An Employer's Guide to Understanding Social Security Disability Insurance

Ted Norwood, General Counsel and Director of Representation, Integrated Benefits, Inc. and Carol Harnett, president of The Council for Disability Awareness help employers understand the most important points about Social Security Disability Insurance.

For businesses, as companies become leaner, individual employees become more vital and more difficult to replace. Replacing an experienced employee is very expensive, and long term, losing employees is difficult. Given that, an increasing number of employers recognize the value of employee well-being. In fact, many companies now recognize the value of caring for employees as people, not just assets.

Providing private disability insurance benefits in the workplace is an important way to care for employee financial health. But, about half of workers in the private sector do not have these benefits. Instead, if they are unable to work for an extended period of time, they often must rely on the Social Security Administration’s Disability Income (SSDI) program—if they qualify—for income.

The three main disadvantages to relying on SSDI to provide disability insurance to your employees are the wait, the challenges, and the lack of good recovery resources.