What’s in store for voluntary benefits in 2019
Voluntary benefits will continue to be popular with benefit managers who are trying to lower healthcare costs and retain employees. Read this blog post for more 2019 voluntary benefits trends.
Benefit managers are still catching their breath as the curtain closes on this year’s open enrollment season. But smart benefits managers are already evaluating new products and benefit changes for the 2019-2020 season.
Themes around cost-saving strategies concerning healthcare premiums will continue to resonate — but what else will happen in the upcoming year? Voluntary benefits will continue to hold the key for many benefit managers looking to lower costs and maintain value for employees by providing flexibility to a diverse workforce.
Voluntary benefits offer pivotal advantages to employers and employees alike. By offering these programs through an employer, employees often receive better pricing, plan designs and underwriting support compared to what is available on the individual market. Payroll deduction capability and enrollment as part of their normal core enrollment process and portability are also available.
Here are three voluntary benefits to watch in 2019.
Employee purchase programs.
Nearly one quarter of all Americans do not have adequate emergency savings, according to a survey by consumer financial services company Bankrate. This means that if they need to make a significant purchase, they are likely to withdraw a loan from their 401(k) plan.
Employee purchase programs help employees pay for items they may need immediately, but may not have the funds or credit available. These programs generally allow employees to spread out the payments on the purchased products — such as appliances, car tires or computers — over a period of time through payroll deduction. Young employees who are trying to establish credit while managing student loan repayments — and may be strapped for cash — can especially benefit from an employee purchase programs.
Group legal insurance plans.
Group legal plans are not new, but they are still valuable for employees. For a cost that is less than a cup of coffee, group legal plans provide employees with access to attorneys for will preparation, estate planning, dealing with elderly parents, traffic violations, real estate purchases, and document review and preparation. These plans offset the expense of professional legal representation and the time it takes to locate the right representation to handle legal matters.
These plans may be especially valuable to employees who are thinking of buying a house, adopting a child or planning for their estate. Still, group legal insurance plans are available to all employees, and can provide a buffer for workers who may need to navigate identity restoration after a theft or combat an unforeseen traffic ticket. These plans also save employees time and money when the need for a legal professional arises.
Student loan benefits.
Student loan benefits have been one of the hottest topics in voluntary benefits in 2018 and it’s not going away any time soon. An IRS private letter ruling this past August allowed one company to amend its 401(k) plan to allow employer contributions of up to 5% to individuals who contribute at least 2% to their student loan. This may just be the start to more legislation concerning student loan debt solutions.
In the interim, as the tuition debt crisis grows, employers are seeking ways to support their employees. There are several strategies that can be employed.
Some solutions can be offered at no cost, while others have administrative charges and the cost of contributions to factor in. For employers who have the budget, a student loan repayment plan may be the answer. There are many vendors who can partner with an employer to help develop a plan that is designed to meet the company’s goals.
Employers without a budget can seek a student loan solution partner that offers comprehensive educational tools such as written materials, debt navigation tools, FAQs, one-on-one counselors and webinars. Another option is to offer student loan refinancing. These lenders can help employees manage their debt. Even though refinancing is not for everyone, well-vetted student loan refinancing partners should be considered as part of a comprehensive student loan debt solution strategy. Understanding the approval rate is important, as well as whether there are any other incentives, such as a welcome bonus, that may be applied to the loan principal.
SOURCE: Marcia, P. (28 November 2018) "What’s in store for voluntary benefits in 2019" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from: https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/whats-in-store-for-employers-and-voluntary-benefits-in-2019
Employee benefit trends to watch in 2019
Are you looking ahead to 2019? As the year comes to an end, employment rates are continuing to rise and the economy is still showing signs of growth. Continue reading for employee benefits trends to watch in 2019.
As we close out 2018, the economy is still showing signs of tremendous growth and employment rates continue to rise.
For employers looking ahead to next year, the health of the economy will play a part in how they begin thinking about which benefits to implement. Not only can employees be more selective about the companies they apply to work for, but companies will have to differentiate themselves with their benefits catalog to attract the best candidates.
Along with a shifting political climate, the impacts of the Affordable Care Act will still need navigating in 2019 as health care costs remain a prominent issue.
Shifting health care costs
Health care costs are on track to eclipse $15,000 per employee per year in 2019. In an effort to reduce these costs, employers are shifting their attention to finding alternative health care options for employees.
Expansion of telemedicine and virtual care are at the top of the list for employers looking to reduce their health care costs.
Additionally, after the passing of the Affordable Care Act, many employers shifted their attention to offering consumer-direct health plans (CDHPs) as the sole option at their organization.
These plans combined high-deductibles with health savings accounts. By asking employees to pay for their doctor's visits with a savings account, they’re likely to seek out cheaper coverage, thus saving the company money overall.
The popularity of CDHPs was driven in large part by a proposed 40 percent tax on high-value health care plans. Employers quickly moved to CDHPs to save money, but the proposed tax has yet to take effect and employers are less eager to shift to CDHP options so quickly.
Custom communications
Personalized communications to employees about their benefits are becoming more prevalent.
Every employees’ benefits journey is different and their communications should be too.
As employees show interest or a need for a certain type of benefit, benefits platforms are gearing up to be able to communicate directly with employees to help.
For employees who prefer to communicate via text message or calendar reminders, platforms will begin to integrate more closely with employees’ lives to deliver the guidance they need.
Employers should focus on partnering with providers who are delivering customized messaging to employees to maximize engagement and adoption rates. 2019 will likely see employers not only offering more customized and personalized benefits, but also more robust communications that speak directly to employees’ needs.
Benefits over salary
Hiring efforts have been made difficult by a strong job market and economy. Employers in almost every industry are struggling to attract talent because of stiff competition.
Basic benefits like paid vacation and a 401(k) aren’t enough to break through the noise anymore. People are able to be more selective about which jobs they apply for based on the benefits being offered.
In 2019, employers will need to focus on making their entire benefits package more enticing—including offering help with things like student loans, tuition reimbursement, and college savings plans.
Rise of voluntary benefits
Voluntary benefits, while supplemental to core benefits like health insurance, are a way to address the unique needs of employees and allow employees to personalize their rewards.
Voluntary benefits are appealing to employees because they offer a nice flexibility to their compensation package. As employers are discovering that benefits are not a one-size-fits-all package, voluntary benefits provide a cadre of solutions that can be built for the employee base.
Attractive benefits can make the difference between whether a prospective employee accepts a job offer or not. In 2019, employees will demand more from their benefits packages and the addition of voluntary benefits will be used as a factor in recruitment.
As 2018 comes to a close, employers should focus on talking to employees about their benefits and where they’d like to see improvement. Start conversations with your IT team about security measures you can work towards in 2019 and try to begin the conversation with your benefits providers about how to communicate more directly with your employees to stay competitive in the current job market.
SOURCE: Whitlow, C. (29 November 2018) "Employee benefit trends to watch in 2019" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitspro.com/2018/11/29/employee-benefit-trends-to-watch-in-2019/
3 trends and 4 survival tips for managing millennials in 2019
Millennials: America's most diverse and overly stereotyped generation. Whether you like or dislike millennials, it's hard to avoid the fact that they are going to be the prime engine of the workplace for years to come. Continue reading to learn more.
anyone knows more about millennials than an actual millennial, it’s Brian Weed, CEO of Avenica. Founded in 1998, Avenica’s personnel services are focused exclusively on recent college graduates and the companies who are looking for such talent.
“Our goal is to place recent college graduates on the right career-track, finding entry-level positions for them at companies offering strong professional growth,” Weed says.
Millennials have been given “kind of a bad rap” by being overly stereotyped and studied. “Millennials are America’s most diverse generation. They hold more college degrees than any other generation, and they’ve experienced economic and political turmoil. They’re savvy, educated, skeptical, and on top of it all, they’re idealists. All of this has led to vast changes in the ways today’s workforce views business, engages with their organizations and leaders and makes decisions about their careers,” he says. And yet, just as with any generation, one must be cautious about assuming one profile fits all.
However one feels about this generation, there’s the fact that millennials are going to be the prime engine of the workplace for years to come. “The truth is that companies have to adapt to them, not the other way around,” he says.
Given the company’s focus and its tenure of service, BenefitsPRO asked Weed to identify three top millennial worker trends for 2019. Here’s his list:
1. Shifting motivations
Salary and culture continue to rank high on the list for attracting millennial and Gen Z candidates, but the following factors are increasingly important:
Flexibility: They expect more control over where and when they can work, with the ability (enough PTO and work-life balance) to travel and have other life experiences.
Mission driven: They are more in touch with the environment, society, and the future of both. They feel they are not only representative of their organization, but their organization also represent who they are as individuals and want to be a part of organizations that share similar views. They look for leaders who will make decisions that will better the world, not just their organizations, and solve the problems of the world through their work.
Development and training opportunities: Because millennials have seen such dramatic shifts in the economy, they seek to have more control over the future of their careers. Not only to “recession proof” but also to “future proof” their careers by constantly learning and developing.
2. Declining levels of loyalty and increased job hopping
These phenomena, well-known to employers or millennials, are largely due to:
Shifting motivations (outlined above): The key to managing this group is understanding the shifting motivations and finding ways to meet those needs/wants will help organizations attract and retain top talent.
Higher value placed on experiences, constantly wanting to try and learn new things: Managers need to give these employees opportunities to grow and develop in their roles is essential, but also opportunities to explore different fields and disciplines is also key. Keeping the work and the environment interesting and diverse will keep millennial employees engaged for longer.
Less patience, with a desire for frequent indicators of career progress (higher pay and/or promotions): Job hopping often allows the quickest opportunity to make more money and climb the career ladder. As a result, organizations are building in a quicker cadence for promotions and pay raises.
3. An increasing lack of basic professional skills/awareness
Many of these talented young people lack essential knowledge about what to wear, how to act and how to/engage in an office setting. Here’s how to respond:
Managers need to be ready to guide these new workforce entries into the professional skills areas. They often don’t have a network of older (parents/relatives) professionals around them to set an example and advise on what “professionalism” looks like and means. And colleges often don’t provide education in professionalism in an office setting: aside from business schools, many colleges don’t prepare students—especially those in the liberal arts—on meeting etiquette, business apps and technology, and other everyday professional practices.
Corporate onboarding of new entry-level employees often excludes the “basics” (meeting protocols, MS Office skills, etc.). While companies typically have some type of job-specific training programs, they often assume these basic office skills are there and aren’t able to see a candidate’s potential when lack of professional skills/awareness is present. This can create a barrier for highly qualified but more “green” candidates, especially first-generation graduates. Effective companies will develop training, coaching, and mentorship programs can help once on the job.
Weed’s 4 survival tips to managers of millennials
1. Create clear and fast-moving career tracks.
- Create distinct career tracks with clear direction on how to advance to each level.
- Restructure promotion and incentive programs that give smaller, more incremental promotions and salary raises, giving more consistent positive reinforcement and closer goals that make it more enticing to stay.
- Create professional development opportunities that help them advance in those career tracks and build other skills they need and want.
- Create ways young employees can explore other career tracks without leaving the company. Millennials and Gen Z’s have a higher propensity for changing their minds and/or wanting different experiences, so consider ways that enable employees to make lateral moves, or create rotational programs that allow inexperienced professionals to get experience in a variety of business capacities and are then more prepared to choose a track.
2. Alongside competitive compensation packages that include 401k matching programs and comprehensive insurance offerings, provide benefits that allow them to have a sense of flexibility when it comes to how they work.
- Working remotely, flex schedules/hours
- Floating holidays–especially beneficial as the workforce becomes more and more diverse
- Restructure PTO that gives employees more autonomy and responsibility for their work
- Tuition reimbursement programs to increase retention and build leaders internally
3. Create a strong company culture: company culture is one of the strongest recruiting and retention tools. Go beyond the flashy tactics of having an on-site game room and fun company outings and bring more focus to the company’s mission. Create and live/work by a set of core values that represents your company’s mission. People will be more engaged and move beyond just being their role or position when they feel connected to the mission.
4. Challenge without overworking. Boredom and stress are equally common as factors for driving millennials out of a workplace. Allow involvement in bigger, higher-level projects and discussions to provide meaningful learning opportunities, and create goals that stretch their capabilities but are attainable.
SOURCE: Cook, D. "3 trends and 4 survival tips for managing millennials in 2019" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitspro.com/2018/11/13/3-trends-and-4-survival-tips-for-managing-millenni/
Unleash voluntary benefits to attract millennials
Does your company know how to recruit the younger generations? Employers can use voluntary benefits to help attract millennials. Continue reading to learn more.
A war for talent is being waged. Boomers are retiring and seeking new challenges and now is the time to woo the millennials. Just how do you attract the right millennials for your company? Like most organizations, you probably offer a total rewards package that includes competitive compensation and core benefits, like medical, dental, life, disability and a 401(k) plan.
See also: One sure-fire way to engage employees in voluntary benefits
What about those ancillary benefits you hear about in the marketplace? While a ping pong table in the break room may entice some, many millennials seek help for specific needs from their potential employer. Voluntary benefit products can be the missing puzzle piece in your total benefits package and can help younger candidates feel confident that your benefit plan is tailored to them.
Millennials want real choice, access and ease of use. In this Amazon Prime world we live in, it’s important that enrolling in benefits and paying for them are as easy as possible. Exceptional communications, smart enrollment options and ease of payment are key to success.
Here are some voluntary benefit options to consider:
Accident & hospital indemnity insurance programs
While critical illness insurance may not appeal to a millennial, certain worksite benefits are beneficial. These benefits help employees pay for unexpected out-of-pocket medical costs, as well as cover the financial gaps of traditional coverage like deductibles and coinsurance. Worksite benefits pay cash to the individual, allowing the participant the flexibility to use the funds however she or he sees fit — for rent, car payments, living expenses or out-of-pocket medical expenses. Accident Insurance generally pays a cash reimbursement based on an injury benefit schedule. So, if the employee has a bicycle or paddleboard accident and breaks a leg, cash payments will be made for the type of injury and treatment. A similar type of benefit is Hospital Indemnity Insurance that pays a lump sum for an initial hospital admission and then a per diem benefit. The best part is the cost of these benefits is relatively inexpensive — like paying for a few cappuccinos a month.
See also: 3 Ways to Reshape How You Communicate About Benefits with Millennials
Student loan refinancing programs
Millennials are feeling the brunt of their student loans. One in four millennials owe more than $30,000 in college debt and think that it will take more than 20 years to pay them off, according to an ORC International Survey. Student loan stress is making millennials feel less financially secure than their older work colleagues. This can have an adverse effect on any type of savings plans an employer offers such as a 401(k). More employers are considering programs that can help employees manage their student loan debt. There are typically three ways to look at these programs:
- Refinancing options: There are many lenders that work specifically with student debt and will refinance and consolidate existing student loans and may offer a special incentive if this is done through their employer. Keep in mind, if an employee has a federally-backed student loan, refinancing may not be the best solution.
- Debt management resources: Many lenders that provide refinancing options have educational tools and resources to assist employees in managing their debt.
- Employer contribution: Of course, this would not necessarily be a voluntary benefit-only program, but employers are looking into helping their employees pay their loans back through employer-sponsored match programs.
Employee purchase programs
Millennials’ student loans may prevent them from making certain necessary purchases. Employee Purchase Programs offered through employers can help workers pay for items they may need immediately, like a washer and dryer replacement over a period of time. Like other voluntary benefits, this one comes with the added convenience of payroll deduction and repayment, helping millennials feel more empowered to make these more expensive purchases and build their credit.
Auto & Homeowners Insurance and legal insurance
Group auto and homeowners’ insurance offered through an employer can provide discounts based on tenure and payroll deductions that are not available in the individual market. Group legal insurance may be attractive to millennials who need to create a will for the first time or buy a new house. Most services are covered and family members are also sometimes eligible to be part of the plan.
See also: 15 employee benefits on the rise
In a time when cost-saving initiatives may be pinching employer-sponsored health plans, voluntary benefits may help cover gaps left by high deductible plans and provide value to employees without adding cost to the bottom line. With diverse offers, easy enrollment, low premiums and payroll deductions, voluntary benefits are worth considering and should be an integral part of your attraction and retention program for millennials.
SOURCE: Marcia, P. (17 September 2018) "Unleash voluntary benefits to attract millennials" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/opinion/unleash-voluntary-benefits-to-attract-millennials
One sure-fire way to engage employees in voluntary benefits
Do you want to increase employee engagement when it comes to voluntary benefits? Read on to learn how to increase employee engagement.
Whether your employees are 22 or 62, they need to plan for the unexpected. A sudden injury or illness can dramatically derail their financial well-being and retirement readiness. As the responsibility for healthcare costs shifts to employees, employers are taking steps to help their employees by offering voluntary benefits, like critical illness and accident insurance.
The hitch, however, is that many employees aren’t taking advantage of these benefits.
There are many reasons for this: Employees may not have much appetite for voluntary insurance benefits after choosing medical benefits. They may not understand what’s being offered or how it is relevant to their lives. Further, if they haven’t been close to someone who has dealt with a catastrophic health issue, they may not grasp how destabilizing that is and how voluntary benefits can help at a difficult time.
So how do employers keep employees from hitting the snooze button on voluntary insurance benefits, and wake them up to how these benefits can help with their overall financial wellbeing?
One way is to understand what employees might need given their life stage, family situation or other variables. To help employees sort this out, here are few scenarios of how voluntary benefits could help employees — with fictional people based on a combination of our experiences with customers.
Leaving nothing to chance
Scott tends to be a worrier. His friends joke that he’s a 45-year-old man in a 25-year-old body. He is in the “adulting” stage of life — getting settled in a career, figuring out his personal life, and living on a salary that’s just a few steps up from entry-level. Scott worries about what might happen if he gets sick or injured and can’t meet his portion of his high-deductible plan. He’s also open about the fact that he doesn’t want to move back in with his parents. Unlike most of his friends, he’s also thinking decades ahead and is already contributing to a 401(k).
Scott wants it all — financial protection now and for the future. Based on what he’s seen happen to friends and colleagues close to his age, he chose critical care and accident insurance coverage during benefits enrollment at work. These options will help cover unexpected costs if an unexpected covered event does happen, and the cost won’t take a big chunk out of his paycheck thanks to his employer’s group rate. What’s more, the benefit is tax-free if he ever needs to use it, and can help keep him independent, and out of his parents’ house.
For employers, these kinds of benefits can help mitigate employees’ financial stressors so they can focus on wellness and getting back to work if an unexpected health issue strikes.
Weekend warriors and thrill-seeking hobbies
Catherine is a marketing manager who is married with two children. She is 44 and in the “balancing” stage of life, between “adulting” and “planning.” Her main concern when looking at voluntary insurance benefits was her husband, who likes high-thrill, risky sports. While Catherine tends to shy away from motorcycles and extreme sports, she is a bit of a weekend warrior since it’s hard to find time to exercise during the week. Her kids are also active and perpetually on the go, whether playing sports or just running around with the neighborhood kids.
Once Catherine learned about voluntary benefits, it was a no-brainer to choose accident insurance for her entire family. While she hopes that her family will only have fun — and avoid injury — doing what they all enjoy, she knows they have to be prepared for anything.
Employers can help employees choose the right benefits by encouraging them to think about how they and their families spend their leisure time, including sports, hobbies, adventure travel or any other activities.
Taking account of a family history of cancer
Meet Justin. He’s 55, married, and has a daughter. He is at the “planning” stage of life — following “adulting” and “balancing.” While Justin is healthy, his family history of cancer is a concern when he considers his future. He’s seen family, friends and colleagues struggle with the costs of a serious illness. He also is acutely aware of saving enough for retirement as he has only 10-15 more years in the workplace, during which he can save.
For Justin, his life stage, family history of cancer and concern for his family’s physical and financial well-being led to his purchasing decisions. To help mitigate financial setbacks if he should become ill, Justin purchased critical illness insurance. He also purchased critical illness and accident coverage for his wife and daughter.
From an employer point of view, emphasizing that employees should consider their family and individual medical history — and how an adverse event could impact them and their families — is a compelling way to make voluntary benefits relevant.
Making it real for employees
Many employers want to help their employees choose the right benefits for their specific needs to protect their financial well-being now and for the future. Showing how needs change with age and lifestyle sheds more light on how voluntary insurance can provide benefits for covered events that will help mitigate financial losses and reduce stress.
Digital technology is making it easier than ever to engage employees across channels with easily digestible but important information. Employers can set up “decision tools” that help employees make choices, offer videos that bring different situations to life, develop app-based calculators, and tell stories about how voluntary benefits can help them and their families during an unexpected illness or injury.
Employees have a lot on their minds. The key to making voluntary benefits real is to show employees why they matter and how to choose the right products. What many employees don’t know is that employers are working hard behind the scenes to offer benefits tailored to their workforce. This is an opportunity for employers to personalize the experience and demonstrate to employees that they truly care.
Grubka, R. (27 June 2018) "One sure-fire way to engage employees in voluntary benefits" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/opinion/engaging-employees-in-voluntary-benefits?tag=00000151-16d0-def7-a1db-97f024870001
Self-funding and Voluntary Benefits: The Dynamic Insurance Duo
Did you know that self-funded health insurance and voluntary benefits can be a dream team when used in conjunction with each other? Check out this great article by Steve Horvath and Dan Johnson from Benefits Pro and find out how you can make the most of this dynamic insurance duo.
In an era of health care reform, double-digit rising health care costs, and plenty of “unknowns,” many employers view their benefit plans as a challenging blend of cost containment strategies and employee retention.
But perhaps they need to better understand the value of a little caped crusader named voluntary benefits.
Employers of all sizes share common goals when it comes to their benefits. They seek affordable, and quality benefits for their employees.
Some companies achieve these goals by cutting costs and going with a high-deductible, self-funded approach. While many associate self-funding with larger employers, in the current marketplace, it has become a viable option for companies across the board.
Especially when paired with a voluntary benefits offering supported by one-on-one communication or a call center, employers are able to cut costs and offer additional insurance options tailored to their employees’ needs. But there’s more.
Voluntary enrollments can help employers meet many different challenges, all of which tie back to cost-containment, streamlined processes and employee understanding and engagement. But before we explore solutions, let’s first understand why so many employers are going the self-funded route.
For most large and small employers, the costs of providing health care to employees and their families are significant and rising.
For companies who may be tight on money and are seeing their fully-insured premiums increase every year with little justification, self-funding serves as a great solution to keep their medical expenses down.
Self-funding: An overview
Self-funding allows employers to:
- Control health plan costs with pre-determined claims funding amounts to a medical plan account, without paying the profit margin of the insurance company.
- Protect their plan from catastrophic claims with stop-loss insurance that helps to pay for claims that exceed the amount set by their self-funded plan.
- Pay for medical claims the plan actually incurs, not the margin a fully insured plan underwrites into their premium, while protecting the plan with catastrophic loss coverage when large expenses are incurred. Plans may offer to share favorable savings with their employees through programs like premium holidays. These programs allow employee contributions to be waived for a period of time selected by the employer to reward employees for low utilization and adequate funding of their claims accounts and reserves.
- Take advantage of current and future year plan management guidance.
- Save on plan costs by using predictive analysis for health and wellness offered by the third-party administrator (TPA).
Beyond these advantages,self-funded plans may not be subject to all of the Affordable Care Act regulations as fully-insured plans, which is one of the reasons they provide a solution for controlling costs. Without these requirements, the plans can be tailored much more precisely to meet the needs of a specific employee group.
Boosting value: Advantages of adding voluntary benefits to a self-funded plan
Based on an employer’s specific benefit plan, and what it offers, employers are able to select voluntary benefits that can complement the plan and properly meet employees’ needs without adding extra costs to the plan.
Employees are then able to customize their own, personal benefit options even further based on their unique needs and available voluntary benefits.
This provides employees a myriad of benefits while also allowing them to account for out-of-pocket costs due to high-deductibles or plan changes, as well as provide long-term protection if the product is portable.
Voluntary solutions are about more than the products
Aside from the common falsehood that voluntary benefits are only about adding ‘gap fillers’ to your plan, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that conducting a voluntary benefits enrollment can actually offer a number of services, solutions, and products, many of which may be currently unfamiliar to you.
Finding, and funding, a ben-admin solution
Some carriers offer the added bonus of helping employers install a benefits administration system in return for conducting a one-on-one or mandatory call center voluntary benefits enrollment.
The right benefits administration systems can help remove manual processes and allow HR to do what they do best—focus on employees and improving employee programs. No more headaches around changing coverage, change files to carriers, changing payroll-deductions or premiums.
Finding the benefits administration system that works best for your situation can make a big difference for your HR team.
Communication and engagement
Many employees are frustrated and scared about how changes to the insurance landscape will impact them. And with a recent survey noting that 95 percent of employees need someone to talk to for benefits information,1 they clearly are seeking ongoing communications and resources.
During the enrollment process, some carriers work with enrollment and communications companies who understand the employees’ benefit plan options and help guide them to the offerings that are best for them and their families.
At the same time, employers can enhance the communication and engagement efforts on other important corporate initiatives. For example, a client of ours increased employee participation in their high-deductible health plan (HDHP) via pre-communication.
Of the 90 percent of employees that went to the enrollment, nearly 70 percent said they were either likely or very likely to select the HDHP. Just a little bit of communication can go a long way toward employee understanding.
Providing education and engagement about both benefits and workplace initiatives increases the effectiveness of these programs and contributes to keeping costs down for employers. The more engagement employers generate, the healthier and better protected the employees.
Prioritizing health and wellness
Employers can also use the enrollment time with employees to remind them to get their annual exams. Many voluntary plans offer a wellness benefit (e.g. $50 or $100) to incentivize the employee and dependents.
The ROI for an employer’s health plan provides value as regular screenings can help detect health issues in the beginning stages so that proper health care management can begin and medical spend can be minimized.
Employers have also seized the opportunity of a benefits enrollment to implement a full-scale wellness program at reduced costs by aligning it with a voluntary benefits enrollment.
An effective wellness program will approach employee health from a whole-person view, recognizing its physical, social, emotional, financial and environmental dimensions. A properly implemented wellness program can ultimately make healthy actions possible for more of an employee population.
A formidable combination
What employers are seeking is simple -- quality benefits and a way to lower costs. With that in mind, offering a self-funded plan with complementary voluntary benefit products and solutions allows employers to take advantage of multiple opportunities while, at the same time, providing more options for their employees.
In today’s constantly changing landscape, self-funded plans paired with voluntary benefits is a formidable combination – a dynamic insurance duo.
See the original article Here.
Source:
Horvath S., Johnson D. (2016 November 23). Self-funding and voluntary benefits: the dynamic insurance duo [Web blog post]. Retrieved from address https://www.benefitspro.com/2016/11/23/self-funding-and-voluntary-benefits-the-dynamic-in?page_all=1
How Voluntary Benefits Options are Changing
The market for voluntary benefits has seen substantial growth over the last few years with the rise of health care cost. Find out how you can prepare for the changes coming to the voluntary benefits market thanks to this great article by Keith Franklin from Benefits Pro.
As health care insurance deductibles continue to rise, interest in voluntary benefits are growing. This trend supports another growth area that we’re seeing: companies are looking for innovative, cost-effective ways to enhance their compensation packages and are finding that voluntary health benefits are the solution. We’ve seen a significant rise in sales for dental discount plans that offer additional benefits over the past six months.
The most popular dental plans that we offer to groups and individuals now include telemedicine, medical bill negotiation and health advocacy services — along with our more typical dental care, vision, hearing, and prescription savings plans.
But, no matter how popular they are, these plans still do not sell themselves. The key to success in the group voluntary benefits marketplace is clearly communicating the business return on investment that can be expected from offering voluntary benefits to employees.
Voluntary benefits refresher
Of course, you know employers use voluntary programs to offer ancillary benefits, or supplementary benefits, that help fill in the holes in major medical coverage.
If you have not had much direct involvement in voluntary benefits, you may be surprised by how much the menus have grown.
Many of the newest voluntary benefits provide discounted or free access to services that were not typically associated with health care plans. These offerings tend to address concerns related to security, financial management, health care that may not covered by primary insurance (such as dental) and personal improvement.
Today, voluntary benefits may include:
- Automobile, homeowners, or pet insurance
- Concierge services
- Critical illness
- Cybersecurity/Identify theft protection
- Dental
- Education
- Financial counseling
- Financial planning
- Fitness
- Healthcare advocacy
- Life insurance
- Medical bill negotiation
- Telemedicine/Telehealth
- Vision
Voluntary benefits are typically offered to employees as an optional add-on to their benefits package. While the benefits may be paid for in part by the employer, these are more typically payroll-deducted benefits.
When sold directly to individuals, voluntary benefit offerings are often described as “discount,” or “additional benefit” plans. Target markets in the business-to-consumer space would include self-employed people and owners of very small businesses. Typically, businesses can qualify as a “group” for voluntary benefits purposes if the business employs three to five people.
When sold to groups, these plans offer savings by tapping into discounts for group rates, and discounts pre-negotiated by the plans’ providers. The savings are passed on to plan members, giving the cost-savings of group coverage to individuals. Brokers and agents can tap into this market effectively by working with trade groups, chambers of commerce, and other associations that serve small businesses, contactors and the self-employed.
It is important to note that many voluntary benefits offerings are not insurance. They are intended to complement existing insurance coverage, make health care such as dental and vision more affordable, or provide discounted access to a broad variety of supplementary services.
There are exceptions, of course. Some voluntary plans offer supplementary health coverage, or other types of insurance.
How to communicate advantages
Financial benefits are the most obvious advantage to businesses. Adding desirable benefits at no additional (or low) cost to the company is obviously an appealing proposition. But that’s not the whole picture.
Businesses considering offering voluntary benefits plans to their employees will also want to ensure that any solution that they buy into fully delivers on its promises and doesn’t add new complications.
Provider reliability: Who is offering the benefit, who is the provider or underwriter? Voluntary benefits can be backed by a provider, such as a health insurance company that offers both dental insurance and dental discount plans. The benefit may be offered directly by the providing company or by another company that they have partnered with. Look for a proven track record of trustworthiness and experience within the voluntary benefits space by all companies involved in providing the benefit.
Easy deployment and administration: What is involved in offering the benefit to employees? What information will be required, how long will it take to on-board people? Will proprietary software need to be installed, or are benefits managed through a platform-generic, online portal? Is there an automatic payroll deduction feature? Obviously, the easier a solution is to set up and use, the more attractive it is. Know the back-end as well as you know the benefits.
Data security: Securing information is an ever-growing concern. Not all companies will ask about data security when evaluating a benefits plan, but an increasing number are vitally concerned about protecting personnel information – both as a service to employees and as a way of warding off digital crime. Cyber criminals can use information about employees to impersonate them and gain access to company networks and data. It is best to be prepared with answers to these questions: How is sensitive information on employees kept secure and private when it is captured, in use, and in storage? If data is stored in the cloud, does the storage solution used meet the organization’s compliance and regulatory obligations?
Education/engagement: Well-designed, informative, and customizable materials that help employees get excited, understand, and use their voluntary benefits are a highly valuable add-on to any offering. Companies expect to see quantifiable results from their benefits packages, and limited adoption reduces return on investment. Keeping employees engaged is central to a company’s happiness with their voluntary benefits plan. Get samples of the employee training material from providers.
Metrics: While many companies will rely on their own data-led decision making tools to measure a program’s success, it’s helpful to point out the ROI voluntary benefits can deliver. Overall, the data points that can be used to gauge the success of a voluntary benefits offering will include an ability to attract and retain top talent, reduced medical absenteeism/presenteeism, increased productivity, and employee interest and usage of the benefits.
Customer care: If employees have problems using their benefits, who provides support? The provider or service partner should offer a single-point-of-contact tasked with solving problems, and a dedicated customer support team that employees can access with questions or concerns.
Interest in voluntary growing
Voluntary benefits aren’t new, but the interest in these offerings is strong – particularly for money-and-time saving services such as telemedicine. As the marketplace grows, businesses and brokers need to understand how to evaluate these offerings and select the best options.
There are advantages to offering a tightly curated bundle of benefits, or providing a broad variety of options that businesses can mix and match. When offering the latter, it’s important to ensure that administration and access are streamlined as much as possible. What seems simple in isolation – you manage and access your benefits though this app or portal – can quickly become wildly complex when the burden grows to a dozen or more apps and portals. Partnering with service providers who focus on delivering a quality experience end-to-end provides significant advantages to brokers and businesses.
See the original article Here.
Source:
Franklin K. (2017 July 13). How voluntary benefits options are changing [Web blog post]. Retrieved from address https://www.benefitspro.com/2017/07/13/how-voluntary-benefits-options-are-changing?t=innovation&page_all=1
How to Meet Growing Demands for Bigger, Better Voluntary Plans
Has there been an increase in demand from your employees to offer more voluntary benefits? Check out this great article by Whitney Ehret from Employee Benefits Adviser on what you can do to meet your employees' demand for more voluntary benefits.
Over the years, voluntary benefits or worksite products have unfortunately earned a negative reputation in the marketplace. This is largely due to overzealous carriers with aggressive sales tactics and brokers purely seeking higher commissions.
With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, employers began to shift more of the benefits cost to employees via high-deductible health plans, increased coinsurance costs and copays. The majority of today’s workforce is comprised of millennials, coupled with Generation Z quickly entering the workforce. There’s no question: traditional employer benefit offerings are about to undergo some major changes.
With a new administration in place and increasing generational challenges, employers are becoming more open to creative ideas to improve their total benefits offering. Today’s voluntary benefits market isn’t shy of options, which in turn makes things quite confusing. Companies will need to shift focus from traditional offerings and begin to get more resourceful — not only with the products they offer, but also with their entire strategy. Communications, enrollment and marketing will all become especially critical in retaining and attracting top talent in the coming months and years.
For the most part, the majority of brokers and employers are somewhat familiar with the top voluntary products in the market: dental, vision, accident, critical illness, cancer, hospital indemnity, disability and life insurance. Those are traditionally the products that spark initial voluntary benefit conversations, although there are many more — including legal, identity theft, auto/home, pet, employee purchasing programs, unemployment gap, tuition and loan assistance programs.
For the remainder of 2017, the conversation is predicted to still involve the top voluntary products, but shift to a new focus. Nearly two thirds of employers are looking to voluntary benefits to reduce overall financial stress on employees, the 2016 Xerox HR Services Financial Wellbeing & Voluntary Benefits Survey found. Integrating voluntary benefits with core benefits may reduce financial stress that ultimately leads to health issues and higher overall benefit costs.
The main goal of these products is to provide employees with cash resources, paid directly to the insured, should they experience an unexpected life event. Insureds can use these payments for anything they choose: mortgage, rent, groceries, deductibles, coinsurance payments, copays and more. Compared to state disability programs, these payments are generally made more quickly and offer a simpler claim filing process. If an employee is faced with a difficult situation, these conveniences can greatly reduce stress during a highly sensitive and vulnerable time.
Financial wellbeing is the focus
A recent Employee Benefit News article found 89% of millennials are interested in receiving financial advice, yet only 58% have been offered this type of assistance. With the majority of the workforce now comprised of millennials, employers will need to offer more diverse benefit options that are tailored to this population.
Millennials aren’t the only ones who are concerned about their financial wellbeing. The MetLife’s U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study found 49% of employees are concerned, anxious, or fearful about their current financial situation, 72% said that a customized benefits package increases loyalty and only 27% are satisfied with their progress toward paying down student loans. These statistics demonstrate the immediate need for a comprehensive voluntary benefit offering.
Student loan debt is an issue for all generations in the workforce. Whether the individual is a millennial trying to get established and create wealth, a Gen X employee who is struggling with existing student loan debt family debt and saving for retirement, or a baby boomer who is trying to help support the family’s educational needs — namely children and grandchildren — everyone, at some level, has a need for student loan assistance.
Additionally, most voluntary products offer wellness benefits, which is a direct payment to the individual for completing an annual wellness exam. With amounts ranging between $50-$200 (employer selected), this is pure profit to the individual, since ACA requires preventative exams to be covered 100% by insurance carriers.
In addition, this benefit helps to subsidize the actual cost of the product annually. There are carriers in the market that will pay this benefit multiple times in a single year for a single insured.
Increasingly, companies are getting involved with wellness specific initiatives and incentives for their employees to hopefully drive healthy habits that will, in turn, lower healthcare costs and increase workplace satisfaction. To promote these wellness programs, employers offer reduced pricing on their medical plans or make contributions into a medical savings account if employees complete their annual exams or participate in various wellness activities. Offering voluntary products with a wellness benefit is another way to enhance a company’s total health portfolio at no cost to the employer.
Carrier selection Is key
Like many other industries, this business is all about relationships. Brokers and employers need to be able to trust and rely on their voluntary benefits carriers. As HR staffing has shrunk and brokers are required to provide more services with the same resources, it’s imperative that the appropriate carrier is selected for each unique case.
Voluntary benefits, as “cookie-cutter” as we may perceive them to be, are just not that. Since their onset, voluntary benefits have come with administrative obstacles that have historically taken up too much of HR’s time.
Unfortunately, while these products do provide a valuable benefit to employees, they are not the priority for most employers. Employers don’t often care about how many products they are offering as long as the plans aren’t administrative-heavy, the 2016 Employee Benefit News annual survey found. Carriers recognize this issue, and have steadily made improvements to these processes over recent years.
There are carriers in the marketplace today that allow clients to self-bill and self-pay, which is essentially what employers are already used to doing on their basic and supplemental group life and AD&D plans. For claims issues, they have also made this process easier by making it electronic and not requiring extensive information from the employees in the claims-filing process.
Core carriers (traditional medical carriers) are also beginning to get into the worksite market and are further simplifying the claims process by linking their medical system with their voluntary system. This allows the carrier to proactively initiate claims and file complete claims for the insured since the majority of the claims information is already within the single carrier system.
The other benefit to offering voluntary plans with the core medical carrier is that often some products may provide additional benefits if employees have a certain medical condition. For example, voluntary dental plans will provide more cleaning exams per year if an insured is pregnant. Most insureds would not realize they have this benefit, but by linking these systems with a core carrier, the insured makes sure to get the most out of their plan.
Communication style and strategy are imperative
Not only is it important to consider the products and carriers that are offered, but also how they are enrolled and communicated. From the voluntary benefits perspective, these products have typically been enrolled face to face with employees. While this may be the best way to fully educate employees on their benefit options, that is no longer the future of employee benefits enrollment.
ACA has also helped enrollment move to the electronic platform because of the requirements made on employers for reporting. Millennials are the technology generation, making them naturally comfortable using technology to enroll and learn about benefits and even be treated by a virtual doctor.
Employers are trending toward a more self-service enrollment environment, which brings its own challenges. Most of these systems are built with decision tools that allow for the enrollment experience to be customized to the employee. These tools will make plan recommendations for the employees based on the answers to health and financial questions. Often, videos within the enrollment site are used to further enhance the educational experience.
Some of the main problems with electronic enrollments include keeping employees engaged, offering voluntary benefit products and carriers that work with the system, keeping costs low or free for the employer and ensuring data accuracy and security.
A company’s overall benefits package is becoming increasingly important in the decision-making process for prospective employees, as well as to retain top industry talent. Employers, rightfully so, are concerned about cost and maintaining this delicate balance while still attempting to manage the complex administration of these plans.
More and more, employers are looking for voluntary benefits to solve this need by offering “free” technology and enrollment solutions to their groups. There is no doubt that if employers want to retain and attract top talent, they are going to have to adapt with the market and offer their employees a wide array of benefit options and new technology that is tailored to their employee needs.
See the original article Here.
Source:
Ehret W. (2017 July 24). How to meet growing demands for bigger, better voluntary plans [Web blog post]. Retrieved from address https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/opinion/how-to-meet-growing-demands-for-bigger-better-voluntary-plans
Voluntary Benefits Key to Helping Employees with Rising Health Costs
With the cost of healthcare rising day by day, many employees are struggling to pay for their healthcare expenses. Take a look at this interesting article by Nick Otto from Employee Benefit Adviser and see how employers are leveraging their voluntary benefits to help employees offset some of their healthcare costs.
As workers continue to struggle with out-of-pocket medical bills, there’s a growing opportunity for benefits managers to hold more conversations with employees on voluntary benefits that can help offset costs.
“The rising cost of healthcare has driven many employers to offer supplemental group insurance products, often in conjunction with a health savings account,” says Elias Vogen, director of group insurance client relationships for financial services firm Securian. “This combination can be cost-effective for both employer and employee … and when employees are aware that these benefits are available to them through work they opt in at a high rate.”
According to a recent survey from Securian, 28% of employees with health insurance through work facing an out-of-pocket expense of $5,000 or more would use their personal savings to pay rather than other means, including an HSA (8%) or supplemental group insurance (7%).
Further, a majority of respondents said they do not know how they would pay for an out-of-pocket expense (21%), or that they would need to rely on credit cards (12%), a loan from their 401(k) (7%) or family/friends (4%), their tax return (5%) or by selling/pawning a personal possession (2%).
“Healthcare costs continue to rise and that almost certainly will not change anytime soon,” Vogen says. “As a result, employers and employees will continue to look for options to help ease the cost crunch. The popularity of benefits like accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity insurance will continue to rise. These benefits are here to stay.”
A multi-touch strategy is the best way for employers to communicate with employees about voluntary benefits, according to Vogen.
“We recently conducted accident and critical illness insurance enrollment campaigns with a large employer that involved six points of contact: direct mail, e-mail, videos, digital materials, an interactive benefits guide and webinars,” he says. “By using a variety of channels, we were able to educate employees on the value of these voluntary benefits in ways that were convenient and comfortable to them.”
Voluntary benefits relieve a key concern for employees: While the survey revealed that paying for out-of-pocket medical expenses would be the top financial concern for a plurality (42%) of workers facing a debilitating injury, a critical illness diagnosis or a hospitalization, 58% say their top concern would be lost wages from work, the ability to pay for regular monthly expenses such as groceries, or the need to take on additional expenses such as lawn care or cleaning.
“If you break your leg, or your critically ill spouse needs specialized medical care out of state, these benefits can be used to help pay for expenses like hiring out your household chores, paying for travel costs, extra child care and more,” says Vogen. “You don’t have to turn in your receipts; you’re able to use the funds as you wish. The flexible nature of these benefits can be instrumental in warding off financial troubles from an unexpected health event.”
According to the survey, employees were asked if they are offered six different voluntary benefits by their employer:
· Life insurance (54% said yes)
· Disability insurance (38%)
· Health savings account (36%)
· Accident insurance (24%)
· Critical illness insurance (15%), and
· Hospital indemnity insurance (9%).
Further, 12% of employees said they are offered none of these benefits, and 18% said they are not sure if these benefits are offered by their employer.
Of these six benefits, life insurance is the most popular, with 75% of employees who have access to life insurance through their employer saying they are enrolled. “Accident insurance ranked second, with 64% of employees offered this insurance enrolled. Hospital indemnity insurance came in third at 59%, followed by disability insurance at 54%, health savings account at 52% and critical illness insurance at 47%,” says Vogen.
Employers recognize that healthcare costs have become burdensome to their workers and their families, and it’s important to remember that these cost increases have impacted employers’ bottom lines as well, according to Terry Holloway, an employee benefits adviser and executive vice president with insurance broker Cobbs Allen.
“Supplemental group insurance benefits are a cost-effective solution for both employers and employees,” Holloway says. “We have seen a significant increase in employer interest in these and other voluntary benefit platforms in the past five years, along with innovative enrollment solutions from insurance carriers.”
See the original article Here.
Source:
Otto N. (2017 July 20). Voluntary benefits key to helping employees with rising health costs [Web blog post]. Retrieved from address https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/voluntary-benefits-key-to-helping-employees-with-rising-health-costs?feed=00000152-a2fb-d118-ab57-b3ff6e310000
15 voluntary benefits trends heading into 2017
Alan Goforth lists the top benefits trends of 2017.
Predicting industry trends is as much a sign of the end of the year as after-Christmas sales and New Year's resolutions.
Although predicting the future is only an educated guess, one thing is certain — voluntary benefits are here to stay.
Carriers, brokers, employers and workers all give a thumbs-up to the increased flexibility and opportunities for cost control they bring to benefits packages.
Here is what may lie over the horizon in 2017.
THE MARKET IS BULLISH
As a result, the quantity and quality of voluntary benefits will continue to grow. Examples of traditional voluntary benefits employers are likely to add include gap coverage, short-term disability, cancer, critical illness, prescription, dental, life insurance and hospital supplemental policies. Brokers should make sure they have these products in their portfolios.
WELLNESS PROGRAMS GET FISCAL
Most businesses understand that the size of an employee's waistline can correlate to attendance, productivity and turnover. Many also are starting to realize the link between the size of their bank account and job performance.
Smart employers are adding voluntary benefits that can help workers reduce stresses associated with finances and debt. These can include financial education, financial counseling, employee purchase programs, parental leave, retirement planning and even short-term loans under certain circumstances.
A-WEAR-NESS IS INCREASING
Technology is taking the guesswork out of employee wellness programs. Nearly two-thirds of carriers surveyed expect wearable technologies to have a significant impact on their industry, according to Accenture's annual Technology Vision report. Fitbits and similar devices enable employees to quantify the results of their effort, which both inspires them and provides employers valuable feedback about the effectiveness of their programs. An increasing number of businesses now subsidize the cost of wearable devices or set up payroll deductions to cover the expense.
ENGAGEMENT GOES HIGH-TECH
Year-in and year-out, HR professionals cite employee engagement as one of their most vexing issues. Traditional tactics are becoming less effective with millennial employees, who often prefer voluntary benefit portals and enrollment platforms.
"Millennials get information on their own," said Aprilyn Chavez Geissler, owner of Geissler Agency Inc. in Albuquerque. "However, when it's time to purchase, they still want the personal service and an advisor to help them. As a large demographic, they are similar to the silent generation in that they think through their purchases and do research on their own."
CRITICAL ILLNESS REACHING CRITICAL MASS
Critical illness insurance was once a blip on the radar screen of voluntary benefits packages — but not anymore. It is becoming an increasing popular option as the workforce ages and companies reduce primary health coverage and shift the cost of primary medical onto
“Critical illness insurance is by far the fastest-growing insurance product on the market," said Mark Randall, a researcher for GoldenCare in Minneapolis. "Even though the market share is still fairly small, it's a hot product. The bottom line is that every broker should add this product to their portfolio.”
VOLUNTARY BENEFITS REDEFINED
One sure sign of growing demand for voluntary benefits is the fact that many definitions have become obsolete. In the past, voluntary benefits were limited to such bread-and-butter options as dental or vision insurance. Today, however, they are all about lifestyle benefits, such as health club memberships, legal services or pet insurance. A good working definition of a voluntary benefit is anything that can be deducted from an employee's paycheck.
CONSUMERS DRIVE PLANS
A well-designed consumer-driven health plan creates a win-win scenario. Employers hold the line on costs, and employees pay only for the coverage they need and want. This can mean a transition to high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts or health reimbursement arrangements that help employees pay their out-of-pocket expenses and allow them to retain unspent contributions.
TOOLS PROMOTE TRANSPARENCY
Information is a double-edged sword: Employees can be overwhelmed by the voluntary benefit options available to them, but they are also empowered to make smart choices. Benefits providers, brokers and employers are providing user-friendly tools that increase transparency. Studies show that this is especially important to younger workers.
Fifty-two percent of millennials report searching online for health or care-related information, and reliance on social media, patient portals and performance scorecards is growing. One-quarter of consumers say they have looked at a scorecard or report card to compare the performance of doctors, hospitals or health plans, compared to 19 percent two years ago. Among millennials who need medical care, scorecard use has grown from 31 percent to 49 percent.
THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU… ONLINE
Telemedicine is a natural byproduct of increased telecommuting. The practice is both a cost-effective option for employers and a perk for employees who are paying more out of pocket for health care. On-call services can bring virtual health care providers into the office with advice about preventive care and nonthreatening illnesses.
ANALYTICS REDUCING GUESSWORK
Anyone remotely involved in the benefits business knows that the industry is swimming in tons of data. Innovative employers are putting this information to work to design better plans that improve health care and reduce expenses. Claims data and historical use patterns demonstrate how much employees can save on new plans by making better decisions. This information also helps employers get a better handle on plan costs, employee adoption and administrative efficiency.
NONTRADITIONAL BENEFITS BOOMING
Employees continue to express interest in new, nontraditional voluntary benefits, and carriers are responding. According to a study by Eastbridge Consulting, 13 percent of employees have selected employee purchase programs; 8 percent have selected legal plans; 3 percent have selected identity protection; and 1 percent selected pet insurance. The relatively low numbers reflect the fact that these options are new, according to researchers.
These percentages are expected to grow. Nontraditional voluntary benefits offer workers a way to obtain products and services through convenient payroll deduction. Most nontraditional offerings provide immediate, tangible benefits that can be used any time, unlike many core benefits that employees need only when they are sick or injured.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT IS HOT
Employees are eager to improve themselves, especially if doing so is cost-effective. Financial planning and online educational services, including college courses, certifications and career development, are becoming popular. Look for more of these, such as Graduate Management Admission Test prep and Graduate Medical Education courses, to be added.
MINIMUM WAGE HIKES MAY SPIKE DEMAND
Although the drive toward a $15 per hour minimum wage in some cities has been controversial, it may have an upside in demand for voluntary benefits.
"With the California minimum wage going to $15 an hour, those employees will have extra money to opt for more voluntary benefits," said Wayne Sakamoto, owner of Health Insurance Interactive Inc. in Naples, Florida. "This extra money will help them get into a nicer apartment, buy a home, get a car or opt to purchase more voluntary benefits. Benefits such as dental and vision insurance are a goodwill gesture by the employer."
DEMAND CREATING COMPETITION
Brokers, employers and workers all may benefit from the increasing number of carriers offering voluntary benefits.
"Brokers now have a lot more different carriers in voluntary benefits than they did several years ago," said Kathy O'Brien, vice president of voluntary benefits and national client group services for Unum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. "They have to be very knowledgeable about the carrier, what they will do to meet the needs of their clients and what types of service they offer, not just in enrollment but also in plan administration, how they will deliver the services, how they will pay and handle billing information."
VOLUNTARY BENEFITS MUST BE INTEGRATED
A well-designed package of voluntary benefits is more efficient when integrated seamlessly with traditional benefits, and not merely tacked on. Learning how best to do this is an ongoing challenge.
"Understanding how all of the different solutions work together is critical, especially when paired with a high-deductible health plan," said Paul Goedde, executive vice president of the Voluntary Employee Benefits Board and product management lead for Cigna in Philadelphia. "Not only does it help the employer attract and retain talent, it helps them manage their bottom line with more-productive and satisfied employees."
See the original article Here.
Source:
Goforth, A. (2016 October 25). 15 voluntary benefits trends heading into 2017. [Web blog post]. Retrieved from address https://www.benefitspro.com/2016/10/25/15-voluntary-benefits-trends-heading-into-2017?kw=15+voluntary+benefits+trends+heading+into+2017&et=editorial&bu=BenefitsPRO&cn=20161025&src=EMC-Email_editorial&pt=Daily&page_all=1
