“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.” --Brian G. Dyson President and CEO, Coca-Cola Enterprises during his speech at the Georgia Tech 172nd Commencement Address Sept. 6, 1996 (7)

I.             Health Benefits

Health benefits are the most widely offered type of benefits. These benefits can be fully paid for by the employer or can be just subsidized at a set amount or percentage of the actual costs. Health care is the biggest and most important part of the benefits package. Most businesses, according to O’Connor (6), start with health care, then follow it with dental care and then turn to other benefits. Also health insurance, life insurance and disability insurance are important for an employee to give him a sense of security.

A.   Medical Expenses Coverage
Paying for medical expenses of employees is one of the most expensive benefits; however, it is the most widely offered one (in USA). With rising health care costs, employees find it very appeasing to have the opportunity to share the costs with their employer, or to have all of the costs paid for. Aside from medical care, dental care, vision care and prescription drugs are often covered as well.

As with other benefits, this coverage can be fully subsidized, or an agreement on how much the employer will pay can be made. The expense of providing medical coverage makes employers nervous, as the costs are getting higher every year. Therefore, employers may eventually stop providing such coverage and, instead, give their employees the money to make their own decisions about insurance. However, for now such a change would be impractical due to tax alleviations and other policies. (6)

Recently, changing lifestyle has brought pressure on extending benefits to domestic partners. According to a study by the Hewitt Associates, 22% of companies were in 2000 offering such benefits for domestic partners. Moreover, 35% of those that didn’t offer these benefits were considering increasing the range of benefits to domestic partners. (For a graph of costs for domestic partners, please see Appendix III, figure 2.)

B.   Life Insurance
Workers want to have a long-term feeling of security, which can be given to them through a life insurance. When the insurance is paid for by the employer, a lot of expenditures are saved for the employee and the cost is lower than if the employee had to pay himself. It is said that a satisfied worker is a good worker, and the same holds with an employee who can feel more secure about his/her future.

Even though insurance is not as costly as medical coverage, it can be hard to fully pay for by smaller companies. Therefore the cost can be shared with the employee.
C.   Disability and Major Illness Insurance
Apart from providing long-term security, income protections can provide a regular and dependable income for an employee who is too ill or disabled to work. Employees thus feel they are protected against the financial effects of an illness or injury, and this increases their commitment to the organization.  The major illness insurance is often grouped with other employee benefits, such as Life Assurance or Income Protection. (10) 

Even though the costs of health benefits are high, benefits are a major factor in attracting and retaining high-caliber staff. Since the commitment and loyalty of employees is of high importance, providing even more costly medical health care can prove vital for the business. Also, providing a benefits package which includes both medical coverage and life insurance through some programs can save money. The city of New York, for example, has created several medical packages to help the employers and employees cope with the costs. (6)