Are Voluntary Benefits the Key to a Happy Employee?

We are all familiar with the idea that a happy employee is a more productive one.

Smart employers are always taking into consideration rising trends, to ensure that their people are feeling valued and recognized – and one new component to improving employee happiness seems to be rising fast: voluntary benefits.

Voluntary benefits – also known as supplemental benefits or employee wellbeing benefits – are offerings that employees can choose to purchase in addition to their core benefits package. These will often include a range of options, such as life insurance, dental and vision coverage, disability insurance, wellness programs, legal services, and even pet insurance.

Their appeal is rooted in their flexibility – employees can pick and choose what best suits their lifestyle and their financial context, making them more uniquely tailored to an individual’s needs.

In this way, voluntary benefits are a fantastic tool for making your employees feel valued, as they offer the opportunity for personalization that standard benefits packages don’t.

Because of this, 86% of employers now consider voluntary benefits crucial to their overall wellbeing strategy. And with  63% of employees saying they would consider changing jobs for better voluntary benefits, choosing the right ones to make available is now more important then ever. So, here are some key voluntary benefits employers should be considering in order to keep their employees happy, healthy, and productive for the year to come:

• Legal Services – this would see employers provide access to legal advice and services, which can prove to be invaluable when dealing with personal legal matters. Additionally, employers can look at offering identity theft protection to help workers protect their personal information (especially with cybersecurity threats continuously rising).
• Supplemental Health Benefits – this has typically taken the form of dental and vision insurance, critical illness insurance, and accident insurance, but now some employers are expanding this scope to also offer supplementary mental health benefits too. This also encompasses physical health benefits such as subsidized gym memberships or nutrition counselling.
• Pet Insurance – the significant rise in pet adoptions during the pandemic has now made offering pet insurance as a voluntary benefit a very attractive one for a lot of employees.
• Educational Assistance – while 80% of working adults are interested in going to school, only 40% know their employers offer a tuition reimbursement assistance program. This can be a great voluntary benefit to consider as it is applicable across generations and ultimately strengthens the skills and knowledge of the employee you are investing in.
• Life and Disability Insurance – the interest in term-life insurance and disability insurance continues to grow amongst employees, and so this would prove to be a popular offering for many as a voluntary benefit.

In the evolving landscape of employee benefits, voluntary benefits stand out as a key differentiator—one that can set your organization apart in the quest to enhance employee happiness whilst at the same time attract, retain, and motivate top talent. If you would like to discuss the support we can offer in helping design and select your benefit packages, please get in touch with us via our website.