Voluntary Benefits – mkbenefitconsultants.com

Supplemental Voluntary Benefits

What are voluntary benefits?

Sometimes called supplemental insurance or employee-paid benefits, voluntary benefits are offered by the employer through the workplace where employees can choose to buy them in addition to the core employee benefits they may get as part of a benefits package.

You can offer voluntary benefits to your employees at no direct cost to you. And, contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a big company to offer them — some plans require an employer to have a minimum of just three to five employees to qualify. Here’s all you need to know about a voluntary benefits plan and what it can do for your employees and your business.

Payment options are typically flexible. To suit their budget, companies can choose whether voluntary employee benefits are:

Fully employee-funded
Partially-funded by both employee and employer

What voluntary benefits are available?

There’s a huge range of voluntary benefit plans out there in the market. Some examples include disability insurance, accident insurance, dental insurance or “softer” benefits that may include retail or ticket discounts, gym memberships or concierge services like collecting dry cleaning.

Accident insurance
Cancer insurance
Critical illness insurance
Dental insurance

Disability insurance
Hospital indemnity insurance
Life insurance
Vision insurance

How businesses and employees benefit

Adding voluntary benefits to your compensation package supports your business in multiple ways.

Benefits to the business

Enrich benefits package without adding to your bottom line
Help control rising health care costs
Attract and retain top talent

Benefits to the employees

No or low cost
Valuable coverage at affordable rates
Helps fill in gaps in major medical coverage
Flexible benefit options

Busting the myths — why small businesses don't offer voluntary benefits

Myth 1: Affordability

Many small businesses may believe they can’t afford to pay for voluntary benefits, even if they see the positives in offering them.

Voluntary employee benefits can be partially-funded or even fully-funded by the employee. It means that the company has complete control on how much they decide to spend and what options they choose to add.

Myth 2: Not enough employees to qualify

While it does depend on the carrier and the product, many voluntary benefits are available to businesses with single-figure numbers of staff, and some have no minimum requirements.

Myth 3: Administering a voluntary benefits plan is costly and complex

Certain benefits provide tax advantages and are tax-deductible. Some can be paid for through payroll deduction. Many qualified carriers will be pleased to help with the education of employees and can provide easy enrollment and administration, usually at no direct cost – allowing the employer to get on with running their business.

Myth 4: Employees don’t value it

This misperception often stems from employers themselves. While most employers believe employees value take-home pay over benefits, employees actually value nonmedical insurance benefits and voluntary benefits more than employers realize.