Small businesses are started by individuals who love what they do and have the entrepreneurial spirit to branch out on their own.  However, they often learn that the administrative responsibilities of running their own company can be overly burdensome.  This is especially true once they start to hire employees.  Payroll is one issue, but often the bigger issues are employee morale and retention.  Nothing is a bigger time waster than having an experienced employee quit and have to recruit a new worker.  Reviewing resumes, interviews, training all detract the owner from servicing their clients and getting new ones.  Offering employee benefits can be one option to improve employee retention, but we all know how expensive medical premiums have become.  However, a retirement plan can provide a valuable benefit to your employees at a minimal cost to the company and here are some reasons why it should be considered.

• MORE VALUABLE THAN A PAY RAISE – Almost a third of responders in a recent survey valued a retirement plan more than a salary increase.  As baby boomers are nearing retirement age studies have shown that many of them have not saved enough and having a work plan available is very appealing.  And for millennials who tend not to save, implementing automatic deductions have been well received.
• LOW COST OPTIONS – Implementing a new 401(k) plan does not need to be expensive.  There are low cost options for preparing the plan documents and hiring advisors, who also assume the plan administration duties to free up the owner’s time.
• TAX ADVANTAGES – If you employ fewer than 100 workers, you may be eligible for a tax credit for all of the plan setup and management fees, so the plan would literally cost you nothing.  Furthermore, any company contributions you make to participants are 100% tax deductible.  A 2017 study indicated that almost three quarter of workers would be more likely to save more if their employer made a matching contribution.  Plus, remember that as the owner you are also eligible for receiving the company contribution!

The majority of small businesses do not offer a retirement plan so implementing one can really make your company stand out when hiring and retaining employees.  As noted above, there are low cost options, but Total Team Solutions actually offers a No Cost 401(k) plan that may be adopted by all of its clients.  Additionally, we handle all administration, regulatory compliance and fiduciary responsibilities for the plan.  For more information, contact John Morlock at jmorlock@ttspro.com or call him at 800-836-9678.

 ABOUT TOTAL TEAM SOLUTIONS:  Total Team Solutions is a full service human resource outsourcing company, providing payroll service, administration of employee benefits and human resource compliance/advisory services to small business since 1988.