A Comparison of Insurance and Pension Plans in Large and Small Firms

Abstract

The study reported in this article was designed to identify the specific insurance and retirement benefits which the small plan may be lacking in comparison with larger firms and evaluate how small business managers may stretch benefit dollars. The findings indicate that most large firms offer superior benefit packages and utilize contributory approaches, where the employee contributes to the cost of the benefit, more extensively than small firms. It is suggested that contributory approaches may help the small business manager increase benefits in a manner that more effectively allocates company expenditures only to employees who need the coverage while decreasing the company's cost of providing benefits.