In this episode, Dan Aceti, Managing Principal of Executive Benefits Group (EBG) in Charlotte, NC, joined us to chat about the importance of executive benefits, particularly for key employee retention. He shared his insights with us around the importance of executive benefits for employers who are trying to create a comprehensive benefits strategy that works for all employees. If you’re thinking about your company’s 2022 benefits strategy, you’ll want to be sure to take a listen to this one.
Early in his career, Dan worked for New England Financial, then moved on to grow the team at MassMutual. After that he spent about ten years with NFP Executive Benefits as a senior consultant before moving on to his current role at Executive Benefits Group. EBG specializes in supplemental benefits programs for key employees and executives. Dan’s decades of experience inform his work building custom executive benefits packages and his insight into creating the best employee benefits experience possible.
Executive benefits close benefit gaps for key employees.
Executive benefits are benefits for highly paid employees that help close any gaps that exist for them under their company’s regular employee benefits package. There are a number of employee benefits that are tied to an employee’s income. In many cases, the higher the level of income, the more those plans start to become less effective. For example, if a benefit has an income cap, that could create a big shortfall for highly paid employees.
Dan and the team at EBG come into a company and take a look at the entire employee population and the employer’s approach to benefits. In some cases the employer wants to provide executive benefits to restore the benefits up to the same level as other employees. In other cases they want to enhance the benefits for their highest paid employees because they make extremely valuable contributions to the company. That’s why they are highly paid after all! A more valuable benefits package can be a great hiring incentive and a great way to retain these key employees.
What’s great about executive benefits is that they can be an effective recruiting and retention tool for almost any kind of company. Any company facing a situation where key employees are not receiving the benefits they want or at minimum benefits on par with the employers’ intended benefit level could explore an executive benefit program. Dan’s team designs programs for doctors, attorneys, business executives, and other highly paid employees. Any company looking to take action to make their benefits serve their key employees better should consider executive benefits.
Executive benefits are better than cash for hiring and retention.
The primary goal of any employee benefits program is to attract and retain talent. That is even more important when it comes to executive benefits. Recruiting, rewarding, and retaining highly paid employees is becoming even more difficult in our current economy, and the cost of replacing those employees when they leave is extremely high.
Highly paid employees can cost 200-400% of their annual salary to replace. That means an executive earning $250,000/year can cost $500,000-$1,000,000 to replace. That’s a huge drain on businesses and a big motivator for employers to figure out effective retention strategies.
Dan has seen many employers try to boost retention by implementing short- and long-term cash bonus programs, but these programs often didn’t have the impact employers hoped they would. Dan’s advice is to consider giving employees something they can’t get on their own that is bespoke and tailored to their needs.
Executive benefits work better than cash bonuses because good benefits can provide solutions or support that employees value even more highly than they value the cash it took to purchase those benefits. The fact that they can’t get these benefits on their own makes them very attractive and difficult to give up. Just as Ansel exists to supplement employees’ health benefits, executive benefits close gaps in coverage and provide extra peace of mind.
Brokers need executive benefits because their clients need executive benefits
Companies face enormous costs and business risk if they are not able to hire and retain highly paid employees who can help them achieve their growth objectives. For many employers, these issues don’t become top of mind until something happens, like an executive unexpectedly walking out the door. Then they are ready to address retention and give their broker a call to figure out how to enhance their benefits. If a broker doesn’t have a solution for them, that’s a negative experience for the client and could jeopardize their relationship. Partnering with a company like EBG is a smart move because they are able to craft the unique executive benefits packages that clients want and make sure they are implemented smoothly. Thanks to their decades of experience, the team at EBG knows where problems come up and they know how to fix them to make the experience seamless.
To hear more insights from Dan, listen to Episode 21 of Better Benefits now. If you enjoy the episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.
Dan’s Recommended Resource
On every episode of Better Benefits, we ask our expert guests for a book or resource they’d recommend to others working in the benefits space. This week Dan pointed us to the book Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High. Written by a team of psychologists, it’s a book that Dan calls “invaluable.” The authors focus on the skills that it takes to effectively deal with difficult moments of conflict and how people can learn and implement those skills. They give you the tools to deal with disagreements when the stakes are high, both in business and personal matters.
If you’d like to connect with Dan you can visit the Executive Benefits Group website. Note, this episode is for informational and educational purposes only. Dan Aceti and Executive Benefits Group are not endorsed, affiliated with, nor compensated by Greenhouse Life Insurance Company.
To get in touch with Mike or learn more about Ansel, visit our website or email us at sales@joinAnsel.com.
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