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Open enrollment is just around the corner. Now is the time to look at your employee benefits to come up with a nice package. This is especially important for small businesses. A well-rounded benefits plan provides you with a great tool to bring in and keep top talent. And picking a plan to fit in your budget is crucial to help you stay afloat. Good vision benefits are a tempting, budget-friendly option for you to think about offering. Here’s how you can provide affordable eye care in OKC and elsewhere for your employees.
What employers should know about open enrollment
Open enrollment takes place at the end of the year, from November to mid-January. It’s a chance for employees to enroll in your benefits, change them or drop out completely.
Once open enrollment is over, employees cannot change their benefits for a full year, unless they fall under certain circumstances.
This is also a time for employers to look at their benefits package:
- Is there anything you want to update?
- Have costs for any benefits changed, up or down?
- What are some alternative options to offer, such as a health savings account (HSA) or flexible spending account (FSA)?
Remember, your employees want benefits. In fact, the vast majority of young workers want benefits and other perks more than a raise. So, any extra benefits you can provide outside of normal health insurance — whether it be retirement benefits, fitness incentives or sufficient vision benefits — will be a bonus to your business.
What you may not know about vision benefits
Why should you consider better vision benefits for your employees? Here are a few reasons to consider:
- It’s not necessarily money out of your pocket: One thing you may not realize is offering vision benefits may not cost your business a dime. The employee generally pays for vision services. For example, when an employee finds affordable eye care in OKC for contact lenses, that charge is on them. So, unless your business decides to help pay for vision care, there is no real cost to you.
- Tax savings if you do contribute: If you do decide to add to employees’ vision benefits, you may not be paying as much as you think. Vision plan contributions are deducted from the employee’s payroll pretax. This saves employers on their taxes as well. Higher monthly costs have higher pretax savings. If you can provide a plan with better benefits, lower out-of-pocket and overall costs, and save on your taxes, it is a true win-win.
- No vision benefits = Higher health benefits: Good vision directly links to good health. Eye doctors can find signs of health problems during eye exams. And various workplace conditions place eyes in risky positions all the time. Because of this, your business is likely to pay more for overall medical expenses if you don’t offer sufficient vision benefits.
Getting employees to use vision benefits
Offering vision benefits is one thing. Getting employees to use them is another. In fact, vision plans are incredibly underused, which costs employers and employees a lot each year. Employees may not:
- Know you even offer vision benefits.
- Understand what the vision benefits cover, including how deductibles work.
- Realize how important an annual eye exam is to their overall health.
When all factored in, employees end up waiting until they have a real vision concern. They then end up paying a lot for major services rather than paying less for preventative vision care.
Here are some steps to take when explaining vision benefits to employees:
- Promote enrollment: Let your employees know in advance when open enrollment will occur. Provide them with materials to review in advance. Send them reminders as the deadline nears, and answer questions.
- Remember that education is key: Make sure employees understand how the vision benefits work and how they can help them.
- Understand the true cost: A vision benefits plan may have a higher monthly cost to the employee. However, when out-of-pocket is factored in, the overall cost may be lower. Make sure the math checks out before making a decision.
Affordable eye care in OKC and beyond
At the end of the day, you’re looking for a vision plan that saves you on tax payments and offers better benefits along with lower out-of-pocket and overall costs. A vision plan that gets all these things right is a win-win for you and your employees. That’s exactly what Vision Care Direct plans are designed to do.
Vision Care Direct provides doctor-owned vision plans that work perfectly for your employee benefits package. To learn more about how we can help your business with affordable eye care in OKC, contact us today.
