Human resources can often be considered a necessary evil by many companies. Employers do not want to hire an HR professional because they feel it could be a waste of money. So they try to do it on their own. Here is a story of a company that lost one of its best employees because they tried to do it on their own. This account is a true story, although all names have been changed.

The Reason She Left Her Employer

Jane worked as support staff for a professional company. She was an essential cog in the wheel. Without her services, as with most support staff, her managers could not excel at their jobs. Jane loved the company, her co-workers, and the work. Having worked for several similar companies, she often said how this employer was the best group of people and her favorite job.

The company offered a very low contribution towards Jane’s family’s health insurance premiums.  In addition, the company did not offer her any type of retirement plan.

Jane gave her two weeks’ notice to leave the company for another similar company shortly after she had reached her 5 years of employment. After 5 years, the company had not increased any benefits and it has become too difficult for Jane to maintain her employment with so few benefits. Jane loved her job, but she had to take a job offer that offered her real benefits. Here are the reasons Jane resigned:

  1. She could not afford the high premiums she paid for family healthcare. The company only paid a small portion of her benefits, leaving a large chunk to Jane to cover. She knew the management could afford this, but she did not make enough money (as most support staff) to be able to afford this
  2. She needed to save for retirement, which was not an option at her company
  3. Vacation time and sick time were disbursed as 5 days at the beginning of the year and an additional 5 days in June. The new company offered these days in one clip.
  4. There had been several issues with her payroll and taxes, and there was no real point person to handle these issues.
  5. Although she would be making more money, Jane did not care. She liked the idea of more money, but she would have stayed with her original company if benefits were a priority for the support staff.

The HR Problem

This story is not that uncommon. While this is a real account, there are many stories just like this from all types of companies throughout the country. Jane’s company does not have a human resources department. As a small company, that is not uncommon. However, the company also refuses to hire a company to handle all HR issues. As a result, the employees assigned to handle any concerns, questions, and benefits are overwhelmed and under-qualified. Many aspects, updates in the laws, and concerns are swept under the rug with the hopes that the employees will not know they have more rights. While management may not have a reason to care about this, support staff often make less money, and therefore, every penny and benefit counts.

Benefits Could End High Turnover

One thing is evident in this story. Salary is not the number one concern of most support staff. Benefits will often be the first thing cited when employees leave a company. Not only can having great benefits make employees happy, but it can also actually save employers money. Offering insurance allows employers tax benefits, as does matching 401K contributions. While you are receiving the tax benefits, your employees are less likely to leave, which means you spend less money on onboarding and training.

How a PEO can help

Handling benefits properly and dealing with other HR issues can be overwhelming for even the best business owners. People know their business but may not know all that goes into running it on the back end. A PEO can handle all of your human resources needs, including payroll, benefits administration, onboarding, and even potential employee legal issues that may arise. You will actually end up saving money by hiring a PEO, which will pay for the cost of the PEO, leaving your bottom line untouched, if not better off.

If you are a company that needs help handling human resource issues, contact the HR professionals at Fusion Employer Services today. Our team of human resource experts can help you manage your HR needs so you can run your business.