The advantages of pairing voluntary benefits

Just like a good cheese is always made better when paired with a bottle of good wine, voluntary benefits can also be made better by the right pairing. And this refreshed offering may be just what you need to meet your clients’ evolving needs.

The latest case for pairing benefits

The COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation have delivered a real-life gut check to more and more employers who are recognizing the need to put extra work into talent retention. After a record 4.4 million resignations in September, October was not far behind, at 4.2 million.

A recent Prudential survey reports that 46% of workers are either actively looking for a new job or are considering a new job search; that number grows to 6 in 10 among millennials. What’s the top driver of this movement? For nearly half, it’s the opportunity for better compensation and benefits. So, there’s a greater urgency for employers to enhance total compensation with a benefit portfolio that’s customizable to individual needs.

I recently spoke with Lydia Jilek, Senior Director and Intellectual Capital Leader at Willis Towers Watson, who knows firsthand the importance of meeting a diverse workforce’s needs. One way to help clients do this without driving employer costs through the roof is by pairing complementary benefits.

“Clients are increasingly looking for ways to address the traditional needs of their employees with expanded health care and life coverage, but there’s also growing interest in offering benefits that appeal to needs that may be specific to different populations,” says Jilek.

As the generational makeup of the workforce continues to shift, the same “old and gold” voluntary benefits can be less appealing to younger demographics like millennials, who recently eclipsed every other active age group in the labor force. Different generations care about different benefits. For example, older generations like boomers and Generation X are more concerned about critical illness and retirement plans, while younger generations value benefits supporting work-life balance, like caregiver benefits and more flexible working hours. And this makes sense, as priorities change with age.

Voluntary benefit packages can fill in the gaps that health insurance can’t by offering services that address areas such as identity theft and long-term care. Further, employees appreciate it when they’re regarded as individuals dealing with complex and dynamic matters.

Pairing benefits is a good business practice

Putting together complementary benefit packages is a strategic way to help clients derive greater value from the benefits they offer – and can help distinguish you as a trusted advisor. You have an opportunity to point out commonly missed synergies between different benefits. That approach can result in higher perceived value to employees at low to no incremental cost to employers.

Some voluntary benefits make natural pairings; for example, long-term disability, critical illness and life insurance, which are great supplemental benefits. Personal protection benefits like legal insurance and identity theft are also aligned. Financial wellness-focused benefits, such as student loan repayment, savings programs and financial education or counseling, can also be a powerful combination. This synchs with a WTW survey that found the pandemic spurred “an increase in benefits that protect employees against big hospital bills and loss of income and provide personal protection.”

Jilek adds, “When I think of legal plans, it goes beyond coverage for day-to-day situations, like making a will and dealing with a contract dispute. I think about how they can work in conjunction with EAPs and other benefits designed to help employees grappling with more pressing issues, like caring for elderly parents, financial insecurity and family-building challenges.”

As demand increases for greater inclusivity in benefits design, more employers are considering expanding their family-building benefits. Those can include support for a range of fertility treatments and assisted reproductive technology, surrogacy, adoption and childcare. A legal insurance plan can work in concert with those financial and health care benefits. In the case of surrogacy or adoption, both require legal engagement to protect the new parents’ rights. A same-sex couple, for example, could use an attorney to secure second-parent adoption rights so both partners are recognized as parents.

Jilek offers a reminder that open enrollment can be a stressful time for employers, who are already trying to get employees to sign up for health care mandated benefits. Adding in helpful voluntary benefits can enhance benefits offerings and make preparing for open enrollment easier for clients.

“We create a thoughtful strategy to introduce products over time, focusing on highest priority needs first,” says Jilek.

Additionally, pairing benefits can help give employees greater peace of mind while on the job. Knowing they are covered by a robust benefits package can increase productivity in the workplace, something your clients will be very happy to hear.

Having the ability to communicate the advantages of comprehensive coverage to employers is a must, and increased employee productivity is definitely a great way to begin to illustrate that. Similarly, employee communications around these complementary benefits can not only inform employees, but showcase a more holistic approach to meeting their individual needs.

Looking ahead

As we move further in 2022, it’s critical to continuously monitor the pulse of your clients’ organizations. Workforces will continue to become more diverse and employers, in turn, will need to be attuned to those shifts in order to be inclusive and stay competitive in the heated talent market.

The wants and needs of your clients will likely change well before the next open enrollment period, and it’s critical to be prepared. A great place to start is by flipping through labor reports or subscribing to your clients’ newsletters to get a glimpse of what’s going on internally. Already, Jilek has great intel for next year based on 2022’s enrollment.

“We are already seeing an increase in employers looking to offer benefits that can help support inclusion and diversity, along with the overall financial wellbeing of their employees,” says Jilek.

So, with that in mind, what outside-the-box benefits pair will best position your clients in the next enrollment period—and in the hearts and minds of current and prospective employees?

Dennis Healy is a member of the ARAG® executive team. Dennis is a passionate advocate for legal insurance because he has seen firsthand how it helps people receive the protection and legal help they need. He has nearly 30 years of insurance industry experience, with a primary focus on the sale of group voluntary benefit products to employer groups of all sizes through the brokers and consultant community.