Every week brings changes to your construction workforce, whether it’s a new employee joining your crew or a new project starting. While your schedules and staff move quickly to keep up with project demands, the same can’t be said for the health benefits your construction company offers.
While static plans don’t always reflect the reality of your business, there’s another health benefits strategy that offers greater alignment with how your team works, with more flexibility than traditional options.
Individually Covered Health Reimbursement Agreements (ICHRAs) are built for your ever-changing construction workforce. They offer your construction company a way to offer health coverage that gives employees choices about their coverage while keeping your finances in check.
Before making your next benefits decision, consider how ICHRAs align with your workforce and operations.
What are ICHRAs and how do they work?
ICHRAs offer an alternative type of health benefit: employer-sponsored coverage for miscellaneous and mobile construction equipment that puts flexibility and choice at the center. Instead of having your HR department purchase a traditional group health insurance plan that covers everyone, set up an “endowment” for employees to purchase their own plan.
This “defined contribution” is provided on a pre-tax basis to employees, who then invest those funds in any individual health insurance plan they choose, either with a known national carrier or a cost-effective marketplace option.
Regardless of the size of your workforce—a handful of skilled tradespeople or hundreds or even thousands of field and office staff—you can offer an ICHRA.
The process is simple:
- You choose the level of contribution for each class of employees (hourly employees, salaried employees, etc.).
- Your employees evaluate their options and sign up in a plan that fits your needs.
- Your employees are reimbursed for eligible insurance costs up to the amount you agreed to provide.
Modern health benefits that fit your business
ICHRAs allow you to offer tailored benefits, ensuring that the right people—high-value employees and hard-to-replace roles—remain on your roster. The flexibility offered by the plans can give you a recruiting advantage for critical positions such as project managers, skilled tradespeople and technology specialists.
Hiring staff for a large project typically means purchasing a group policy for an entire year, even if staffing needs decrease as the project winds down. But with an ICHRA, employers fund only active, eligible workers. You are not obligated to pay benefits when workers pass on.
ICHRAs also streamline the administration of HR benefits, particularly for multi-state or multi-site contractors. Instead of juggling multiple group plans and managing location-based restrictions, you can offer consistent benefits across all workplaces (and with far less administrative burden).
Finally, the financial benefits of ICHRAs can make it possible to offer benefits to a larger portion of your workforce, thereby reducing the risk and impact of injury claims. By giving more workers access to preventive care and timely treatment for non-work-related conditions, you can support a healthier workforce and potentially reduce the likelihood that minor health issues will become more serious concerns.
Empower crews with attention and portability options
ICHRAs make health coverage truly portable, providing significant benefits for your construction crews and especially for workers whose jobs and locations change frequently. As workers move from one project to another, or when they switch to another employer that offers an ICHRA, they can keep their plan; they will only go through the employer’s reimbursement. They can avoid interruptions in care and won’t have to re-enroll after a job change.
Unlike traditional group health insurance, which puts employees under a single plan, ICHRAs allow each crew member to choose the coverage they need based on their network preferences, pre-existing conditions or family situation.
ICHRAs provide employees with a financial advantage because employer contributions used for qualified medical expenses are not treated as taxable income. Compared to receiving the same amount as cash compensation, employees keep more of every dollar.
Health benefits that move as fast as your business
Rethinking your approach to health benefits with ICHRA is a unique way to build loyalty, protect your people, defend your bottom line and prepare your construction operation for the future.
ICHRAs give you and your workers real choice and control over health benefits. While your teams are busy building future cities, communities, and neighborhoods, you can show them how much they matter by offering them healthcare options that keep pace with their lives.
Learn more about ICHRAs.
For HR use only
