How tech startups are helping employee retention

Replacing employees is expensive, time consuming and, above all, avoidable. Ok, not completely avoidable – career ladders dictate that people must move up or on – but manageable.

To paraphrase rule 34 of the internet (Google it), if a problem exists someone, somewhere, is trying to disrupt or solve it. As such, it is no surprise that startups are focusing their agile and  creative efforts on fixing hindrances like employee retention, with world class innovators putting HR issues in their sights.

And it’s a good job too. Employee replacement is an incredibly expensive process with estimates suggesting that costs incurred can range anywhere between six to nine months worth of pay for that employee. So, hypothetically speaking, for a manager making $60,000 a year, it could cost as much as $45,000 just to train their replacement who, by the way, you will also be paying a salary for.

Luckily, HR platforms like GoCo are making at least one process of talent retention easier – by giving employees access to the best benefits they can get. The platform has just released a free – yup, free – benefits calculator to help businesses and their human resource teams across the United States to provide employees with an easy way to find and create a tailored health plan which is best for them, based on questions about their family and their health.

Benefits may not seem like a huge deal to some but – and here’s the thing – a survey of 2,100 chief financial officers found that a lack of good benefits (and salary) was probably the main reason that employees jump ship. With that in mind it’s probably worth investing some time into making sure your employees are getting the right benefits packages for them.

The calculator is available via an online link, and is free to use by all employees throughout the US, regardless as to whether or not their employer uses GoCo for their HR software. Employees merely answer a series of questions to be provided with a cost-benefit analysis of the plans suited to their particular profile. GoCo’s new tool uses an algorithm (hey, who doesn’t?) to make it easier than ever before for employees to decide which health and insurance packages are right for them, based on their own personal circumstances.

Tools like this will help cement employee-employer relations in the long run. The platform from GoCO – and others like it – will build a more efficient market for employee benefits, reducing disgruntlement and preventing employees from seeking other options elsewhere. This will, obviously, result in less dollars being wasted through unnecessary recruitment processes.