These days, while benefit packages are important for all employers, they are particularly important for your smaller clients, for a number of reasons.

One relates to intellectual capital, which continues to increase in importance for employers. In fact, the value of intellectual capital is often considered second only to cash flow. However, the loss and potential loss of intellectual capital is often underestimated by employers, who fail to realize that it is not only lost as a result of employees' leaving their jobs, but also as a result of employee on-the-job disengagement, lagging productivity, plummeting morale, and absenteeism.

When a large employer loses a valuable employee, the impact is probably felt to one degree or another. However, when a small employer loses a valuable employee, the results can be devastating. According to the 2011 Aflac WorkForces Report, conducted in partnership with Harris Interactive, while medium and large companies identified "increasing employee productivity" as their third most important HR issue, small companies identified it as their most important HR issue.