In life, we need to expect the unexpected. One could argue that this is an apt description for voluntary benefits, which were long viewed by brokers and employers as a labor-intensive afterthought.
Individually underwritten policies like accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, identity theft, pet protection and numerous other coverages offered through payroll deduction weren’t seen as strategic pieces of the overall benefits package. Employees didn’t want or use these products, so the story went. They were too difficult to implement, took too much time, prone to bad customer service experiences and were a distraction — all myths that have been decisively dispelled in recent years.
