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What The Principal 10 Best Companies—2008 Say About Their Commitment to Employee Benefits

The business case for employee benefits

• "We are a custom thermoplastic extrusion house. There are many jobs where we have to rely on experience—maybe we only do them once every five years. We need to retain our employees. We gain a competitive edge because we have such an experienced staff and a relatively low turnover rate."
  – Robert Racey, President and General Manager, The Spiratex Company
• "If you want loyal, satisfied customers, you have to have loyal, satisfied employees. That's the premise of our strategy."
  – Michael Maslak, President-CEO, North Island Credit Union
• "Happy employees = productive employees."
  – Neil Sullivan, President, NJ Sullivan Company, Inc.
• "We know we have very strong benefits, and we use them very strategically for attraction and retention of our staff."
  – Jim Sunseri, President/CEO, NORCAL Mutual Insurance Company
• "Hiring, retention, productivity and customer satisfaction are all linked together. If our customers are satisfied, it allows us to keep growing, and we can keep providing those benefits for our employees. It comes full circle."
  – Scott Parker, Chief Administrative Officer, Torch Technologies, Inc.
• "We do a lot of research and market analysis to make sure we are picking benefits that offer the most to our employees at the least cost to us. We use our benefits partly as a strategy to be an employer of choice in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is a very competitive marketplace."
  – Rachel Frazier, Vice President—Human Resources and Training, 1st United Services Credit Union
• "The fact that we offer very competitive benefits keeps our turnover rate extremely low. When people come to work for us, they usually don't leave. We've had several 30-year retirees in the last 18 months. When you have people stay that long, it makes a big difference."
  – Michael B. McDonald, President, A.Y. McDonald Manufacturing Company
• "I've used our benefit package—particularly the 401(k) and profit sharing plans—as a very strong recruiting tool. From a standpoint of attracting people, it's a great tool for us."
  – Rob Leighton, Director of Human Resources, CENTRIA
• "Our benefits give us our competitive advantage in the market. In this area, there are many insurance companies. If we don't have attractive benefits, we can't compete for employees."
  – Connie Rank-Smith, Vice President Human Resources, Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company

Managing health care costs

• "Our medical provider is reducing our projected claims by $19,000 as a result of the reduction they expect from our wellness program."
  – Carole Faust, Benefits and Payroll Manager at SAE International.
• "Long term, we believe that healthier employees will have an impact on health care costs. Even just bringing our experience rating down will help."
  – Janet Owens, Vice President—Benefits and Welfare, North Island Credit Union
• "We believe that long term, the key to lower health care costs is to not need it. An investment in wellness is a long-term investment in the health plan. We've identified individuals who didn't know they were hypertensive, and individuals who were borderline diabetic and didn't know it. Had those problems gone undetected, that would have been an expense for us."
  – Connie Rank-Smith, Vice President Human Resources, Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company
• "With all of our initiatives, including wellness and a strong focus on reducing worker's comp costs, we've been able to reduce our annual insurance premiums by 84%. Keeping those costs low allows us to maintain a higher level of benefits to all employees."
  – Rachel Frazier, Vice President—Human Resources and Training, 1st United Services Credit Union
• "We firmly believe wellness will lower our health care costs over the long term."
  – Mark Sherwin, President, CENTRIA
• "We have a deliberate approach of helping employees understand that there's a tradeoff. If they have a healthier lifestyle and make healthier choices, it enables the organization to keep rates down and keep cost sharing down."
  – David Schutt, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, SAE International

The importance of employee education

• "Education is what makes a successful benefit program. Employees have to understand and appreciate the benefits."
  – Janet Owens, Vice President—Benefits and Welfare, North Island Credit Union
• "I think communication is huge. I do a lot of one-on-one meetings with employees. When they have life changes, such as the birth of a child, I talk to them about where they need to be. The overall result has been that enrollment in many of our benefits has gone up steadily each year."
  – Julia Michaux, human resources manager, Torch Technologies
• "Employee education is an integral part of our success. We hold town meetings at all of our locations four times a year. During those meetings, we share the company results, good and bad. We review the details of the company. After 12 years, we have employees who are business people. They have an understanding of what it takes to run a successful business and what their contributions and responsibilities are. That creates an amazing understanding of the company."
  – Rob Leighton, Director of Human Resources, CENTRIA
• "Our employee focus groups have been a resounding success. They're a great opportunity to get feedback and educate at the same time. Communication is essential, and it needs to work both ways."
  – Connie Rank-Smith, Vice President Human Resources, Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company
• "We offer education without a lot of glitz. It's the three ‘Rs'—read, retain and react. We present the information in a simple way that makes it easy for employees to retain and react to."
  – John McClain, Vice President of Human Resources, NORCAL Mutual Insurance Company