Future Proofing your Business and your Team

Are you doing it yet?

What is it?

Employee benefits covers a broad range of areas these days.

Think about it….salary sacrifice for an electric car scheme, gym membership, high street discounts, holiday buy-backs. It all adds up to ensuring your team save money, feel valued and live a happier, healthier life. Rewarding loyalty to your business also goes a long way.

But what about financial wellness how important is that to your business and your team?

Financial wellness is a huge area that impacts us all these days. More so now than ever with the increases to cost of living, rising mortgage payments and supporting yourself and your family.  This puts pressure on us, our mental wellbeing and focus when we come into work or around our friends.

How are you supporting your team’s financial wellness?

How are your team thinking about their financial health – both now and for their future? We all love holidays, new clothes, bigger houses but what about the simple things in life such as, ‘I never seem to have any savings’, ‘I can never budget’, ‘I don’t understand financial products so I ignore them’.

We’ll help guide your team through these all-too-common thoughts.

Take our quiz

What’s in it for me?

Every business owner wants to attract, motivate and retain the best people and we need to appreciate that financial worries will impact the focus and productivity of your team.

Equipping your team with guidance and knowledge on financial matters they have – until now – ignored can be a huge help. It might just be the helpful nudge from a caring employer that they may thank you for.

Why are we doing this?

We’re an Edinburgh-based financial advisory business so this is what we do. We help people with their financial wellness every day. We do it for our own team and we know the impact it has. We’d like to help you and your team enjoy the same benefits as we do.

Book a consultation
Next Steps

Have a look at our “employer to employee document” that explains how we could support your team. And why not try our Financial Wellness survey? It only takes a few minutes and it’ll give you feedback on your current position, identify any obvious gaps and a plan of how to close them.

Download Guide

What is this?

Your hopes, challenges and needs will depend on what stage of your business life you are in. Click on one of the icons below that best represents your situation. 

Are you a:

New business

(within 2 years)

  • What package do you need to offer to attract the best people?
  • Would your business survive the loss (either that of a serious illness or death) of a key person?
  • Do you have the cashflow available to pay for long-term sickness whilst recruiting for a replacement?
This is me

Young & maturing business

(2 - 10 years)

  • You’ll have the same considerations as ‘new business’ AND:
  • In addition to cashflow you’ll typically have debt which you’ll have acquired for growth. When people situations happen as they do, how will you cover your debt/obligations?
  • It’s easier to retain than to recruit good people. So what ‘employee benefits’ might resonate with them and their families?
This is me

Established business

(10+ years)

  • You’ll have the same considerations as ‘new business and young & maturing’ AND:
  • What if a partner / shareholder dies? is there sufficient cash in the business to pay the value of these shares to the beneficiaries? How would you feel about their partner wanting to have a role in the business? Would they have the knowledge or expertise?
This is me

Employee Benefits to Advantages to Team Member

  • Feels valued. Feels their employer cares
  • Peace of mind that both they and their family are looked after
  • Quicker treatments if and when needed
  • Access to medical professionals covering early intervention, rehabilitation & mental health

Employee Benefits to Advantages to Employer

  • Makes recruitment easier as your offering is different from your competitors
  • Retains people who value a more holistic package of support
  • Your people may avoid being off work or will return to work quicker with ongoing mental health support
  • Has tax deductible advantages at the same time on corporation tax
  • Protects company profits if people are off long term sick
image of business team

This is not a one size fits all solution, it reflects the knowledge and experience we have built up working with different companies over the last 10 years.

Please note the solutions listed in these groups above can be modular as we appreciate cashflow is important, Therefore these may be adapt to fit your business. Please also click here for the example of how these solutions can save your business on tax.

There may be other needs that you have that we’ve not included in the examples below, and that’s where we can discuss these with you in more detail, in the meantime feel free to have a look through our site at www.strategicwealthsolutions.co.uk/corporateplanning or contact us directly.

Newer Business

(established within 2 years)

Who are they?

Typically 1-5 people in the business within 2 years old and establishing themselves within their industry.

Potential Planning Solutions

  • Key Person Life/Critical Illness
    • paid for by the business but pays out a lump sum to cover the loss of as key person either in death or critically ill and allows you capital recoup their loss of income in the short term, replace them, or repay company loans that their income would have brought in to cover.
  • Private Medical Insurance
    • get people seen to quicker which means they return to work quicker and save stress over potential health problems.
  • Executive Income Protection Cover
    • covers employee’s income in the event of accident/illness long term even up to their retirement thus protecting company profits
  • Relevant Life Cover
    • offers a cost-effective way of providing life cover with terminal illness cover for your employees

Employer Benefit

  • Key Person Insurance = helps keep a business healthy
  • Private Medical Insurance = gets your people seen quicker and thus return to work quicker
  • Executive Income Protection* = take financial strain out of your business
  • Relevant Life insurance* = a cost-effective way to offer employee life cover
  • Well-being Support = your people have access to mental health professional support
  • Rehabilitation support = gets you people a quicker recovery and thus a speedier return to work
  • *HMRC usually allows premiums for Executive Income Protection and Relevant Life may be treated as an allowable business expense, with corporation tax relief available and no additional income tax or National Insurance to pay.

Working Example​

Meet ‘Dave’, a 39 year old, with a salary of £30,000 is a non-smoker and is in good overall health (all working examples assume these factors); You decided to give Dave;

– Relevant Life Cover 4 x his salary (£120,000) on his death, payable to his family (tax free) – Dave doesn’t have life cover so this is important to him.

– Private Medical Cover to cover Dave, his wife and child as he hears about waiting times on NHS to be seen and doesn’t want that for him or his family – neither do you as the employer!

– Income Protection Cover which after a 3 month deferment period pays Dave 60% of his salary (£18,000 per annum) either until he returns to work or retires so he can continue to pay his bills as he has no savings or plan B if off long term due to accident or illness.

Cost to the employer*

Relevant Life Cover at 4x salary = £9.54 per month

Income Protection Cover = £35.87 per month

Private Medical Insurance = £65 per month

*Example assumes Dave’s RLC and IP gets full tax relief & qualifies as an allowable business expense

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