What do employees care about more: Life/health or lifestyle?

In light of the pandemic and other recent changes, employees are more concerned than ever about benefits that preserve their lifestyle.

The inability to work creates barriers to earning and paying for a person’s lifestyle; health-related costs can be crippling; life insurance can be the stepping stone for those left behind. But lifestyle preservation can be more immediately important, especially in today’s society:

• A young couple is sued and must find a trustworthy attorney • A couple with teenagers finds out their identities have been compromised; worse, one is being blackmailed due to an online indiscretion • A single woman spends $12,000 on a beloved pet’s kidney tumor • An employee’s car has an out-of-warranty problem, and the employee has to go deeply into credit card debt • An employer has trouble retaining young talent because their competitor offers tuition support and assistance with loan repayment • An employer is plagued by excessive absenteeism/presenteeism because their employees and family members are under a great deal of stress

These situations have two things in common. There is a need for benefits that preserve lifestyle beyond traditional options. And these needs can all be met through a voluntary benefit portfolio.

Considering our examples, in order:

• A legal service plan could help handle the situation • Cybersecurity programs include keystroke tracking, malware detection, and ID theft resolution and restoration and protect online activity for employees and their dependents • Pet insurance can help mitigate the cost of maintaining pet wellness • Affordable auto warranty programs are available to employees • Financial wellness programs include student loan and tuition support • Available services mitigate stress/provide mental health support

But there are roadblocks to adding a folio of lifestyle benefits to traditional voluntary plans. Giving employees too many choices can result in bad decisions or no decisions at all. The second roadblock is the employer: Even for basic needs, employers often question whether their employees are able to afford these benefits.

Our challenge is to balance the needs for all voluntary products against these employer and employee obstacles.

Consider strategic opportunities as you and clients design a voluntary portfolio and a communication/enrollment strategy. Study the demographics of employees to help determine probable needs and the products that best meet them. Supplement the study with surveys of employee interest. Second, review the current benefit portfolio to determine gaps. Third, consider employee income levels and their ability to pay for various benefits. To simplify employee decision-making, determine which products should be included in annual open enrollment, and which could be offered on an off-cycle basis.

Related: 2023 Broker of the Year: Meet the finalists

The end result should be a strategy that allows employees reasonable choices for protecting their life, health, lifestyle, and ability to work.