Dennis Jenkins, president of ABC Home & Commercial Services, Dallas, Texas, shares the employee benefits his company offers.
Employee benefits are a mix of practical, personal
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When it comes to the 401(k) and health insurance offerings, we try to make these benefits better with longevity. The longer you have been with our company, the better these benefits get. This holds true in most companies when it comes to the number of days of vacation, but we have always tried to entice people to stay with us and make a career by making other benefits richer if they are with us for more years.
On the 401(k), the match the company gives gets better and better the longer you stay up, until 10 years. When you enroll in the 401(k), the company makes a 10 percent match for your contribution. This match grows to 25 percent at three years, 50 percent at five years and 100 percent at 10 years.
On health insurance, we charge a small amount for employee-only coverage, and new employees pay the full amount for family coverage. Once you have been at the company three years, we pay 25 percent of the family coverage. At five years, that grows to 50 percent and at 10 years we pay the entire amount for family coverage.
Both of these benefits are designed to entice employees to stay with us, as well as make them think twice about leaving us to take another job. Some refer to this type of benefit as ‘Golden Handcuffs’ because it makes it difficult to want to leave once you attain the highest levels of matches.
Other than that, we try to create memories together. We have an annual company picnic, and all employees and their families are invited. We have this at a facility that has indoor as well as outdoor areas. We play the classic picnic games, and some invented ones. We have a karaoke machine set up, so that those who want to perform in front of their co-workers can have fun. We serve food and give two drink tickets to each employee. We take pictures of everyone participating in the various activities, and some of those pictures are printed, framed and displayed in our building.
We have an annual Christmas party and we allow one guest per employee to come. We hold this part at a very nice hotel and have a fantastic meal together. We recognize all of those crossing the one-, three-, five-, seven- and 10-year mark. The 10-year employees get a gold ring with the company logo on it, and every two years after that, we add a diamond to the ring.
We also have a prize giveaway; employees bring in toys to donate to a local charity for needy children and for each toy they bring, they get another ticket for a chance at the prizes as well as one ticket just for attending. We were not able to do this in 2020 due to COVID-19, so we had a virtual party with cash prizes that included the cost of the party. We gave away $21,000 in cash, but we also took 2,312 toys to the charity we support.
We have monthly opportunities for employees to serve in a couple of the charitable organizations we support. While this may not exactly sound like a benefit, we go to dinner together afterward, and this helps to create memories together. It is hard to say that trying to create memories and have a relationship with our employees is actually a benefit, but I would say most of those who partake in these opportunities would agree it is very enjoyable.
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