Your clients know a competitive benefits package is essential to attracting and keeping top talent — and that's especially true in today's tight labor market. So it's no surprise the trend toward expanded packages, including a variety of non-insurance or additional benefits, continues to grow. In fact, identity theft protection, legal plans and pet insurance might not even be considered "new" benefits any longer.
But a new wave of additional benefits is emerging in the voluntary market that may offer you new opportunities to stand out from your competitors. If you're not already looking into mental health, financial wellness education and tools, and caregiver support benefits, it's time to learn more.
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Carriers are expanding their options
More than three-fourths (76%) of carriers offer mental health benefits or services, according to Eastbridge's recent "Emerging Voluntary Benefits and Services" Frontline™ report. And the majority of carriers that are not yet offering mental health benefits say they plan to introduce them within the next year. Carriers may offer mental health benefits and services as a benefit, a value-added or discounted service, or both. Including these benefits in a hospital indemnity product is most common, but they can also be part of critical illness, accident, long-term disability, short-term disability or term life plans.
Financial wellness and caregiving benefits are currently less common: A third of carriers include financial wellness services or benefits in their voluntary products, and about a fourth (27%) offer caregiver support services. But look for these numbers to grow, because 9% of carriers we surveyed plan to introduce caregiving benefits within the next year, while 6% say they'll add wellness benefits.
Employers are quickly adopting new benefits
Only about a third of employers currently offer financial education and tools, mental health programs, and caregiver support benefits to their employees, and larger employers are much more likely to offer most of these benefits than smaller firms — but these numbers appear to be growing fast. The 2022 "Market Vision™—The Employer Viewpoint©" study shows another 33% of employers plan to add mental health benefits in the next one to two years, while another 22% plan to offer financial wellness benefits, and another 21% will add caregiver benefits.
Employees show significant interest in emerging benefits
Relatively few employees have access to mental health, financial wellness and caregiver support benefits, according to the 2023 "Market Vision™—The Employee Viewpoint©" report. But significant numbers of employees whose employers don't yet offer these benefits say they're interested in them. Caregiver support generates the strongest interest at 41%, and nearly a third say they're interested in financial wellness benefits (31%) and mental health programs (29%).
The list of additional benefits isn't the only aspect of the voluntary industry that's growing — so is the number of competitors. If you want to emerge from the sea of competition in the market, this could be an ideal time to expand your portfolio with partners offering these emerging new benefits.
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