5 Reasons to Offer Voluntary Insurance Plans to Your Employees

Business owners are constantly trying to stay ahead of the curve and figure out how to appeal to prospective new employees. There’s always the threat that top-notch talent will be attracted to another team, so it is important to try and stand out as best you can.

One of the most effective ways to do so is by offering voluntary insurance plans to your team members. Voluntary benefits are those offered by the employer, but employees are solely responsible for paying for them through payroll deferral. Think of voluntary benefits as extra perks you can add to your entire benefits plan; such as dental and vision insurance, pet insurance, ID theft protection, financial counseling, and accident insurance.

There are many reasons to offer your employees the ability to enroll in voluntary insurance. Here we explain five.

There is little-to-no cost to the employer.

Business owners may have some hesitation in providing voluntary insurance plans, as they do not want to take on an additional expense. However, since voluntary insurance plans are paid for primarily by your employees, there is little to no cost to you! All you have to do is sign your business up for the option. In doing so, your employees can take advantage of lower group rates and options that may not have been available to them if they applied themselves via the Affordable Care Act, or elsewhere in the marketplace.

It costs a lot of time and resources to attract an employee to your business. A Glassdoor survey reports that it takes an employer an average of 52 days to hire and onboard a new member to their team. With this in mind, why wouldn’t you go the extra level and provide voluntary benefits to make your employees feel welcome, without added cost on your end?

You can enrich your existing benefit options.

Adding voluntary insurance plans is a great way to subsidize high deductible plans to make medical care more affordable for your employees. Options such as hospital indemnity insurance, which pays a set amount of money if you’re restricted to a hospital, and accidental injury insurance, can really help an employee feel peace of mind that their medical expenses will be partly covered, without having to pay a huge insurance deductible out of pocket.

Voluntary insurance benefits are great because they can offset the expensive price of hospital visits and long-term medical absences, which can appeal to employees of all ages. It may be hard for a worker to meet their high-deductible every year, but knowing that they have the option to invest in supplemental insurance can be all the difference to an employee’s state of mind. Accident and Critical Illness are additional benefits that can be purchased to provide employees with a greater sense of security.

Voluntary benefits boost retention and cut employers' costs.

Above anything else, your employees will want to feel valued and trusted. When they see that their employer will go the extra mile in providing voluntary insurance options, they are more likely to stay with their company. And retaining employees to your team is good for both employee morale and your out-of-pocket costs.  

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, it costs an employer $4,129 to hire one employee, and it will take that employee about 42 days to get acclimated and work at capacity. Additionally, the average company loses between 1% and 2.5% of their total revenue during the time it takes for an employee to be brought up to speed.

With these numbers in mind, any business owner will want to do as much as they can to retain top performing employees for as long as possible. Luckily, voluntary benefits help to do just that.

Your employees will experience increased productivity and job satisfaction.

Consider this: only one-third of all employees nationwide are involved in and enthusiastic about their job. This employee disengagement costs employers a whopping $500 billion annually.

These problems can be easily fixed by employers offering voluntary insurance. If your employees feel that their employers care about their needs outside of the office, they will come to work more inspired, engaged, and ready to give their all to the job. There’s nothing better than having a team full of enthusiastic employees, so going this extra step will make all the difference in job satisfaction and morale in the team as a whole.

Your employees will get the benefit of choice.

When most people think about insurance, they don’t always feel that they have options and choices in their coverage policies. Some employees may feel that they have no say in the matter, and just have to accept what is given to them and move on.

Voluntary benefits can help change that perception and provide employees with choice and flexibility. With these extra options, your employees can pick and choose benefits that work for them and their family’s needs, right now. Voluntary benefits work not only by filling the gaps in a standard coverage plan, but they can also help employees out in situations where they didn’t think they needed help.

For example, pet insurance. Most pet owners don’t realize how costly it can be for emergency treatment and surgery, and usually, they can’t afford the high bill that they have to pay out of pocket. But with pet insurance, your employees can put away a few dollars every paycheck so they are covered if the worst happens. You never know what is going on in your employee’s personal lives, and providing voluntary insurance can add more choice and flexibility for employee needs.

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