Question

are small businesses ethically obligated to offer their employees heath insurance? discuss?

Answer 1

Legally, it is not mandatory for any small business to offer their employee Health Insurance. However, ethically speaking, any organization, small or large, employing workers, are certainly obligated to offer their employees, health insurance as against the services such employees render to such a Business House. This is so because, irrespective to the size of the Businesses, the value of each employee is still the same. These employees are the most invaluable resources of any Organization.

A well known Management Guru once said that you can take my machinery, you can pledge my assets, you can take over my factory but just leave my Human resource behind and I shall raise a Business empire again. Well, such is the power of the Human Resources. Machines can only assist people but cannot take over the people. Business strategies help a Business entity to achieve the goals through definite plans in line with the mission and vision statements but the strategies are meticulously planned by the wisdom of the Human resource. Artificial intelligence has still got a long way to go to replace the invaluable human assets. It is hence the collective power of the Human resources based on which a success or the failure of a Business is largely dependent upon. Therefore the understanding of human behavior at work is the single most important skill that an Organization can possess in order to ensure that the work undertaken is accomplished successfully by aptly dealing with this form of resource. For this, the motivators like Training & Development, higher pay scale as per their intrinsic worth in the Organization , etc. are highly beneficial. It further helps in availing willing cooperation from such employees, establish harmony in the system thereby maintaining Unity.

Once such employees are motivated and trained to work for the Organizations, the next big obligation ethically speaking, is hence, to be offered with Health insurances so that even in the case when small businesses cannot offer the employees with higher incentives, at least, the employees’ one of the most critical part of the expenses, which is highly unavoidable in nature and matters the Organizations as well the most, i.e. health expenses, are covered through insurances.