Do Health Benefits Actually Retain Employees? The Small-Business Math

Replacing a trained employee typically costs somewhere between a few months' and half a year's salary in recruiting, ramp-up, and lost momentum. Against that number, a $350 monthly health allowance stops looking like an expense line and starts looking like turnover insurance.

What the trade looks like

Benefits rarely win bidding wars against big-company salaries — what they do is take the everyday reason to leave off the table. Employees who'd never quit over a 5% raise elsewhere absolutely quit over a health scare with no coverage.

The structure matters less than the existence: a QSEHRA, an ICHRA, a level-funded plan — each signals the same thing at different price points. Start at the rung you can sustain; downgrading later is the one move that damages trust.

Run your number

Count what losing your best person would actually cost this year. If a benefits budget is a fraction of that, the retention math has already answered the question — the remaining work is picking the structure, which is a free conversation with a licensed agent.