Paper Example on Employee Benefits

Benefits are significant to employees because they help in attracting, motivating, and retaining the workforce. The benefits are not only useful in providing social security to the employees but also help them plan and prepare for their retirement. The provision of benefits by the organizations to their employees is required by the federal law. The main types of employee benefits are described below.

Social security the Federal Social Security Act created the Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance (OASDHI) program in 1935 to cover 90% of employees in the United States. The primary exclusions of the program are employees who work at railroads, federal state, and local government. Eligible workers receive their retirement benefits depending on their age and work history. More so, the government increases the payment according to the growth in consumer price index. Besides, different employees receive dissimilar amounts depending on their retirement age. Both employers and employees share social security costs through payroll tax. Organizations can minimize the cost of these benefits while complying with the relevant laws by withholding additional tax from employees who earn above $200,000.

Unemployment insurance - the program aims to provide workers with payments to make up for income that arises during unintentional unemployment. Additionally, it helps the unemployed to find new jobs. Moreover, its insurance tax gives employees motivation to alleviate their employment. Lastly, it gives workers income during interim layoffs and safeguards their investments to enable them return to their employers. The funding for unemployment insurance comes from federal and state taxes on employers. Organizations can minimize the cost of these benefits while complying with the relevant laws by improving the employees experience rating and controlling future expenses for unemployment insurance.

Workers compensation it offers employees who become ill or injured at work with insurance benefits. The benefit is different in every state. Some states require employees to get coverage from private insurance companies while others allow self-funding. Factors that determine the cost of workers compensation insurance are the type of occupation, location of the state, and employers experience rating. Organizations can minimize the cost of these benefits while complying with the relevant laws by ensuring the workplace is safe and training their managers and employees on safety issues.

Unpaid family and medical leave the law introduced the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires organizations that have more than 50 employees in a 75-mile radius to provide a 12-week unpaid leave to give their employees to take care of their ill child, parent, or spouse. The law requires employees to guarantee their workers the same job during their return. However, the benefit does not cover employees with less than one year of experience, those who work less than 25 hours per week, and those who work in the 10% highest paid firms. Organizations can minimize the cost of these benefits while complying with the relevant laws by being keen of leave requests issued by their employees.