Attract Skilled Trades Employees with Benefits & Pensions

The Revolving Door is Costing You a Fortune

You know the feeling. You spend months finding a great journeyperson or a promising apprentice. You get them trained on your systems, introduce them to your clients, and they become a key part of your crew. Then, one day, they give their notice. They got an offer from a bigger company, one with a benefits plan.

We see this scenario play out constantly with our clients who own plumbing, HVAC, and electrical contracting businesses. The frustration is real. But the cost is even more significant. Losing a good employee isn't just an inconvenience; it's a direct hit to your bottom line.

Think about the real costs of employee turnover:

• Recruiting Costs: Placing ads, sifting through resumes, and spending hours on interviews that could have been spent on billable work or quoting new jobs.
• Training Costs: Even an experienced hire needs time to learn your specific processes, paperwork, and customer service standards. That’s time you and your senior people are investing, not earning.
• Lost Productivity: A new person is never as fast or efficient as the veteran they replaced. Projects can slow down, and you might have to turn down work while you get the new hire up to speed.
• Mistakes and Callbacks: Inexperience on a job site can lead to errors, wasted materials, and costly callbacks that damage your reputation.
• Team Morale: When a good person leaves, it can make the rest of the crew uneasy. They might start wondering if they should be looking around, too.

When you add it all up, the cost of replacing just one skilled employee can easily run into the thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollars. Suddenly, the monthly cost of a group benefits plan looks a lot more reasonable.

Competing on More Than Just the Hourly Rate

For a long time, many small to medium-sized trades businesses competed mainly on the hourly wage. But the market has changed. The best people in the trades today are looking for more than just a paycheque. They’re thinking about their future and their family’s security.

This is where a well-designed benefits and retirement plan becomes your most powerful hiring and retention tool. It sends a clear message: this is a career, not just a job. You are invested in their well-being beyond the 9-to-5.

Here’s what your crew, and the people you want to hire, actually value:

Peace of Mind for Their Family

Health and dental coverage is the foundation. It’s for prescription drugs for a sick kid, dental check-ups, new glasses, or physiotherapy for a sprain on the job. Without a plan, these are out-of-pocket costs that cause real financial stress. Offering this coverage shows you care about their life outside of work.

A Safety Net When They Can't Work

Physical work comes with risks. The biggest fear for many tradespeople is getting hurt or sick and being unable to earn an income. Disability insurance provides a crucial safety net, replacing a portion of their income if they can't work. For an individual, this kind of coverage is often prohibitively expensive. As part of a group plan, it becomes affordable and accessible.

Life insurance provides a similar peace of mind, ensuring their family is protected financially if the worst should happen. These aren’t just line items on a policy; they are powerful statements about how much you value your people.

A Tangible Path to Retirement

A major concern for tradespeople is the ability to eventually stop working. They see older guys still hauling tools because they have no other choice. A group retirement plan changes that narrative. It gives them a clear, simple way to save for the future, with the powerful advantage of your support.

"I Run a Small Shop. Can I Really Afford This?"

This is the number one question we hear from business owners. The answer is almost always yes. The image of group benefits as a massively expensive and complex thing for huge corporations is outdated.

Modern group plans are incredibly flexible and can be tailored to your specific situation.

• It’s Scalable: We can design effective plans for businesses with as few as two or three employees. You don't need a massive crew to get started. The plan can grow as your company grows.
• It’s Flexible: You have control over the plan design. You can start with a core plan covering health, dental, and disability, and add more features later. A Health Care Spending Account (HCSA) is another great tool that provides employees with flexibility while giving you a fixed, predictable cost.
• It’s a Shared Investment: You don’t have to cover 100% of the premium. Many plans are designed with cost-sharing between the employer and the employee. When employees contribute, they have skin in the game and often value the benefits even more.
• It's Tax-Efficient: Your contributions to the plan are a tax-deductible business expense, which lowers the net cost to your company.

Our job at Thompson & Pollock is to sit down with you, understand your budget, and learn what’s important to your crew. We then take that information and survey the entire market of insurance carriers to build a plan that delivers the most value for your dollar. We work for you, not the insurance company.

A Simple Tool to Reward Loyalty: The DPSP

When it comes to retirement plans, one of the most effective tools for retention is the Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP). It works like this: only you, the employer, contribute to the plan from company profits. You can then attach a vesting period to these funds.

For example, you could set a two-year vesting schedule. This means an employee must remain with your company for two years before they are entitled to the money you've contributed on their behalf. If they leave sooner, they forfeit the funds, which can then be reallocated among the remaining plan members.

A DPSP directly rewards loyalty and gives your best people a powerful financial reason to stay for the long term. It transforms their mindset from short-term employee to long-term partner in the business's success.

Investing in your people through a benefits and retirement program isn't an expense. It's a strategic investment in the stability, productivity, and future growth of your business. It allows you to stop the revolving door and build a loyal, professional crew that helps you win.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice for your situation. Please consult a professional for advice specific to your circumstances.

If you’re ready to explore how a benefits plan could work for your business, we invite you to book a free, no-obligation 30-minute Fit Review. We’ll discuss your specific challenges and see if we're the right partners to help you. Our client roster is limited to ensure dedicated service, and every application is read personally by a partner.