As health care costs continue to rise, so has the value of voluntary benefits. Voluntary benefits allow employers to offer benefits that are attractive to employees without added cost to the company. Employees benefit because they have a variety of insurance and other program options conveniently available in one place. It is also a great tool for retaining employee talent and building a retinue of employees that keep your company at its peak.
A few traditional voluntary offerings include dental, vision, disability, critical illness, life, and accident insurance. Non-traditional voluntary benefits may include group legal plans, pet insurance, financial planning, employee discount programs, or educational and adoption assistance. Because of their cost efficiency and portability, voluntary benefits are becoming a central component of many companies’ overall benefits strategies, offering high value to employees. For example, let’s say an employee is going to have a baby, if this employee also has disability insurance, then it’s possible for the employee to receive benefits and curtail the cost of this big expense. Voluntary benefits add to the overall wellness and preventative medicine approach to taking care of employees. With voluntary benefits, the sky is the limit on the many ways to take care of your employees, all with minimal effort and cost to the company.
Voluntary benefits can be either insurance or non-insurance products presented to employees to pick and choose from for elective purchase. Employers can offer value to employees with the reduced group rates, convenience of payroll deductions, boost to work-life balance, and the ease of having multiple options all in one place.
Employers can benefit in many ways from offering voluntary benefits. A good set of voluntary benefits can cost you little or nothing to offer and provide great value through cost efficiency and convenience to employees. Voluntary benefits also aid in recruitment efforts because certain benefits, such as dental and disability, are highly valued. Help build loyalty and retention, reducing employee turnover and associated costs.
Educating your employees on the value of voluntary benefits is key to realizing the many advantages these benefits can offer. If your employees don’t know about the various insurance products and programs you provide, they can’t take advantage of them. More importantly, educating employees about your voluntary benefits and how they work will help employees understand the full value of what you’re offering.
