Which Benefits are Beneficial Portland ME

For most collision repair shop owners, devising an effective employee benefit plan is a guessing game at best.

By J. Tol Broome, Jr.
4/1/1998

With escalating health-care costs, constant regulatory changes, high employee turnover levels and increased competitive pressures, employee benefits have caused many sleepless nights for shop owners - yet employee benefits are considered a part of the basic pay of most employees. In fact, without a well-constructed employee benefit plan, you'll probably have trouble attracting and keeping good employees.

"You have to offer a well-rounded group of benefits to keep good people," says Frank Jandura, owner of Crebassa's Body Shop in San Rafael, Calif. "The employee pool in our industry isn't a broad pool, so you want to make people part of your company's family, so to speak."

While some small-business owners simply aren't competitive, others err on the side of excess when it comes to employee benefits. Mike Matznick - a health insurance agent with Med/Flex Benefit Center, Inc. in Greensboro, N.C., who has 16 years experience - says it's important to find a happy medium when putting together an employee benefit package.

"A key for any small-business owner in setting up employee benefits is to decide exactly what his budget is and what the options are," says Matznick, also a past president of the Association of North Carolina Health Underwriters. "You don't want to start out with a full package a...