Voluntary benefits are where enrollment decisions are hardest and participation is lowest. Employees understand medical. Long term disability, critical illness, hospital indemnity and supplemental life are another story, so many people skip them even when the coverage fits their situation. For brokers, these are also the lines with the strongest first-year commission, so flat participation costs everyone.
Here’s what raises participation, based on enrollments run with Help Me Choose Benefits.
Start from the gap
Employers think their benefits land better than they do. In Aflac’s 2023 WorkForces Report, 80% of employers believed their employees were highly satisfied with their benefits, while only 58% of employees said they were. Meanwhile, Gallagher found that 61% of employers expanded their voluntary benefits in 2022 to attract and keep talent. Adding products doesn’t help if employees don’t understand them.
Explain why each benefit fits the person
A benefit guide describes the coverage. What moves an employee is an explanation of why it applies to someone like them, given their income, household, savings and health. Personal guidance is also the place to say when a benefit isn’t needed, which makes the rest of the recommendation easier to believe.
Remove the barriers to starting
Decision support only works if employees use it. A login, an employee ID or a request for personal data is enough to make many people quit before they begin, and Access Perks reports that simpler processes improve participation. HMCB asks a short set of questions anyone can answer from memory and doesn’t collect personally identifiable information.
Reach employees where they are
Put the link or a QR code first in the enrollment instructions, on posters at each location and in manager reminders. Most employees will open it on a phone, so it has to work on one.
Measure participation by line
Track completions and recommendations while enrollment is open, then compare participation in each voluntary line against last year when it closes. That’s the number your client will ask about at renewal.
What this looked like at ConGlobal
ConGlobal, a logistics company with 2,600 benefit-eligible employees, used HMCB for a non-mandatory enrollment (case study). Employees finished the survey in an average of 3 minutes and 57 seconds. Participation rose from:
- 18% to 30% in long term disability
- 35% to 46% in critical illness
- 28% to 37% in hospital indemnity
- 29% to 38% in supplemental life
Why it matters after enrollment
Benefits only help retention when employees value them. Access Perks cites a Willis Towers Watson finding that 78% of workers would likely stay with their employer because of its benefits package (Access Perks). Employees value coverage they understand and chose on purpose.
Brokers can see the employee side in the employee demo.
Brokers can see how HMCB fits a proposal and a renewal on HMCB for brokers. The complete ConGlobal case study has the completion and counseling numbers too.
