Summer Blog Series (Part 1):

Paid Time Off - Why PTO Is Such a Critical Benefit

Ask any seasoned HR individual about the most frequently asked question of them, especially around this time of year, and most will tell you that it’s some version of an inquiry regarding vacation, holidays, sick days and leave policies; in other words, paid time off (PTO).

So as the July 4th holiday approaches, this seems like an appropriate time for us to introduce a four part series on PTO, the most highly utilized of all employee benefits.

In this, the first post in the series, we’ll focus on why PTO is such a critical benefit to both employee and employer. The second part of our series will focus on the latest in PTO automation and why it no longer has to be such an administrative burden. The third part of our series will focus on frequently asked questions about PTO policies and procedures, and in the fourth and final part in our series, we’ll discuss some recent and notable trends in PTO and well as some new and novel approaches to the concept of time off.

Key Takeaways From MetLife's Employee Benefit Trends Study

The recently published MetLife Benefit Trends Study contains some very interesting and perhaps surprising statistics regarding the annual benefits enrollment process.

We encourage you to check it out for yourself (it’s a very quick read). Here are a few of our key take-aways:

• Smaller companies (under 500 employees) have a lower percentage of employees engaged in the annual benefits enrollment process than larger ones.

Manage Staffing Costs Thru Employee Engagement

Despite a strong economic recovery, the Affordable Care Act is pressuring employers to find an optimal balance between total employee compensation and annual company profits. 

One of the best ways for companies to manage staffing costs is by improving employee retention, reducing turn-over and focusing on strategies to retain existing, skilled employees. Here’s why this is so important and what companies can do about it.

The Cost of Hiring

It’s easy to forget than the true cost of hiring a new employee is far more than just salary and employee benefits, which usually total in the 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary range (meaning that a salary plus benefits package for a $50,000/year employee could equal $62,500 to $70,000).