Employee benefits: Insurance for full and part-time workers
When you’re considering working for a specific company, you need to look at the type of insurance benefits that it offers.
The type of insurance that you get depends on the company you work for and whether you plan on working on a full-time or part-time basis.
This article will teach you everything you need to know about insurance benefits, including the different types of insurance, the difference between insurance for full-time and part-time employees, and what kind of insurance eight popular employers, including Amazon, offer.
What is employee insurance?
An employee benefits insurance plan refers to the type of insurance benefits that a business offers its staff members. It typically includes the following basic coverage:
Group term life insurance
Medical insurance
Accidental death and dismemberment policies
Prescription drug plan
However, some other companies also offer their employees added insurance benefits, such as dental and vision plans, retirement plans, disability insurance, etc.
Different types of employee insurance
Here are the six different types of insurance that companies offer their employees:
1. Health insurance
Health insurance is a type of insurance policy that pays medical expenses due to illness. In 2020, 54.4% of the U.S. population had health insurance coverage through their workplaces.
Employers choose the health insurance plan that they give their employees. Most employers choose Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans or Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans.
HMO plans require employees only to visit approved doctors, while PPO plans allow employees to choose their own doctors, but they pay for the convenience with high deductibles.
In 2020, 61% of employers in the U.S. reported that they offer their employees PPO health insurance.
2. Dental and vision plans
Dental and vision plans provide coverage for routine teeth and eye exams, as well as discounts on contacts and eyeglasses used to correct vision problems. These plans are supplemental — meaning that they’re not included in other insurance plans.
If an employer doesn’t offer these plans as a benefit, the employee needs to purchase a dental and vision plan or opt into a supplemental plan offered by their workplace.
3. Life insurance
Life insurance is a contractual agreement in which an insurance company agrees to pay a sum of money to a beneficiary based on an event. These events usually include death and being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Life insurance allows an individual to pay a monthly premium to an insurance company. In return, the insurance company promises to pay out the money to their beneficiaries, such as family members, when the individual dies.
If an employee gets life insurance as a benefit at their workplace, the employer usually pays the monthly premium to the insurance company.
4. Accidental death and dismemberment insurance
Accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance is a policy that pays out when an employee accidentally dies or loses a critical physical function or limb — such as vision, speech, hand, leg, etc.
Unlike life insurance, AD&D only pays out in certain instances of death by accident and not for illness or natural causes.
5. Retirement plans
Retirement planning refers to financial methods, such as investments and savings, that help a person save for when they retire.
The purpose of a retirement plan is to provide financial stability to individuals so that they can leave their jobs when they reach a specific age.
A pension and 401(k) are both employer-sponsored retirement plans. However, a pension is a defined-benefit plan, and a 401(k) is a defined-contribution plan.
The key difference is that a defined-benefit plan provides a specific amount of money for retirement, while a defined-contribution plan allows employees and employers to contribute funds for retirement.
6. Disability insurance
Disability insurance pays funds that roughly equal an employee's salary if they become sick or injured and cannot work.
In many ways, disability insurance is like insurance for your paycheck, as it often covers everything from total disability due to a bodily injury and rehabilitation, as well as the short period after recovering from your disability.
Disability insurance covers almost all types of accidental injuries and illnesses. Here are some of the different types of disability insurance plans:
Long-term disability insurance: Pays out funds monthly if a worker becomes too ill or injured to work. Depending on your plan, the benefit period can last for two, five, or ten years, or even until retirement.
Short-term disability insurance: Pays out funds that replace up to 60% of your pre-tax income.
Mortgage disability insurance: A type of long-term disability insurance that specifically covers your mortgage payments.
Supplemental disability insurance: Covers the gap between benefits paid by your employer (sponsored disability plans) and the full amount you need to cover your expenses.
Social Security disability insurance: Provides payouts to some U.S. workers with disabilities. However, the process can take three to five months.
Disability overhead expense insurance: A type of business insurance specifically for small business owners to pay for the business’ overhead costs and payouts if the business owner becomes ill or disabled and can’t work.
Insurance for part-time vs. full-time employees
Full-time work refers to employment where an employee generally works between 35 and 40 hours per week. However, the number of hours worked depends on the specific employer and area.
For example, workers in California are seen as full-time employees when they work at least 40 hours a week. On the other hand, employees in Australia only work 35 hours a week to be seen as full-time workers.
Part-time employees have flexible working arrangements, which means they work fewer hours than full-time employees — usually less than 30 hours per week.
Many workplaces primarily offer insurance benefits to full-time employees. However, some companies offer benefits to other workers, even if they are temporary or part-time workers.
Often, part-time workers will get some insurance benefits or a different insurance plan altogether.
For example, full-time employees at the United States Postal Service (USPS) are eligible to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program. In contrast, part-time employees are eligible to participate in the United States Postal Service Health Benefit (USPSHB) Program. These are two different plans that provide different coverage.
Insurance benefits at popular companies
Here are the insurance benefits that top employers offer:
Amazon
As the largest online marketplace in the world, Amazon is a desirable employer to workers from around the world due to its excellent employee benefits program. The company continues to grow, creating 500,000 new jobs in 2020 alone.
Amazon offers medical, dental, and vision insurance to all its full-time employees regardless of their position or time at the company.
The company has two health insurance plans:
A shared deductible health plan: This plan is self-funded by Amazon, which means that the company is responsible for paying the plan. As such, Amazon determines eligibility for this plan.
Health Savings Account (HSA): A health savings account is a lot like a personal savings account; however, its fees are used to pay for health expenses. You alone control the fees that are in your HSA.
In addition to the health benefits, Amazon also offers a 401(k) plan, life insurance, and disability insurance to employees who work 30+ hours per week.
Learn more about other benefits that Amazon offers.
Target
In 2021, Target operated close to 1,900 stores across the U.S. The corporation takes great care of its employees and their family members.
Target offers health insurance to its staff members who work more than 30 hours a week on average. The corporation also offers a 401(k) plan which employees can apply for once they’ve worked and earned wages for 1,000 hours.
It also offers life and disability insurance to all its staff members. However, policies for these insurance plans vary based on the employee’s specific job position and location.
Learn more about other benefits that Target offers.
ALDI
ALDI provides its employees with a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HBA). The company pays money into its staff members’ HBA accounts that can be used for medical expenses.
Employees also have the opportunity to earn incentives to offset their medical deductibles. Due to this, ALDI employees pay almost half of what employees at other companies pay for healthcare.
In addition to its excellent health insurance, ALDI also offers dental and vision care plans, as well as a 401(k) plan that employees are immediately eligible for once they’re hired.
Learn more about other benefits that ALDI offers.
Dollar Tree
Dollar Tree offers medical, dental, vision, life, and short-and long-term disability insurance to eligible employees.
This company also offers Health and Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts, which are pre-tax benefit accounts that pay for dependent care services. These include preschool, before or after school programs, summer day camp, and child or adult daycare.
The company also offers accidental death and dismemberment insurance, which covers certain causes of death.
Learn more about other benefits that Dollar Tree offers.
FedEx
FedEx is very committed to the wellness of its employees, which is why it offers a group health benefits program where monthly premiums are 100% paid by the company.
A new employee only becomes eligible for extended health and dental coverage after 90 days of working at the company.
FedEx also provides its workers with an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to keep its employees happy. This confidential counseling service helps employees with their well-being in the workplace and in their personal lives.
In addition to all these health benefits, the company also offers a 401(k) plan, profit-sharing, and defined contribution pension plans.
Learn more about other benefits that FedEx offers.
Home Depot
Home Depot’s benefits package offers insurance to both their full-time and part-time employees.
Full-time employees: Once a full-time employee has worked at Home Depot for 90 days, enrollment opens for health insurance coverage for themselves and their dependents. Additionally, they also get dental reimbursements and vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, and AD&D insurance.
Part-time employees: Employees who work at Home Depot part-time don’t get health insurance coverage. However, they’re eligible for some other insurance types such as life insurance, dental and vision care, and disability insurance.
Learn more about other benefits that Home Depot offers.
USPS
As mentioned above, USPS participates in the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, which provides excellent health coverage for its full-time employees.
With many plans available, including Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), Fee-For-Service, and more, employees have coverage for themselves and their dependents.
Additionally, employees are eligible to participate in the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP).
Lastly, the USPS also provides pension and disability coverage to its workers. The employee's age and years of service determine whether they’re eligible for this benefit.
Learn more about other benefits that USPS offers.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s offers excellent career development opportunities to its staff members and comprehensive employee benefit plans as well.
Its employees get medical and vision insurance coverage, occupational accident insurance, and supplemental workers’ compensation.
Manager-level employees at restaurants and corporate levels also get basic life insurance coverage.
As for retirement plans, McDonald’s has a 401(k) plan that matches 100% of the employee’s contribution.
Learn more about other benefits that McDonald’s offers.
Apply for a job that suits your needs
Insurance benefits differ depending on the type of job you have and the hours you work.
Now that you know what type of insurance benefits exist and what kind of insurance the most popular companies offer, you have a baseline to determine what’s most important to you.
Learn more about what employee benefits are and how you can make the best of them.
I’m pretty sure that every company open has passed the 40 hour limit. It was no overtime now I’ve noticed that people can have as much overtime as they want because of Covid.