I received a phone call from Zethu*. She is a Chartered Accountant and has her own accounting firm. Her mom’s PA had died a few weeks earlier. She shared with me how difficult things were financially that she ended up carrying most of the costs of the funeral. Her brief to me was; “ Phume, I need a solution so that this does NOT happen again. Should any of my 6 staff members or their close family member pass on, I want to be better prepared financially”  I stretched her and I asked “ What if one of them who has been with you for a long time goes on pension? Would you not feel happy to know that you can give them a nice pension cheque?” She agreed. I then said to her: “ Let me come back to you with an Employee Benefits Solution for your 6 staff members then you can choose what is most necessary and within your budget”

I sent request for quotes to at least 5 insurance and investment companies and a few days later, I got back to Zethu with the following solution;

1. Life Cover equivalent to 1 x annual salary for all 6 employees – this goes together with trauma cover and funeral cover of R30 000 per person for the employee, spouse and children – R895
2. Funeral cover for grandparents, parents, in-laws, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, etc…. Each adult person’s funeral cover is also starting at R30 000   – R1 195
3. Group Tax-free investment with a contribution of R500 per employee. This will enable Zethu to give her staff members a bonus of at least R4 000 every January to assist towards school fees – R3 000
4. RA for 4 of the employees as the other 2 are still graduate interns and could leave the company at the end of their in-service training – monthly contribution of R400 per employee  – R1 600

TOTAL COST OF THE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SOLUTION PER MONTH  – R6 690

I picked the most affordable quotes from the 5 companies as this was not budgeted for and Zethu was going to be contributing 100% in the beginning. We agreed that she would improve on the existing benefits over time but at least she has put the basics in place. To my pleasant surprise, she accepted the solution and pointed out that she was happy about the fact that I had approached different companies to be able to give her the most affordable solution. Another key point I factored for the investment solution was lower fees and good historical performance of the investment funds I chose for her employees

Offering employee benefits to your staff members is not just going to help you in times of crisis, but it is one of the most fulfilling sacrifices that you can make. Also, you are likely to have happier staff, better staff loyalty and retention as a result. So if you are wondering whether you should offer your staff benefits, drop us an email info@thuthuka-sa.co.za we will look for an employee benefits solution for you that is most suited to your specific circumstance and it will be most affordable as we work with a number of investment and insurance companies to obtain the best quote for you.