By Tkay Nthebe
Employee wellness has taken centre stage globally, where employers need to do more to ensure the wellbeing of their most valuable assets – their employees. Furthermore, the increasing competition for talented, skilled, and experienced employees is heightened. More employees are proactively resigning from Small Medium Enterprises (SME) and moving to bigger corporate organisations in pursuit of better salaries and benefits such as medical aid, Group Life Assurance (GLA) and contribution towards retirement funds (Pension or Provident funds).
According to a 2016 study by FinMark Trust (2016), Lesotho had 76, 068 Micro Small, Medium Enterprises (MSME), where 4, 098 (5% of total MSME) categorised as “Small businesses” had 3 – 9 employees and 564 (1% of total MSME) categorised as Medium sized businesses with 10 – 49 employees.
For a country grappling with high unemployment, the Public and Private sectors struggling to absorb everyone, SMEs have a big role to play in creating jobs and retaining talented employees. In this week’s article, I want to discuss some benefits SMEs with at least five (5) employees and more can consider retaining employees.
Risk benefit solutions
SMEs’ greatest assets are their employees if they are to grow and expand operations. Their biggest risk is their employees falling critically ill or becoming permanently disabled. For the employee, the stress of not knowing how their dependents will be taken care of financially should they pass away can negatively affect their performance at work. As such, taking care of your employees’ wellbeing – physical, mental, and financial is important.
SMEs can reduce this risk by providing risk solutions such as a GLA cover (based on the employee’s salary) to assist employees in the event of death or Critical Illness Cover where an employee is diagnosed illness such as cancer. SMEs can also consider the Capital Disability Cover or Income Continuation Benefit that replaces up to 75% of the employee’s income should an employee be temporarily or completely disabled.
Retirement funds for employees
From an employee value proposition perspective, retirement benefits can also be considered. By establishing a Stand-alone or Umbrella fund with a licensed Pension Fund Provider, SMEs can ensure that employees retire financially secure. By so doing, employees have comfort and peace of mind, knowing they have post retirement income to cover monthly expenses one day when they do retire. An additional benefit for the employer is the tax benefits offered by the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA), where contributions to approved retirement funds are tax deductible, therefore reducing the taxable income.
Affordable healthcare
“Health is not valued till sickness comes” Dalai Lama. The health of your employees cannot be taken for granted, especially during these difficult times. The challenge however is that many employees often cannot afford good healthcare. SMEs can consider providing affordable, healthcare solutions for employees, thus reducing downtime and loss of income should employees fall sick.
SMEs are the backbone of this economy; their growth is necessary. Equally important is providing solutions that make your business attractive for employees. I encourage you to speak to authorised and licensed FSPs such as Alliance Insurance’s Employee Benefits for tailored solutions that will help you take care of your people. Likhomo!
