As health care costs have risen, so has the value of voluntary benefits. These supplemental offerings give employers the opportunity to expand their benefits programs without increasing costs, making them particularly attractive as inflation rates continue to climb. Voluntary benefits are appealing to employees as they increase their access to a variety of insurance and other unique program options.
In this article, we explore the advantages of offering voluntary benefits and how they can help your organization fortify employee retention rates.
Types of Voluntary Benefits
The world of voluntary benefits is wide and varied, but there are some traditional offerings that employers tend to gravitate toward, including dental, vision, disability, critical illness, life and accident insurance. Commonly implemented nontraditional offerings include group legal plans, pet insurance, financial planning, employee discount programs adoption assistance and identity theft insurance.
Prior to selecting which voluntary benefits your organization will offer, it’s best to conduct employee surveys, focus groups and other internal research to ensure you’re choosing benefits that your workforce will actually utilize.
Advantages of Voluntary Benefits
Advantages For Employees
Because of their cost efficiency and portability, voluntary benefits are becoming a central component of many employers’ overall benefits strategies, offering high value to employees, all with minimal effort and cost to the company.
Voluntary benefits can be either insurance or non-insurance products presented to employees for elective purchase. Employers can offer value to employees with the following:
- Reduced group rates
- Convenience of payroll deductions
- Boosted work-life balance (from programs such as educational assistance)
- Ease of having multiple options all in one place
Advantages For Your Organization
There are many reasons why employers should implement voluntary benefits. These advantageous offerings can:
- Cost you little or nothing to offer
- Provide great value through cost efficiency and convenience to your employees
- Aid recruitment efforts
- Help build loyalty and retention, reducing employee turnover and associated costs
Communication Is Key
Educating your employees on the value of voluntary benefits is key to realizing the many advantages they offer. If your employees don’t know about the various insurance products and programs you provide, they can’t utilize them. More importantly, educating employees about how they work will help employees understand the full value of what you’re offering.
A Single Broker
Working with a single broker to coordinate your various benefits policies, especially when you decide to offer a variety of voluntary benefits, is a good idea. When all your benefits are presented together you can avoid coverage gaps. Further, a broker who knows your business thoroughly can help guide you through the process of choosing the best voluntary benefits for your employee group.
A solid broker can also provide you with comprehensive materials to help educate your employees on the voluntary benefits you offer. Want to learn more about working with a benefits broker to add voluntary benefits to your employee offerings? Connect with our team of experts today.