Why your company should offer voluntary benefits

There’s seemingly an endless list of things enterprises need to think about today. While in the past, making mistakes could be remedied over time; they now spread like wildfire across the Internet. It can be a huge financial and reputational burden for companies to recover from something like this.

Although it might not stir an angry mob online, offering voluntary benefits has become one of the new topics of discussion for enterprises today. Here’s why your company should offer voluntary benefits.

What are voluntary benefits?

The term “voluntary benefits” does a pretty good job of describing its underlying meaning. Here’s a quick definition of voluntary benefits from an SHRM article by Joanne Sammer: “Voluntary benefits are products—such as life, disability, critical-illness and accident insurance, as well as pet coverage, ID theft protection, legal services and financial counseling—offered through an employer but paid for partially or solely by workers through payroll deferral.”

As you can see, voluntary benefits are similar to other employer-provided benefits like healthcare, except that they catch a wider net of potential wants. When you read through the aforementioned list of potential voluntary benefits, you notice something: There’s a fine line between calling these “essential” versus “discretionary.” In fact, the categorization of each of these voluntary benefits would likely be different for each individual employee.

While some stakeholders or executives might see offering voluntary benefits as unnecessary or a waste of time, this isn’t the right approach. There are some compelling reasons for why your company should offer voluntary benefits.

Why your company should offer voluntary benefits

In today’s world, employee satisfaction matters more than it has in the past. Even though it’s always beneficial to keep your workforce happy, this has taken on a whole new meaning in the modern economy. But keeping employees happy isn’t the only reason for to implement these strategies. There are a few big reasons why offering voluntary benefits is such a good idea:

• Retain top talent – Moving right into the obvious, giving employees what they want will keep them happier—and thus increase the likelihood of them staying with your company. Not only does it cost thousands of dollars to fill vacant positions, constant turnover can take a toll on your company’s productivity and culture. Voluntary benefits can go a long way in letting employees build their ideal compensation plan. This builds loyalty and lowers the risk of churn.
• Consider employee finances – Many workers have tight financial situations. If they’re unable to afford large expenses that come their way, it can be determinantal to their lives—and ultimately their ability to work. Voluntary benefits can help employees better prepare for unexpected circumstances.
• Cost savings – It’s possible to create bundled packages with voluntary benefits and more traditional ones like health and life insurance. Combining these can lead to crossover cost savings in delivery, which creates value for employees and firms alike.

These are some of the top motivations for offering voluntary benefits to employees. But how should your enterprise go about delivering these packages?

How should your organization deploy voluntary benefits?

For organizations that are at the stage of deciding how to implement voluntary benefits, working with a consulting partner can be one of the best ways forward.

When you work with a benefits consulting firm, you’re going to have a partner who can not only guide you through the process, but has the connections and expertise to build comprehensive voluntary benefits plans. If you want to create a voluntary benefits solution that really appeals to employees, you’re going to have to hire someone to take the lead. The flexibility of a consulting firm can be the ideal choice here.

Voluntary benefits might not sound like a bit deal, but they are to a lot of employees. Keeping worker satisfaction and morale high needs to be a top priority for enterprises today.

Story by Johnny Depp Jr.