Voluntary benefits that supplement a company's default insurance package can help employees find what they need to help them succeed without costing the business a large amount of extra money, according to Human Resources Executive Online.
Voluntary benefits are additions to standard insurance plans that many companies have begun to offer. The Boston Globe calls these "fill in the gap" programs. For example, someone at greater risk for cancer can sign up for an extra benefit that will help him or her with chemotherapy or another treatment plan if that person gets the disease. This is only one example of many different programs, such as heart disease plans or long-term illness coverage. They help employees customize their experience with insurance, and add provisions for some of the areas that can be left without coverage when companies offer a large-scale "one-size-fits-all" insurance package to their employees.
Because nearly anything can be made into a voluntary benefit, employees can have the ability to structure their health insurance the way they want – a customization many workers would likely welcome.
Number of employers seeking voluntary coverage growing
According to a study by LIMRA, a financial services company, 7 in 10 employers offer some form of voluntary benefits. They do this because it helps improve morale among employees.
"As the economy and the job market improve, employers are finding it more challenging to attract and retain key personnel," said Ron Neyer, assistant research director for LIMRA Distribution Research. "LIMRA found employers choosing to offer voluntary benefits to supplement their existing benefits package without adding to their bottom line."
Because health care is becoming more expensive, many companies are making their default programs fairly simple, with plenty of optional provisions to allow employees to customize. This makes insurance cheaper for everyone. As such, the number of companies offering voluntary coverage benefits is growing. In 2004, only 36 percent of companies offered accident insurance, but now about twice as many do this, according to The Globe. Additionally, employees are beginning to buy more packages to augment their default insurance programs.
Medical plans are becoming more expensive, and so not only are blue collar companies jumping at the chance to use voluntary benefits to lower insurance prices, but even larger firms are doing this as well.
Employers seeking to provide workers these services are looking for companies that offer insurance benefits in formats that are easy for their employees to understand. They want companies that will make it simple for the people who subscribe to the services to determine what sort of products are offered and make it easy to collect on benefits. Employers who are shopping for insurance providers also want to enable their employees to link up with their services through mobile technology.
Getting employees involved
According to HRE Online, the biggest trick to ensuring voluntary benefits pay off for both employers and employees is to make sure that employees understand how their benefits work. Although this is partly the responsibility of the insurance company, it is also the responsibility of the employers. Human resources should work with both parties to make sure the marketing and implementation of voluntary programs are successful.