Unfortunately, many small companies find shopping for health insurance to be a traumatic experience. When employees learn about the new plan, there is always complaining about switching doctors, the cost of the insurance and services that are excluded. While there will always be some dissatisfaction, you can make the process go much smoother by involving your employees from the beginning.

A quick, anonymous survey through a website like SurveyMonkey can help you gauge your employees’ interest in health insurance features. The more detailed your survey, the better idea you’ll have of what your plan should look like.

• How happy are you with your current health insurance situation?
• What features would you change in the current healthcare plan?
• Which healthcare features are most important to you?
• Are you more worried about regular or emergency costs?
• How important are prescription costs to you?
• Many services like optical care are excluded from some health insurance plans. Which services would you like to see in your plan?
• How much would you mind changing your current doctor if it meant a reduction in premiums?

After you narrow your selection down to a few options, have your designated insurance broker come to your office on company time to meet with employees. Health insurance can be confusing, and a meeting with an expert can answer many employee questions and relieve fears before your office gets overwhelmed with confused employees.

After you choose a health insurance plan, show your employees how much it is worth through COMpackage’s Total Compensation Reports.

1. What accomplishments are you most proud of?
Pay attention to not only how impressive the accomplishments are, but also to how they demonstrate the candidate’s willingness to take the initiative. Self motivated employees can do their jobs without constant supervision or motivational tricks.

2. How would you _______?
This question is designed to test technical knowledge. While candidates may claim to have experience in your industry, a question like this will test whether or not they actually knows what they are doing.

3. Talk about some of your biggest failures or regrets.
This question tests honesty and sense of personal responsibility. Does the candidate take responsibility for their failures or do they blame others? Do they learn from mistakes?

4. If I were to call someone who doesn’t like you, what would that person say about you?
This is a great way to indirectly ask interviewees about their weaknesses. While many applicants come prepared with an answer for the question, “what are your weaknesses,” asking what others think of them can elicit a more transparent response.

5. How have you handled conflict with coworkers in the past?
We all have had at least one conflict with a coworker in the past. If the applicant denies ever having a conflict, dig a little deeper. This question is valuable for helping you determine whether or not a candidate is a good team player.

6. Give me an example of a stressful situation at work and how you handled it. What did you do well? What could you have done better?
The ability to work under pressure is what separates good employees from great ones. For this question, look for specific answers that illustrate strength under pressure.

7. Tell me about the strengths and weaknesses of your last boss.
This can reveal how your applicant reacts to authority. Does he have plenty of bad things to say about his last boss? Does he respond well to professional criticism? Ask for specific examples to back up his evaluation.

You can view a sample of COMPackage’s employee benefit statement.

Follow an outline. While you can add other things to your job description, make sure you include at least these five items:

1. Title
2. Department
3. Responsibilities
4. Qualifications
5. Preferences

Be specific. Don’t just say that your applicants need “computer skills.” Do they need to know industry-specific programs or just Microsoft Office? How advanced does their knowledge need to be?

Make the responsibilities section as complete as possible. One of the top reasons people quit their jobs is that the job never met their expectation. By accurately describing the job up front, you can reduce your turnover rate.

Know the difference between qualifications and preferences. Qualifications are only the minimum requirements necessary to perform the job, while preferences are the skills you might like to see in a candidate. Be careful about listing your preferences as requirements – the best candidates don’t always fit the predetermined ideal.

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Remember that you can find well-written job descriptions on job boards like Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com. There’s nothing wrong with using these descriptions as your guide as you write your own.

Don’t discriminate. If you don’t want to get sued, be extremely careful that your job description doesn’t discriminate based on age, race, sex, nationality, religion or disability. If the job does carry with it legitimate physical requirements, spell those out in detail.

Learn more about innovative employee benefits software from COMPackage. Sign up for a free demo today.

So, what are the downsides of infrequent performance reviews?

1. Employees don’t have any feedback on what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong, etc. In turn, they continue doing things the same way and never progress as a worker. In the end, both parties are held back from reaching their maximum potential.

2. Out of touch for too long. Let’s be honest, there are times when you go month after month without speaking to some employees. While this is more common in large companies, it happens everywhere. Business owners need to share their vision with employees at every turn in the road. With an annual performance review, you will have time to focus on each employee’s contribution to the company.

3. One missed review can cause future trouble for you (the owner), the employee, and others in the company. Take this situation, for example. You have to fire an office manager because he failed to meet your expectations. While you have the right to do so, wouldn’t it be better for both parties to discuss this in a performance review?

Performance reviews need to occur regardless of salary expectations, such as a raise. It is not always about money. A review shows leadership and coaching, while ensuring that employees are growing and moving towards company goals.

Now do you see the downside of infrequent performance reviews? Avoid falling into this trap, or face the trouble outlined above

If you aren’t familiar with our product, COMPackage allows any sized companies to easily, securely and inexpensively generate Total Compensation Reports to show employees what they’re really getting paid.

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