In today´s employee compensation and benefits environment, many employers are decreasing or removing employer-paid benefits due to the rising costs of providing heath care benefits. Employers looking for creative ways to combat rising costs while maintaining employee satisfaction can do so by offering worksite benefit options versus employer-paid plans. Worksite products are insurance packages partially or fully paid for by the employees. Core products include supplemental benefits such as life, accidental death and disability, dental, and long-term and short-term disability.
Worksite benefits are attractive to employers because they can supplement benefits that have been reduced due to budgetary constraints. Worksite benefits are also a good way for employers to improve overall employee satisfaction. Many providers are implementing value-added services to term life insurance packages, such as employee assistance programs and travel assistance. These services offer conveniences that an employee would not have without a life insurance benefit. Not only are value-added benefits attractive to employees, they also provide employers with a tool to help recruit and retain top talent.
As life insurance offerings become complex and difficult, employers are looking for ways to simplify life insurance worksite benefits. Providers are simplifying and adding flexibility to product offerings. Along with simplifying products, many providers also have improved the enrollment process. Providers have begun to develop better ways to improve client enrollment through group meetings, pre-enrollment packages and technology to help with coordination support.
In an environment created by the uncertainty of Social Security, the first baby boomers turning 60, and many Americans drastically underestimating their life expectancy and overestimating their financial resources, the need for supplemental benefits is greater than ever. Voluntary benefits can play an important role in the overall solution. According to an Eastbridge study1, although medical insurance is the most important benefit to employees, life insurance, prescription drug insurance and dental insurance all moved up into the "indispensable" category for "perceived importance."
In today´s financial environment, employers must look to voluntary benefits providers to exceed their business needs, save time and provide essential benefits to employees while maintaining the bottom line.
Sandra Callahan has more than 20 years' experience in the financial services industry. As head of operations, she has management responsibilities for more than 800 employees providing operational, risk, financial and client services in both the Omaha and Atlanta locations. For more information on Lincoln Financial Group, visit www.lfg.com.
1 Worksite MarketVision©—The Employee Viewpoint Revisited, May 2007.
