rAverage cost to employer for standad benefit package

[bmeier]

I am trying to figure out on average, what it would cost a company per employee, to pay for a standard benefit package?

how much does it cost the employer over a year to pay for a single employee benefit package?

I understand there are a mass amount of variables in this, but if anyone has even a basic idea please let me know. I am also using other avenues but figured posting here wouldn't hurt.

[97'Scort]

I don't know the exact cost, but I recall Blue Cross was about the most affordable health coverage for a small business.

[Sleepingbeauty]

single: ~80
family: ~185

blue cross-comes with 1k dental, 750 drugs, life insurance, extended health, etc.

[bmeier]

Originally posted by Sleepingbeauty
single: ~80
family: ~185

blue cross-comes with 1k dental, 750 drugs, life insurance, extended health, etc.

that cant be per year?

[Aleks]

I've seen summary sheets at work where they add up all the benefits you get from health, dental, life insurance, vacation time, etc and it adds about 30-35% to your annual salary. :dunno:

[speedog]

Affordable, yes, but one is not getting much coverage at those rates. $1000.00 dental per year - one crown will run $600-$800, a cleaning will easily run $80+. $750.00 a year for prescription drugs - one kid on two different asthma drugs will easily eat that up in a year.

I guess that as an employer, one has to weigh the costs of an offered plan versus what value it provides to their employees. Do you offer your employees a crappier plan at a lower cost or a another more expensive plan with better coverage? I guess a point that should be debated from bmeier's original post is what should be considered as a part of "a standard benefit package"? How much dental, how much drugs, how much of everything else? This will differ depending on the provider of the offered plan.

[Ntense_SpecV]

Originally posted by speedog
Affordable, yes, but one is not getting much coverage at those rates. $1000.00 dental per year - one crown will run $600-$800, a cleaning will easily run $80+. $750.00 a year for prescription drugs - one kid on two different asthma drugs will easily eat that up in a year.

I guess that as an employer, one has to weigh the costs of an offered plan versus what value it provides to their employees. Do you offer your employees a crappier plan at a lower cost or a another more expensive plan with better coverage? I guess a point that should be debated from bmeier's original post is what should be considered as a part of "a standard benefit package"? How much dental, how much drugs, how much of everything else? This will differ depending on the provider of the offered plan.

You numbers for a single dentist visit are extremely low. I noticed how much my dentist billed my insurance company and for a single visit with 2 units of scaling they charged my insurance $310. My own insurance won't cover something simple like fluoride so that's $19 out of my pocket. With those costs you wouldn't get a family of 4 covered with only $1000/yr. As mentioned before 30-35% of added salary is a good rough start in what it should resonably cost a person out of pocket for in a single year.

[Euro838]

Originally posted by Aleks
I've seen summary sheets at work where they add up all the benefits you get from health, dental, life insurance, vacation time, etc and it adds about 30-35% to your annual salary. :dunno:

Health and dental do not add up to much, it's the other stuff that do. Yes, depending on your level and company, 30-35% is about right. I think for Juniors, it's about 20% and as high as 50% for Senior positions (pre-management).

Here are some breakdowns if you want to figure out contractor "premium".

2% per week(5 days) of vacation/flex/personal days off.
4% for stat holidays (10 days).
5% for health/dental/insurance (This is for standard/minimal benefits). Accounts for 3 sick days per year.
X % for employee bonuses.

Some people also like to factor in items like training and other expenses into their rates too.

Hope this helps.

[speedog]

My numbers for the dentist visit are probably low - but hey, as I'm pushing ever so closer to the half century mark I am allowed some memory lapses (or so I tell my wife). All I know is that $1000.00 dental doesn't get ya much anymore

[speedog]

Originally posted by Euro838
4% for stat holidays (10 days).
Depends on the province - Alberta only has 9 statutory holidays (link (http://employment.alberta.ca/SFW/1472.html)).

Of course, if a company (such as ours) shuts down for other non-recognized holidays (Boxing day), then the company has to pay holiday pay to any of it's employees that would have been regularly scheduled to work that specific day.

[blownz]

Are you talking about just medical and dental or also things like vision coverage, short and long term disability, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, etc?

Just extended health and dental will cost around $1500 a year for an single person and $4000 for a family (and that is for much better coverage than Alberta Blue Cross).

If you want those other extras I mentioned above they sky is the limit depending on how much coverage you want and $$ amount you want for insurance payouts and if you want things like dependant life insurance.

But add about $1000 for basic coverage of that other stuff per year per person.

So I would say an average total is around $2500 for a single person and $5000 for someone with family coverage.


Definitely nowhere close to 30 or 35% of anyones salary though. They guy seeing stats like that is probably seeing the cost of benefits, plus company EI, CPP payments, WCB, and vacation accruals for a total payroll burden cost.




Originally posted by Euro838

Yes, depending on your level and company, 30-35% is about right. I think for Juniors, it's about 20% and as high as 50% for Senior positions (pre-management).


The percentages always go down with the higher level employees...

The only percentage that will increase is bonus, but that isn't a benefit or payroll burden cost, it is a payroll cost.

[Sleepingbeauty]

sorry, that's monthly premium. That's the package B coverage from Blue Cross that i provide to my employees at no cost. As for dental and prescription drugs thats per person per year.

I don't see why anyone would need more than 1K for dental/yr.....basic cleaning is approx 300, root canal is 500-600 (my first in 3 yrs). My employees don't even exceed 500/yr for dental.

Of course health and drug plans are calculated on a number of factors: # of employees, amount of coverage, etc.....my numbers is to provide the OP with a basic amount, as requested.