Carrie Balicki Discusses Workforce Wellbeing in a Challenging Economy

According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, small businesses employ 46% of working Americans, arguably making them the lifeblood of the American economy.

However, keeping a small firm in business has always been a challenge. The Federal Reserve estimates that about 600,000 small businesses close each year. Those businesses that do survive are often faced with retention challenges as well as price increases and supply chain issues.

Carrie Balicki, Managing Principal Enterprise Growth at OneDigital, joined Guardian Life as a panelist for their webinar, Small and Resilient: Prioritizing workforce wellbeing in a challenging economic environment. She provides insights and examples of how small businesses can thrive and retain employees by demonstrating care and autonomy.

Regarding how small businesses are addressing the talent attraction and retention issues from a benefits perspective, Carrie says,

Over the last decade, we’ve seen a lot of big business benefits are now coming down market and are becoming available to small businesses in different ways.
 
- Carrie Balicki, Managing Principal, OneDigital Enterprise Growth

Carrie also notes that the Secure Act 2.0 focuses on benefits for small employers to encourage offering and starting retirement plans. Employers can now get access to tax credits covering 100% of any startup costs on the plan as well as tax credits for their employer match. This allows small businesses to offer a well-rounded retirement program for their employees at virtually no cost.

Listen to the full webinar here

Want to read more about worker wellbeing? Check out this recent article: Why Total Wellbeing Should Be at the Core of Your Workplace