TO KEEP EMPLOYEES Businessmen urged to draw up better benefits plan

As businesses find it hard to provide attractive benefits to keep their employees, an investment expert yesterday said employers must find a way to offer original, creative or customized retirement plan to meet the needs of each individual worker.

Every single employee has a custom designed program serving only his or her own needs. “By offering personalized financial consultations for each employee, at no cost to the company, as opposed to imposing one benefit (i.e., a retirement plan) or everyone, regardless of their interest or needs, the results should be dramatically different,” said Carl Peterson, president of Money Resources Inc.

Speaking before the monthly meeting of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Peterson noted that employers find it hard to constantly increase minimum wage to satisfy the needs of the workers. With this, the most ideal situation is not to have any minimum wage at all so that people are forced to develop their skills better and able to demonstrate better the value of their services. When people improve their skills, he said, they would be able to stand up and become stronger to choose wherever they want to work and get higher pay.

Employees who are constantly looking for better benefits should consider setting up their own businesses where they would be able to harness their skills and show their abilities. The government can do its share by reducing the entry requirement in setting up businesses, he added.

As part of the company’s benefits program, maintaining a retirement plan for employees costs money and certain constraints as authorities monitor whether employees are equally receiving the same benefit. “When that happens, the plan becomes an entitlement, forcing management to come up with a whole new benefit if they intend to have an incentive to attract and encourage employee longevity.
Naturally, the long-term effect will increase the cost of employment and, as a community, it will increase the cost of living through increased prices,” said Mr. Peterson.

Many employers commit to partially or fully fund certain benefits, when the economy is good. However, when the economy declines, the benefit is usually reduced or at worse, the retirement program is terminated.