If somebody offered you free money for your future, would you take it?
How about if they offered to pay for half of your health insurance premium costs to protect you and your family?
Sometimes a good deal isn’t too good to be true. It’s actually a good deal.
If you work at Level Green Landscaping, now is a great time to take advantage of the benefits the company offers.
Marcene Pugh, comptroller at Level Green, walks us through the benefits — and why you should take advantage of them.
1. Health Insurance Protects You and Your Family
Health insurance is offered at Level Green, but not enough employees sign up, Pugh says.
“We don’t have good participation in our health insurance plan, and not having a large number of participants actually hurts us,” she says. “Some insurance companies won’t bid us, because while we are considered a larger employer, our participation rate is very low.”
It hurts you, too.
“We have employees who don’t have health insurance coverage,” she says. “That can be very dangerous. If you or a family member gets ill, it can get very costly.”
Level Green pays for 50 percent of the cost for coverage of the employee’s health insurance premiums, Pugh says. The employee pays the other half plus the cost of premiums for coverage of the employee’s spouse and/or dependent, if applicable.
Here’s good news: you can have the monthly fee deducted from your paychecks, spreading the cost out over the month.
“When you buy insurance from the marketplace, you have to pay the full amount all at once each month,” she says.
The cost is deducted from your paycheck before taxes, which means less of your paycheck is taxed.
A New Choice for 2022
A new lower-cost plan is available for 2022 called the minimum value plan.
The cost is $360 a month, but Level Green pays half. So the employee pays $180 per month.
.This plan does have higher deductibles than other plans. Human Resources Manager Melanie Briggs or Pugh can explain more about the details.
Open Enrollment Meetings Scheduled
Open enrollment for the Level Green health plans is from December 1, 2021 through January 2, 2022. To make sure all employees are informed and educated on their health insurance options, we will be hosting several 30-minute information sessions as detailed below. The meetings will take place at Level Green branches, so no need to go far.
Insurance company representatives will be there to answer questions, including a Spanish-speaking representative to translate.
- November 30, 2021 at 7:00 am – DC and Virginia Branches (Dower House Training room)
- December 1, 2021 at 7:00 am – Southern Maryland and Anne Arundel Branches (Dower House Training room)
- December 6, 2021 at 7:00 am – North Branch (outside Burtonsville, MD property)
Pugh hopes to see everybody there.
2. Free Money! A 401K Plan Helps Save for the Future
Free money? We’ve got your attention, right?
Sign up for Level Green’s 401K plan to save for retirement, and Level Green will kick in some money, too.
“More employees should be taking advantage of this,” Pugh says.
How does it work?
You contribute a percentage of each paycheck to your 401K retirement savings plan.
Then, Level Green will put in that same amount, up to a certain point. That’s the free money part.
If you contribute up to 3% of your paycheck, Level Green will match it. And they’ll continue to match up to 4%, adding a half percent for every one percent you contribute between 3 and 5 percent.
There are lots of options for investing the money, Pugh says.
You can direct how your contribution is invested. Or you can choose to have the money invested for you, based on your target retirement date.
If you’re close to retirement, the investments will be less risky than the stock market, putting your funds toward more stable investing choices like CDs or government bonds.
“You don’t have to be investment savvy to be in the program,” Pugh says. “Just put your money in and watch it grow. And you can check the balance online at any time.”
Why think about this now? The future will be here before you know it. You want enough money to retire someday, right?
“A 401K allows you to comfortably save for the future, so you can retire,” Pugh says. “So you can care for yourself in retirement, pay for medical emergencies, buy a new roof. It helps you save for the unknown.”
Take advantage of that “free money” match, she says. Not every company offers it.
“The amount that Level Green matches is very healthy for the landscaping industry,” she says.
Good news for the coming year: in the past, you were eligible to participate in the 401K plan after six months on the job, but you had to wait until the next quarter to join the 401K plan.
Now, once the six months have passed, you can join the very next month.
3. Paid Time Off
After one year of service, Level Green employees get paid time off to use for vacation, personal days, or sick days.
During the first year on the job, hourly employees get up to 40 hours of paid sick days, Pugh says, but after the one year the paid time off kicks in.
4. Help with Student Loan Payments
Employees making student loan payments can take advantage of a great Level Green benefit.
The company’s student loan repayment program will contribute $100 a month toward student loan debt for managers, helping to pay the balance off sooner.
5. Tuition Assistance Helps Pay for Classes
Taking classes to get better at your job or move up in your career? We’ll help pay for it.
Level Green reimburses 50 percent of tuition on any industry-related class or certification, if you earn a C or higher. A portion of this benefit can be subject to income tax and repayment terms should employment status change within a certain time frame
Learn More About Your Benefits
“Start asking us questions,” Pugh says.
“Level Green is a company that cares about its people,” she says. “We want to provide a good work culture. One way we do that is to offer benefits, like half off health insurance.
“You’ve got these benefits,” she says. “Take advantage of them.”
Want to Join the Team?
We’re always looking for hard-working, talented people to join our team. And with our projected growth ahead, it’s an exciting time to come on board.
Are you ready to work for a caring company where the work culture includes good benefits to improve your life?
We’d love to meet you.
