, it's not going
to impact the company now," says Kesmodel. "But what it will impact
is whether that employee is vibrant and productive today."
(Editing by Lauren Young and Frances Kerry)
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