Your school always looks to attract and retain the best mission-appropriate faculty and staff to help your students succeed. Your school’s benefits package serves as a powerful ally in this endeavor. Ensuring that your current and prospective employees are adequately protected illustrates for them that they are a valued part of your organization.
Group Long Term Disability (LTD) coverage is an essential component of your school’s benefits package for two reasons. The first is that LTD protects your employees’ incomes. The second is that it protects your school’s fiscal health, eliminating the need to pay duplicate salaries to both a disabled employee and the employee’s replacement.
Unfortunately, many schools encounter LTD claims at some point. The Business Office must fully understand your school’s LTD plan. Does your coverage provide the level of protection your employees and your school deserve?
Avoid looking only at the basic components of the plan and the bottom line. Investigate the coverage limits and consider the cost-benefit ratio of the available “extras.” Many Business Managers also overlook the value of “marketing” their benefits package to prospective and current employees to illustrate how the school cares for its faculty and staff.
As a result, employees often are unaware of the benefits that are available. This is understandable, particularly in the case of LTD coverage. Most people prefer not to consider the possibility of an extended disability. Be sure to explain this insurance benefit to both new hires and current staff.
Do all employees have copies of current LTD benefit booklets or certificates? Is there a series of amendments accompanying each booklet or certificate? If so, will your carrier provide a reprint so you don’t have to bother with myriad loose pages?
ISM Senior Field Advisor Peter Allen shares more about how you can ensure your LTD benefits are right for your employees and school, while saving you money.
Don’t wait until you have a claim to discover that an employee will receive less in benefits than he or she expects—or, worse, no benefits at all. As you compare, make value for the dollar a primary consideration. You can always find a lower premium, but not without compromising essential benefits.
Additional ISM Resources:
ISM’s Long Term Disability Insurance
The Source for Business and Operations Vol. 11 No. 2 Risk Management: Avoiding Scams
The Source for Business and Operations Vol. 2 No. 4 For the New Year . . . Items to Check in Your Group Long Term Disability Policy
Additional ISM resources for Gold members:
I&P Vol. 37 No. 12 Key Advice on Shaping Your Employee Health Benefits Plans
