Voluntary Worksite Benefits

By Walter Sprang, President & Owner, Employee Benefits & Communications

In today's tightening economy many employer groups are looking for ways to offer more incentives to existing employees and remain competitive for new employees as well. With the increasing cost of benefit plans, many employer groups have started to offer Voluntary Worksite Benefits (VWB). These benefits and policies allow employer groups to grow their benefits package with no hard dollar costs!

However, there are many considerations to offering these benefits: product selection, carrier selection, communication and implementation, and ongoing service. Below, I have briefly outlined a few considerations that employer groups should contemplate.

1. Which Insurance Carrier?
Many insurance carriers currently offer a wide variety of voluntary products already in the US, and the list grows longer every day, as startup companies try to delve into the marketplace and existing insurance companies either develop their own division of VWBs or procure smaller worksite companies.

It may be obvious, but the first criteria should be to check the financial stability of the company over the past several years. AM Best is a good place to start. Do not be lured in simply by name recognition of a carrier - instead, selection of which carrier to use should also involve the exact product selection you would like to offer, whether or not your company is multi-state, different billing options supported, minimum participation requirements, and rates.

2. Which Plans?
Several products are available to offer to your employees. More popular benefits include Specified Illness (Cancer, Heart, Critical Illness), Accident, Disability, Hospital Indemnity, and Life Insurance. Rates are typically $20 or less a month for most policies, making them affordable.

It is typically recommended to pair down each product to one offering, as well as a limitation of how many total plans are offered. The selection of products should be made in conjunction with your benefits Broker/Agent to ensure policies do not overlap or coordinate with existing core benefits that are being offered, keeping in mind voluntary worksite products pay direct to the policyholder to assist in out of pocket expenses.

3. How to Communicate & Enroll?
Certainly one of the most important aspects of implementing VWBs would be the consideration of how the products will be enrolled. Several strategies are available:

- group seminar style meetings
- person to person enrollment
- the use of a call center
- co-browsing enrollment
- a combination of these

Many brokers partner with enrollment firms who specialize in communicating the benefits. Truly, benefits that are not communicated properly will not be appreciated by the employees, leading to low understanding and ultimately low participation.

Proper implementation and eduction of VWBs to the employer & human resources will also minimize ongoing administration and service issues, thus allowing the full benefit and potential of the offering.

We have only scratched the surface of some of the aspects of Voluntary Worksite Benefits, but if you are interested in learning more please do not hesitate to contact SB&K Benefits to schedule an appointment on how your employees can benefit at minimal cost to you!

Employee Benefits and Communications (www.ebc-ywb.com), a professional enrollment firm, has offered voluntary worksite products since 1993 exclusively through the health insurance broker market. Based near San Antonio, Texas, EBC now serves over 270 clients in over 30 states throughout the US, ranging in size from 5 employees to 7500 employees. EBC also represents over 12 of the top Worksite Insurance Carriers, and employs several enrollment strategies including group, person to person, call center, and co-browsing electronic enrollment.