Voluntary benefits is often referred to as “worksite marketing.” Many carriers, in fact, refer to their voluntary products as “worksite voluntary benefits.” Recent developments in enrollment technology, however, are rapidly making the term “worksite” obsolete and no longer relevant to the voluntary benefits process. The term “worksite” derives from how these benefits have had to be enrolled. As products that are voluntarily purchased by employees, the only consistently effective means of presenting (and selling) them have been one-on-one employee meetings with licensed benefit counselors (enrollers) at the workplace during the workday.
Broad employee participation in a voluntary benefit offering happens only when the product is presented and explained – and its value proposition demonstrated – to the employee in the context of his or her own situation. Product pricing and features and benefits are important, but effective benefit communication remains the essential ingredient in the sale of voluntary benefits to the employee. This is the reason for the participation differences between face-to-face worksite enrollments (typically 30% to over 80% or more) and online enrollments (typically 4% to 15%).
