Flexible benefits for your seasonal team

Returning key seasonal employees are crucial to the success of any ski area. From seasonal managers to groomer operators and chefs, you need to recruit talented people and keep them coming back.

These employees have health and dental costs like the rest of us. They may need prescriptions, glasses, and physiotherapy. However, they’re often overlooked when it comes to group benefits, so avoid or delay treatments with detrimental effects to their health. Benefits can be a key motivator in deciding where to work and whether to stay or return.

If you can provide benefits for these important members of your team, you can keep them coming back giving your operation greater stability.

Blended benefits are the perfect fit

Our blended benefit plans follow a simple formula:

Claims + Admin Fees = Total Cost 

It’s that simple. Instead of paying year-round premiums to an insurance company, you pay only the cost of actual claims, plus a transparent admin fee, as low as 10%.

We often do this using a Health Spending Account (HSA). Like a bank account for each employee, HSAs provide the ultimate flexibility for your team and cost control for your resort.

You set your budget and contribute funds for each employee. These funds are tax-deductible for the business.

Employees use their funds to reimburse eligible medical expenses as they see fit. Dental checkups, massages, prescriptions, it’s up to them how they use their benefits!

Contribution schedules can be customized to fit your season and adjusted for different employee groups. Balances can accumulate, be reset after a period, or even be invested in a Group RRSP.

Customizations to match your recruitment and retention goals

The flexibility of HSAs means we can create a unique program that matches your goals. Renewal dates, contributions, and handling of unused funds can all be customized when we set up your plan. A few examples are:

Aligning contributions with employment

Unlike insurance premiums, which are paid for a full year, you can plan to contribute to the HSA only during those months that seasonal employees are working. Either make the contribution when they’re hired or spread it out over the season. You don’t pay when they’re not on the payroll.

A bonus for returning employees

HSAs can be set up with an initial contribution that’s above and beyond regular funding. You could use this feature to give a kind of returning bonus for your team. Just like all HSA funds, it would be tax free for them to use on eligible medical expenses.

Rollover unused funds to a Group RRSP

Seasonal employment can make budgeting tough, and many of your team members struggle to save for their future. Blendable HSAs can be set up so that unused funds are rolled over into a Group RRSP. This gives everyone fair and equitable treatment, whether they need the funds for medical expenses or not. By aligning the rollover with the start of a new season, you can make this option available only to those employees who return.

What about our year-round team?

Blended benefits can be a perfect solution for year-round employees too. Just like seasonal employees, we can give your team the flexibility they deserve in a benefits plan while keeping your costs contained.