Employee Benefits Consulting
Franklin Consultants helps companies with a sizable W-2 workforce add a Section 125 benefit that lowers the employer’s payroll tax and puts more money in your team’s paychecks. It works alongside the plan you already have.
Conservative illustration, 120 employees
~$53,000
estimated annual employer payroll-tax savings
Illustrative only, not a quote or guarantee. Actual results vary by payroll, participation, and plan design.
The squeeze on high-headcount teams
If you run a company with a large W-2 workforce and tight margins, three pressures tend to compound at once. The right benefit design can ease all three.
01
Premiums climb every renewal, and matching a bigger competitor’s benefits package can feel out of reach on your budget.
02
In a tight labor market, losing trained employees is costly. Meaningful benefits are one of the clearest ways to keep them.
03
Every dollar of wages carries the employer’s 7.65% FICA match. Across a large team, that’s real money leaving the business each year.
How it works
The program pairs a pre-tax Section 125 “cafeteria plan” with a properly structured post-tax component. Employees elect qualified benefits before tax, which lowers taxable wages. That drops the employer’s payroll-tax match, and employees keep more of their pay while gaining $0-copay preventive and virtual care. It’s a nationally-offered, ERISA-reviewed plan that sits next to whatever you already have.
For the business
For your team
Working together
STEP 01
We learn about your workforce, your current benefits, and what you’re trying to solve. No pressure.
STEP 02
We run your actual headcount and payroll to show projected savings for the business and take-home impact for your team.
STEP 03
If it’s a fit, a dedicated enrollment team signs your employees up. A light touch for HR, start to finish.
Estimate the opportunity
Slide to your employee count for a deliberately conservative estimate. On our call, we replace it with your real numbers, which usually come in higher.
Illustrative annual employer savings
≈ $53,000
in reduced payroll taxes per year
Your team could see $75 to $175/mo more take-home pay depending on pay and state, plus $0-copay care.
Illustrative only, not a quote or guarantee. Actual results vary by payroll, participation, and plan design, and don’t account for individual withholding, pay frequency, or local taxes.
In their words
Reviews of the plan we represent. Individual results, not typical or guaranteed.
We’ve been with the plan for over three years. At first we were hesitant, we didn’t know if our employees would actually see the benefit. Looking back, we wish we’d rolled it out sooner. Our employees are healthier, and they love the added medical benefits along with their higher paychecks. It’s been the single greatest benefit we’ve implemented for our employees and our bottom line.
My employees absolutely love this program, and the financial impact on our company was a nice cherry on top. We already offer some insurance, so having this additional benefit for our team of hard-working people has been nothing short of amazing.
We researched several firms and have been very happy with our choice. We’ve realized the company savings that were presented to us, and many of our employees who didn’t have benefits now have access to coverage. We’re going on our second year, and the employee experience has been very good.
As a fast-food chain, we always had trouble offering benefits to our employees. The plan has been the perfect fit. It increases their pay and gives them coverage they can actually use, on its own or alongside a current plan. The rollout was seamless and easy for our team to understand. Honestly, our only regret was not doing it sooner.
When my daughter had an ear infection and the doctor prescribed antibiotics over the phone, I skipped the ER and went straight to the pharmacy. $0 out of pocket. I don’t normally write reviews, but the app is easy to use and the benefits are genuinely useful.
As a first line of defense, with no co-pay or deductible on primary care and telemedicine, it really cuts out-of-pocket costs. The $0 cost for generic drugs is unbelievable, and it’s a welcome relief from the never-ending increases to major medical.
Who it fits best
Especially valuable for W-2-heavy industries such as:
Franklin Consultants
Independent Employee-Benefits Consultancy
Who we are
Franklin Consultants works with the owners, CFOs, and HR leaders who want better benefits without the usual runaround. We partner with a nationally-offered, ERISA-reviewed program, and we keep it simple: we show you the real numbers for your company, then handle the details if it makes sense.
There’s no pressure and no fine print to decode. You get a straight answer on whether this can lower your payroll taxes and help you keep your team.
Fair questions
No. It’s a supplemental, employer-sponsored benefit designed to work alongside your existing coverage, or to stand on its own if you don’t currently offer a plan. On our call we’ll walk through exactly how it fits with what you have.
Yes. It can layer on top of an existing plan, or stand on its own for companies that don’t currently offer coverage, giving your team meaningful $0-copay care either way. For many businesses without a plan, it’s the first real benefit they’re able to offer.
$0-copay primary and urgent care, unlimited prescriptions on the formulary, and 24/7 virtual care, with virtual care and prescriptions extending to their family. It also includes a simple monthly wellness check-in through the app, which is part of what makes it a genuine health program rather than just a tax line item. Most employees also see a bump in take-home pay.
A fair and important question. The IRS has scrutinized certain non-compliant “double-dip” arrangements. This program is deliberately structured to be different: the premium is split into a pre-tax portion and a properly taxed post-tax portion, so there’s no double-dip. It was structured with ERISA counsel, and we’ll walk through how it works so you can make an informed decision with your own tax and legal advisors.
A reasonable thing to ask. The underlying program has been offered nationwide for years, is independently audited for data security, and was structured with ERISA counsel. On our call we’re glad to share the documentation so you and your advisors can review it directly. We’d rather you verify than take our word for it.
It’s designed to sit separately from your major medical plan. Because it doesn’t provide “minimum value” on its own, offering it generally shouldn’t, by itself, affect an eligible employee’s ACA premium-tax-credit, and there’s an HSA-compatible version for teams that need it. We’ll confirm the specifics for your situation, and your own advisors can weigh in.
It’s completely voluntary, with no underwriting, and any employee can choose not to take part. The plan is designed so participants see the same or higher net take-home pay while gaining benefits. Because it runs through a Section 125 plan, elections hold for the plan year unless there’s a qualifying life event, the normal rule for any pre-tax benefit. We make sure your team understands it clearly at enrollment.
It’s structured to be net-positive: designed to save the business more than it costs. Rather than ask you to take that on faith, we’ll show you the actual numbers for your payroll and headcount before you decide anything.
Very little. A dedicated enrollment team handles signing up employees and the ongoing administration, so it’s a light touch for HR from start to finish.
Let’s model your numbers
Book a short, no-obligation call. Bring your rough employee count and current benefits setup, and you’ll leave with a specific estimate of the savings and the take-home impact for your team.
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