Why choose Ortexia's Benefits Consulting services?
Based on an evolving national commitment to provide workers with basic welfare and security, both national and state laws require several benefits. Individual states and other jurisdictions may require benefits – such as minimum wage and continued insurance after layoff or firing – that are more generous than the national requirements. As your consultant and legal counsel we will check all relevant employment laws relevant to your industry.
We can help your organisation in designing the following benefits:
Our Consulting Services for Core Benefits:
Nearly all employers, large and small, offer some basic benefits that provide paid time off. Somewhat less prevalent, but no less important, are health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and retirement plans. We help you design Core Benefits that are advantageous to the welfare of your employees and ensure the right mix between attendance and time off.
Paid Time off: As a societal tradition, most employers in India offer holidays, vacation, sick leave, and other days off to be competitive with other employers and foster a mentally healthy workforce. Organizations’ paid-time-off plans are usually researched and administered by HR consultants who research similar industries and set the right number of leaves.
Holidays: Although no national or state laws require employers to offer paid or unpaid holidays, almost all organizations do. The selection of holidays for your organisation can vary and will depend on the industry (construction, retail sales, trade association, civil service, and so on). In the post-Covid world, we also help you define whether to extend holiday pay to part-time employees or freelancers which again depends on how critical the part-timers are to the organization and the number of hours they usually work.
Vacation: Vacation days are usually accumulated through the accrual of vacation time throughout a unit of time such as pay period, month, or year. Employers usually require advance notice and supervisor approval of accrued vacation time. Some organizations limit the maximum accrual of vacation time in order to encourage employees to take their time off, which is intended for rest and relaxation away from the workplace. We can help you set and define limits varying from the somewhat draconian “use or lose” policy (usually by year) to several months of accrual.
Sick Leave: Traditionally, sick leave is paid time-off for an employee’s own illness. With the advent of “family friendly” employee-benefit plans and the post-Covid work-from-home culture, more organizations that want to attract the best talent are now offering more benefits such as extending the use of sick leave to allow employees paid time-off to care for other members of the immediate family when they have a temporary illness. Having a published policy on the use of sick leave is important to minimize the possibility of abuse. The policy should have guidelines for when and whom an employee should notify in the case of illness, and it may require supportive documentation, such as a doctor’s note, if the absence is more than a specified number of days. The policy should also describe the disciplinary ramifications in the case of a persistent problem with absences for illness. By setting the right standards in sick leave policies for your company you can reduce the organization’s costs for administrative time and absenteeism.
Health Insurance: Health insurance (including hospitalization and medical benefits) is probably the most contentious of the core benefits because of the dramatic increase in premium costs. As those increases mount, more small businesses are dropping coverage or, at the least, employees pay a greater portion of the premium—especially for family and dependent coverage. We can help you offer the best health insurance plans to your employees.
Life Insurance: Employer-provided group life insurance has become a common feature of the employee-benefit package. Most employers provide some level of life insurance. Often, life insurance is “bundled” with another benefit, such as health insurance. We can help you decide whether you want to offer Permanent Life Insurance or Term Insurance that is in force for a specific period such as 5, 10 or 20 years. Variations on basic group term insurance include, for example, business travel accident coverage, which provides a benefit if the employee is disabled, or if a dismemberment or death occurs, while traveling on company business.
Disability Insurance: Disability income insurance provides for the replacement of pay when the employee is unable to work because of illness or disability. Unlike sick time, disability insurance is administered by a third party that determines eligibility and the amount of payment. Although considered a “salary continuation” benefit, typically the benefits paid are less than the employee’s salary.
Retirement Plans: Retirement and pension plans are offered through a wide variety of programs, from simple to complex. In the past, workers stayed with the same employers for their entire career, and “defined benefit” plans evolved. Funded by the employer, these plans promised workers a monthly pension upon retirement—based on a formula that included annual wages, years of service, and age at retirement. The employer chose the investment vehicle, and contributions were based on actuarial valuation of the plan to ensure there would be sufficient funds for retirees. With today’s more mobile workforce, in which both the employers and employee careers change more frequently, “defined contribution” plans have become the most popular.
How We Can Help
Whereas some benefits are required by law, others are provided voluntarily by organizations to bolster their strategies for competition in the marketplace and recruitment. Our Consultants can help you ensure that benefits can be structured to encourage positive attendance behavior and provide inexpensive insurance coverage that most employees could not afford otherwise. With few exceptions, the cost of benefits has increased to become a sizable portion of employee remuneration. Health care benefits, for example, have risen far beyond the rate of inflation, prompting some employers to reduce or drop coverage and others to implement consumer-driven health plans that save significant costs to both the employer and its employees.