- Education – communicate with your employees to ensure they understand their benefits and how the plan works. Many employees don’t realize that high claims or abuse of the plan will increase costs for everyone. A lunch and learn hosted by your broker can be a simple strategy to accomplish this.
- Prescription drugs – prescription drug claims account for 70 cents of every dollar spent on employee benefits plans in Canada. Controlling costs in this area can be as simple as asking your doctor or pharmacist for the generic version of a drug. It could also mean shopping at a different pharmacy that charges a lower dispensing fee. Discount programs are offered by many pharmaceutical companies, allowing patients to choose the brand name drug at a much lower cost.
- Promote a healthy workplace – by promoting things like exercise and healthy eating in your workplace, you can make it easier on your employees to make positive lifestyle changes. Keep a bowl of fruit stocked in the office kitchen, or provide incentive to employees biking to work or walking on their lunch hour. These types of changes can also have a positive impact on employee morale which may, in turn, improve productivity at your company.
