The Business of Better BenefitsProviding a first-rate benefits package for employees can be an important part of the recruitment and retention puzzle, especially for small businesses

Why Benefits Matter
Patrick Carragher, director of benefits for CheckPoint HR, a firm in Edison, N.J., that provides human resources management, payroll services and employee benefits, offers expert insight on small-business benefits challenges.

What's new on the benefits front?
Companies are running on leaner budgets and many have cut back their human resources departments, but there is still market competition for the best employees. And those employees' needs have changed dramatically, so they are demanding consumer-driven cafeteria plans that may have multiple options for health coverage, vision coverage and other benefits. Employees have the ability to use a fixed amount allotted to custom-design a package. Five years ago, if that was 5 percent of the market, it was a lot. Today, it's 50 percent of our client base.