HSA Advantage #6 – Employee Appreciation

Every few weeks, I am showcasing a different advantage of owning a Health Spending Account in this segment called…

HSA Advantage….

It does not matter if you are a small company or a large multi-national corporation – low employee appreciation is running rampant these days. You pay them a salary or a wage. You may even provide them with a drug and dental plan. Some of you go as far to offer a pension plan or similar retirement savings incentive. Combined with the summer BBQ, annual holiday party, vacation time, Friday morning donuts, car allowances, and generous business expense reimbursement and you end up spending a lot more money each year on your employees than you think. So why do they still think you are a cheap old bugger – especially when it comes to health benefits?

That’s easy, they don’t appreciate or understand the cost. But who do you have to blame for this? It is not like you open the books up every year and show them how much you spend on their health. And you certainly cannot disclose how much was claimed to demonstrate the value of the plan. So how is a free health plan where an employee receives a charge card for their costs with no responsibility for the bill payment ever going to get them to sit back and say, “Gee Boss, thanks for the $2,000 you forked out last year for keeping me and my family healthy”?

Traditional plans do not receive the same level of appreciation as a Health Spending Account for one major reason – it is not a tangible benefit. They cannot see a health plan and they do not have an active role in the decision making process when choosing services or a practitioner. An HSA however, is a limited supply of cash the employee may choose to use how they see fit. When used to replace day-to-day expenses such as paramedical or vision, the behavior of the employee changes. They no longer see a line of credit, but eventually learn that if they want something, they may use the funds to purchase it. They also realize that the choice they make today may impact their ability to use their HSA down the road. As a result, a single $100 massage becomes two $50 massages as the employee looks for ways to maximize their spending by driving a bit further to a cheaper practitioner. They have more of a stake in the decision making process and see the true value of the benefit being offered.

So what does this do for employee appreciation? First off, it is a fixed dollar amount the employee can immediately assign a tangible value to. If the company does well, and you give them an extra $50 a year, the employee can immediately associate value to the increase. In the example of the employee who likes massage therapy, it means he/she can now go one more time. Secondly, it allows the employee to spend the money as they want, when they want. They have an active role in how they spend the money and the outcome, making them not just the recipient of a perk but a key player in how big a perk it actually is. These two features drive employee appreciation for your gesture – a major reason why so many companies are incorporating an HSA before other, less tangible benefits. Now, who wants to organize this year’s BBQ?