Employee benefits to offer besides better pay

RCS Influencer Trent Cotney says that companies should offer benefits like healthcare or gym memberships to help retain their employees.

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of a conversation between Megan Ellsworth, our multimedia manager, and Trent Cotney, partner of Adams and Reese. You can listen to the interview or read the transcript below.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth, back again for a RCS influencer response, and I'm here with Trent Cotney. Hi, Trent.

Trent Cotney: Hey, how's it going?

Megan Ellsworth: Going good. I'm excited for this topic, it's all about benefits, helping out your employees, which I think is so important, so let's just dive right in. This month's question for November 2023 is, what should roofing companies be looking at around employee benefits for the upcoming year?

Trent Cotney: Yeah. I think employee benefits are a great way, regardless of whether you're talking about admin or you're talking about crew or whatever, it's a great way for retention, and it's not all about pay, it's about what other benefits do you provide. The obvious ones are healthcare, and dental, and vision, that kind of stuff. But I see contractors doing it in a couple of different ways, right? One, they will provide all or offset a portion of the cost for their employees. The other is, they give them group options so the employee pays for it but at least you've got the option where you get access to it. Some contractors have gotten very creative with benefits. I've seen everything from gym memberships to pet insurance to you name it, right? And I think a lot of it is about finding out what your employees want and what makes sense from the company perspective. Again, I think this is a great way to ensure retention, keep people in place, keep them happy, and I think you're seeing more and more contractors offer the full complement of benefits.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Wow, pet insurance, that is cool, I'd be into that. What are some other kind of unique things besides just health insurance that you've seen contractors do for their employees?

Trent Cotney: Yeah, so it ranges everything from retirement mechanisms like 401Ks or even pension plans, that kind of stuff, to actual employee ownership through ESOPS. A lot of companies ... Obviously, private equity is red hot right now and buying and selling. Roofing companies dominates the headlines but some companies are looking internally to divest ownership within long-term employees so ESOP plans may be a way to do that, provide some owner investment to your key employees. And, again, it's all about keeping your employees happy and ensuring that they'll be around to help you continue to grow. The cost to replace a good employee, I think they estimated it's about 125% of one year salary so once you factor in the lost productivity, the cost to find somebody else, to get them up to speed, all of that, you're probably looking at about that so it's anything that you can do to help encourage your employees to stick around is a good thing.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Especially in this economy, absolutely, we want to retain and keep our companies solid. Thank you so much for such a great response. Any last words on this topic going into 2024?

Trent Cotney: Now's the time, right? I mean, it's open enrollment, you want to make sure that you're doing everything you can to get the best rates. Find a good agent, they'll help navigate these things. Oftentimes, your HR payroll service will assist with some extra add-on benefits, but see what's out there. Check the associations as well. There's a lot of different associations throughout the industry, including NRCA, that offer benefits to workers. NRCA has its own healthcare plan that it offers to contractors so check all that stuff out, it's worth taking a look at.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. Yeah, and everyone should go check out the NRCA Health Program. You can find that at their directory on rooferscoffeeshop.com. You can also find more information on the Adams and Reese Directory at Roofers Coffee Shop for all this kind of stuff so, Trent, thank you so much, this has been great.

Trent Cotney: Thank you. Good seeing you.

Megan Ellsworth: Fabulous. Well, we'll be chatting next month.