QuickBooks Adds Employee Benefits Into Online Payroll

QuickBooks Online Payroll customers can now use the payroll platform to offer employees healthcare benefits, the company reported on Tuesday (Aug. 27) in a press release.

Intuit’s technology-driven payroll solution leverages the power of the QuickBooks platform to help small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) manage medical, dental and vision benefits. Today, one in 12 American workers are paid through QuickBooks Payroll, with $185 billion in payroll payments processed annually.

The insurance component is powered by an integration with SimplyInsured, an online platform that helps small businesses compare and purchase employee medical, dental and vision insurance plans.

“We know that many small business owners want to do right by their employees and offer health insurance benefits, but many feel it’s too expensive or confusing,” said Olivier Bartholot, director of QuickBooks Payroll. “When we focus on helping small business owners with the many aspects of managing their employees, we can turn one person’s dream into a thriving team.”

In the QuickBooks Online Payroll study of small business employee health benefits, two-thirds (66 percent) said offering health insurance is very important for attracting employees, and 58 percent said it was very important for retaining employees. For the 29 percent of small businesses that don’t currently offer health benefits, more than one-third (36 percent) said they had no idea how much it would cost to offer health insurance to employees, and nearly half (45 percent) said they did not know what steps to take to get group health insurance for their staff.

However, the majority of all respondents (56 percent) said they would be more inclined to purchase health insurance if it was linked to another product, like payroll. Given these findings, QuickBooks is aiming to encourage more business owners to offer health insurance for their employees, as it is now more affordable and easier to navigate and manage.

In April, QuickBooks introduced a new feature designed to accelerate payments and cash flow for small businesses. Next-Day ACH payments are now available for SMBs. Businesses that invoice via QuickBooks Payments can receive next-day funding for both credit card and ACH transactions.