In a perfect world, personal life and work-related responsibilities are in absolute harmony. There's no stress, no job dissatisfaction, and no reduced productivity. In a perfect world, when we list our priorities, we give equal weight to home and work, and our scale is in balance.

The savvy employer recognizes that more often than not, time is more important than money to employees. The ability to choose a work schedule, telecommute, or cut back on hours, without fear of monetary loss or employer repercussion, is a major perk. Having the opportunity to be flexible results in less stress for your employees, which results in higher productivity, less turnover, and an overall happier workplace.

Here are a few ways you can use the gift of time creatively to make your workers’ lives easier.

The culmination of tax season reminds employees and employers of every political stripe just how much in profits and wages are sent along to Uncle Sam long before they have a chance to reach anyone's checking accounts or business coffers.

With that in mind, as well as the competitive labor market, employers and employees alike are keen to negotiate competitive benefits packages that can act to offset lower salaries with tax-exempt perks.

Nearly every business has explored or offers some form of Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Savings Account (FSA) to its employees if possible, but those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the possibilities for tax-exempt compensation. Here are five other great tax-exempt employee benefits that any business can use to attract and retain top job candidates while saving money for both parties.

Despite healthcare reform, which naturally led most reasonable people to believe that runaway healthcare costs were finally going to be tamped down, the cost of obtaining health insurance is still very much on the rise. In fact, from 2006 to 2015, the average out-of-pocket costs per worker rose almost 230 percent, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation report.

No matter if someone is acquiring coverage on a state or federal exchange, or if they are obtaining coverage through an employer-sponsored plan, most everyone is feeling the pain.

In the case of workers who are covered by an employer-sponsored health plan, increases are likely coming on two fronts; higher premiums and higher deductibles.

Higher Premiums

While health plan premiums paid by employers are rising this year at lower rates than in year’s past, they are still outpacing inflation. No longer able to absorb these constant increases all alone, these growing expenditures are almost always now shared between employer and employee.

Zenefits: Whatever Happened to "Under-Promise and Over-Deliver?"

The resignation this week of Parker Conrad as the CEO of tech darling and HR administration upstart Zenefits should hopefully serve as a wake-up call to other technology providers in the fledgling health insurance and human resources technology sectors.

The digital transformation of these industries is inarguably long overdue. Many group insurance brokers fear this disruption, still clinging to vestiges of the past. But long gone are the days when brokers could retain clients simply based on relationships: the annual round of golf, dinner out with the spouses, and a slap on the back just don’t cut it any more. Results matter.

Four Tips for Taming Runaway Emergency Room (ER) Expenditures  

The average cost of an urgent care visit is almost 71% less than a typical visit to the emergency room ($155 vs. $583) for treatment of the same illness or injury. (It’s also cheaper than a typical primary care visit, albeit not by much ($155 vs. $165.) In another study in 2013, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed the median cost of an emergency room visit was $1,233, though in some localities it rose as high as $2,168.

Preventative Care: A Win-Win For Employers And Employees

Putting It Into Practice: Real World Examples Of Where A Medical Director On Staff Made All The Difference

Lowering Expenses, One Member at a Time

How We Are Managing Employee Benefits Better with an On-Staff Medical Director

The Pros and Cons of Consumer-Driven Healthcare

Healthcare Innovation Through Disruption: Paying Patients To Save Money