Most employees have no idea what their benefits are actually worth.
Salary is the number an employee sees on a pay stub and the number they compare when a recruiter calls. Health coverage, employer account funding, disability, life insurance and the rest of the package are real money that never appears next to it. So employees systematically underestimate what they are paid — and employers systematically fail to get credit for what they spend.
One page, per employee, with their own numbers.
A statement is only persuasive if it is specific. A generic summary of the benefits program is a brochure; a statement with this employee’s elections and this employer’s contributions is an argument.
The Employer Share, Line by Line
What you pay toward medical, dental, vision, life and disability for this employee in their tier. The family-tier subsidy is usually the largest number on the page, and the one nobody knew.
Where group life and disability schedules cap out below what senior leaders need, executive benefits close the gap.
Account Funding and Paid Time
Employer contributions to a health savings or reimbursement account, retirement plan contributions, and the value of paid leave. These are the items employees most reliably forget are compensation. Paid time is worth stating in dollars, calculated from the employee’s own rate, because a week of leave rarely registers as money until it is written that way. The same goes for the employer’s share of Social Security and Medicare taxes.
The Total, Stated Once
Base pay plus everything else, as one figure. That figure is the point of the document, and it is why the statement has to be accurate to the dollar. Accuracy means the employer share reflects this employee’s tier and plan, not an average across the workforce. An average is easier to produce and it is wrong for nearly everyone who reads it.
Delivered at open enrollment, not in a quiet week.
The statement does two jobs, and both of them depend on when it arrives.
At the Moment of Election
Employees decide what to elect during enrollment. A statement in that window changes how a plan change or a contribution increase is received, because the comparison is in front of them. It works best when it arrives before the enrollment materials, so the employee has the value in hand when the plan choices are opened. Sent after elections close, it answers a question nobody is asking any more.
When a Change Is Hard to Explain
A year that carries a deductible increase is the year this document earns its cost. It does not make the change popular. It makes it honest and proportionate. Show what the employer still pays after the change next to what it paid before, so the employee sees the increase in context rather than as a single larger deductible. The explanation lands better with numbers than as a memo.
When You Compete on Package
If you pay at market on salary and above market on benefits, nothing in an employee’s normal experience reveals that. This is the document that does. An employee weighing an outside offer with a higher salary can check it against the coverage they would give up. Where benefits are the stronger half of your package, the statement is how that fact reaches the people you most want to keep.
Built from your data, not filled in by HR.
Data from the Systems That Have It
Census, elections and contribution structure pulled from the benefits platform and payroll, so producing the statements is a process rather than a project. We gather the employer cost of each plan by tier, match it to each employee’s elections, and work with your payroll team for pay data. Our IT team member handles the file work, so HR is not rekeying numbers.
Checked Before It Ships
A statement with a wrong number damages the trust it was meant to build. Sample review and reconciliation happen before anything reaches an employee. Our plan analyst reconciles the totals against the carrier bills and payroll, then reviews a sample of statements across tiers, including a part-year hire and a family-tier employee, before the full set is released.
Repeatable Next Year
Built once so the second year is an update rather than a rebuild — which is what makes it an annual habit instead of a one-time exercise. The layout, the data mapping and the checks carry over, so next year’s work is refreshing costs after the renewal and pulling a new payroll report.
What employers ask about total compensation statements.
Do employees actually read them?
At the right moment, yes. At election time, or when a change needs explaining, a statement saying what the package is worth answers a question people are already asking. Sent at random, it is mail. Timing it with enrollment also gives HR one message instead of two: what the package is worth, and what is changing in it.
What should be in one?
The employer share line by line, plus account funding and paid time. The total only persuades if the components are recognizable — a single large number reads as marketing. Use real dollars for each line and the employee’s own tier. Leave out anything you cannot price accurately rather than estimating it, since one doubtful line weakens every other number on the page.
Where does the data come from?
The systems that already hold it, not a spreadsheet rebuilt by hand. That is what makes it checkable before it ships, and repeatable next year rather than a one-time project. A wrong number on a statement costs more trust than no statement at all, so the figures are reconciled before anything goes to an employee.
Total compensation statements in Bloomfield Hills that show what your jobs are really worth
Employees see their paycheck every two weeks. They rarely see what you pay for their health insurance. So when another company offers a small raise, the job they have can look worth less than it is. Total compensation statements in Bloomfield Hills put the full number in front of them.
We are an independent employee benefits consulting firm, in business since 2007, with an office on Woodward Avenue. We work with employers in Southfield, Royal Oak, Pontiac and across Oakland County and Michigan.
Total Compensation Statements
A total compensation statement is a short, personal report for each employee. It shows their pay plus the dollar value of what you provide on top of it.
Here is how we help:
- We gather the employer cost of each benefit plan.
- We work with your payroll team to get pay data.
- We help build a clear statement for each employee.
- We check the numbers before anything goes out.
For proper coverage of an account we work in teams of 5: an account executive, an account manager, a plan analyst, customer service and IT. Our plan analyst checks the benefit costs. Our IT team member helps with the data files.
What should a total compensation statement include?
Keep it to one or two pages. Most statements show:
- Base pay, plus any bonus or overtime
- The employer share of medical, dental and vision premiums
- Employer-paid life and disability insurance
- Employer money put into an HSA or HRA
- Paid time off and paid holidays
- The employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes
Use real dollars, not percentages. A line that shows what you paid toward family medical coverage speaks louder than a chart.
When should employers send total compensation statements?
Send them before open enrollment, which is in the fall for most employers. Employees then see the value of their benefits right before they choose plans.
Some employers also send them with annual reviews. That way the talk about pay covers the full package, not just the hourly rate or salary. Once a year is enough for most companies.
Common questions
Are total compensation statements only for big companies?
No. Small employers often get the most from them. Their benefits are a big part of pay, and few employees know it. On a small team, one family-tier subsidy can be a large share of what that employee is paid, and the statement is often the first time they see it. The work also scales with the size of the group, so a small one is quick to produce.
Do statements have to be printed?
No. They work as a PDF by email or on paper. Many employers do both. Paper sent home reaches a spouse who may help choose coverage; a PDF is easier to keep and resend. Whichever you use, deliver them individually, since each one carries personal pay data.
How much work is this for HR?
Mostly pulling a payroll report. We take care of the benefits numbers and the layout. HR’s part is a payroll report and a look at the sample statements before they go out. We gather the employer cost of each plan, build the layout and check the numbers, and next year it is an update.
Talk to us about total compensation statements in Bloomfield Hills
Send us your renewal or book a 30-minute call. We will show you a sample layout and what data we need. Visit us at 41000 Woodward Avenue, Suite 350 East, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304, or call 248.370.8853.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
An independent employee benefits consulting firm. We look at the entire benefits program — cost, plan performance, risk and administration.
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