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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
Benefits & Compensation
What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
Exchange ideas about health plans, retirement, work/life benefits, and employee assistance.
With the cost of offering health insurance and other common benefits rising each year, I'm looking for some insight into small businesses offering voluntary benefits of any sort. What kinds do you off
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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 4/12/2011 2:24 AM EDT
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Posts: 2
First: 4/12/2011 Last: 5/15/2011 |
With the cost of offering health insurance and other common benefits rising each year, I'm looking for some insight into small businesses offering voluntary benefits of any sort. What kinds do you offer? How did you select these? What is the participation rate? And does the company offer any subsidy to help offset the cost?
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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 4/12/2011 5:38 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
What kinds do you offer?
None other than basic life insurance due to the fact that there is still a cost of administration; We do have STD/LTD that is 100% company paid and the life can be administered along with that with the same carrier. How did you select these? These were the few that we felt employees should have and that were better to buy as a group cost wise, especially for employees with pre-existing conditions. And they protect us as an employer from requests for extra wages when an employee is no longer able to work (through death or disability). Being a small company, employees are great at putting guilt onto HR/owners about their "needs". What is the participation rate? For life, about 35%. For STD/LTD 100% And does the company offer any subsidy to help offset the cost? Only on STD/LTD We refuse to go with any other extraneous benefits other than these and health insurance, such as Long Term Care, Cancer, etc. While the carrier, broker, or salesperson will tell you it is "free" to the employer, it is not. There is payroll setup...there are payroll deduction forms...there are enrollment meetings and questions...there is the time it takes to input the deductions or send them to the admin company, etc. And in the end, your employees do see the employer as a part of this process, not just the carrier so if something goes wrong, they want YOU to fix it. But then again, we try to not parent our employees and feel like there are a lot of things that they can go and purchase out in the individual market. |
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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 4/18/2011 6:56 AM EDT
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Posts: 1047
First: 4/11/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Voluntary benefits tend to be a good way for transactional brokers to make money. Most go with the throw-everything-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach, which does nothing for your company when it comes to attraction and retention of employees.
My favorite number when it comes to AFLAC is 27 - that's the cents on the dollar they pay out in claims. Someone is making a whole lot of money on the backs of your workforce. If you really care about your employees, take the time to implement true group policies, not individual policies masked as if they are employer-sponsored. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at matthew@heliosnm.com. |
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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 4/20/2011 8:58 AM EDT
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Posts: 6
First: 8/9/2007 Last: 8/3/2011 |
We offer voluntary dental, life and disability plans. Since these are 100% employee paid, our cost is administration. Participation is high and contributes to a more stable, engaged workforce in my opinion. |
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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 4/21/2011 4:26 AM EDT
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Posts: 2
First: 9/9/2008 Last: 4/21/2011 |
We have about 75 employees. We pay half the premium on STD, and our participation is about 95%. Since we dont have a medical pay plan or sick days, this is an important benefit for us to provide. We started offering a supplemental/optional life insurance policy for employee/spouse/dependents a few years ago. We offer basic life for employees at no cost to them, but only 20k. The supplemental plan is 100% employee paid. Our participation in the supplemental life is about 30%. We introduced vision (materials only since the exam is covered in the health plan) this year, and it is completely employee paid, and we have about 20% participation which is a lot more than I expected. We decided to offer the vision because a lot of applicants kept asking if we had it. It's not very expensive for the employee, and they can decide each year if they want to stay in it or not. We ended up using the same company that provides our dental insurance, but we looked at others as well. We looked at AFLAC once, but their products were so specific, how can anyone predict what they will get sick with and what coverage to buy? We did not expect to get enough participation to make it worthwhile. The supplemental life, STD, and vision are basic benefits that job applicants ask about. We also offer a flexible spending account which has good participation, about 25%. We pay admin fees, but they are pretty reasonable. |
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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 4/21/2011 5:27 AM EDT
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Posts: 7
First: 8/29/2000 Last: 4/21/2011 |
We have 75-100 employees. We offer a rich benefit plan with voluntary products on top (not Aflac). Our voluntary products are low cost to the employees and highly valued.
We offer voluntary vision, supplemental short term disability, supplemental long term disability, supplemental life insurance, dependent life insurance and flexibile spending. The participation rate depends on your ability to communicate the cost/benefit of the product. Constant communication is key so that employees understand fully the products they are purchasing. The voluntary benefits were key to recruitment and retention and highly valued. |
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What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 4/21/2011 7:52 AM EDT
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Posts: 1047
First: 4/11/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
How did you measure the impact they've had on attraction and retention? What do you consider "low cost"?
For life insurance, most supplemental and dependent life is voluntary and the rates tend to be fairly competitive these days. This isn't where the issue in the employee benefits world is, however. As health premiums continue to rise at a ridiculous rate, why are employers continuing to saddle their employees with additional deductions for disability, vision and dental insurances? Having a partially contributory plan is not the same as voluntary. Making employees have some skin in the game is a good idea since it tends to lead to a higher value proposition. The issues with 100% voluntary plans are as follows: * They tend to be considerably more expensive than employer-paid or partially contributory insurances. Participation, demographics, industry, etc. all play a role in promulgating the rates, so there are variables here. * Participation tends to be lacking. While not everyone needs vision insurance, everyone should have STD, LTD and Dental insurance. If all of your employees are not taking advantage of these products, you're missing the mark. * Far and away, most employers turn to products from Colonial, AFLAC, All State, etc. Not only are these products designed to pay out as little as possible, but they are extraordinarily expensive for what you're buying. * Lastly, most employers allow these carriers carte blanche when it comes to presenting products to its employees. This is not the proper way to introduce non-employer-paid products to the workforce. Employees are uneducated consumers when it comes to purchasing insurance. Do you think they're making proper financial decisions when sitting down with a sales rep who is trying to sell them cancer, accident, disability, whole life, term life and dental insurance all at once? Employers need to look at total compensation when it comes to determining what they can contribute to these insurances. In most cases, a tenth or two of a percentage is all it would cost to ensure an employer is doing its best when it comes to its employees. And if employers focused on creating the proper types on medical plans, they would wind up with a boatload of savings that would pay for these insurances with money left over. But that's a whole other discussion... |
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Re: What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 10/25/2011 5:36 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 4
First: 10/25/2011 Last: 10/25/2011 |
Our benefit brokers are looking at voluntary programs offered by companies such as Allstate, Colonial Life and others. Some of them offer online benefit enrollment systems, wellness programs and benefits educaton for your employees and there is no additional cost to the employer. They do require that they meet with a certain number of employees. We are looking at these programs for 2012. |
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Re: What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 10/27/2011 10:29 AM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 14
First: 10/24/2011 Last: 5/3/2013 |
Run as fast as you can. Allstate, Conlonial, etc. are the carriers I mentioned before. They offer online enrollment systems because they make so much money on you they are laughing all the way to the bank. And exactly what kind of wellness program are you getting for no cost? No cost = no impact. |
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Re: What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
posted at 11/2/2011 1:54 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 1
First: 11/2/2011 Last: 11/2/2011 |
In Response to Re: What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?: Our benefit brokers are looking at voluntary programs offered by companies such as Allstate, Colonial Life and others. Some of them offer online benefit enrollment systems, wellness programs and benefits educaton for your employees and there is no additional cost to the employer. They do require that they meet with a certain number of employees. We are looking at these programs for 2012. Posted by mlsully Within the voluntary benefits arena are *new* benefits that target specific segments of what is increasingly becoming a diverse workforce. Everything from pet insurance to concierge services, companies are recognizing that engagement and retention are directly related to ensuring that an employee's life -- work and family -- are supported. We are targeting a specific niche that affects at least 8% of an organization's workforce yet has been flying under the radar -- working parents with children who are struggling in school. The stats on absenteeism and retention alone demonstrate the costs to the company and there are low-cost ways to help employees as they often languish for years trying to figure out how to help their children. |
Forums » Topic Forums » Benefits & Compensation » What is your view on voluntary benefits? Does your organization offer them?
