Voluntary benefits

Industry experts offer their 2015 benefits predictions.

Voluntary benefit options gained popularity in 2014, providing solutions for employers and employees, as well as a business opportunity for benefit advisers.

Employers offering mass transit benefits should make note of recent changes to the allotted amount employees can take out pre-tax, a provision included in the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 which was signed by President Barack Obama on Dec. 19.

Welcome to the 5th annual edition of the ABC’s of Employee Benefits. Given the tremendous amount of activity and volatility in the employee benefits space, this version can be summed up in one sentence: Surround yourself with quality, interested, and engaged help or else 2015 will be a very long and painful year.

Employers who tap into the specific generational needs of their employees and address certain desires could provide an upswing in benefit enrollment.

Commentary: Out-of-pocket health care costs are higher than ever. What solutions can benefit advisers offer their employer clients?

Even though each situation is unique, there are a number of best practices for helping employees through reasonable accommodations.

It’s been a year of massive growth for private exchanges, with estimates of more than three million people receiving employer health benefits through them by mid-2014, according to business management consultancy Accenture. Yet, 2015 is expected to see even more growth and acquisitions.

As health consumerism continues to infiltrate employer-sponsored benefits, benefit advisers say that voluntary options have helped to limit out-of-pocket costs for employees and curtail overall costs for their employers.

With 2015 fast approaching, employee benefit decision makers are scrambling to ensure that they stay ahead of the curve – particularly as the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate kicks in next month.

More employers are offering products like roadside assistance and telemedicine to their employees, as well as new voluntary offerings not seen before.

Voluntary benefits have experienced significant growth in recent years, a trend that brokers and carriers are hoping continues in the coming year.

In anticipation of the 2015 tax season, TurboTax is enabling imports of the 1095-A forms, one of the many new tax forms associated with the Affordable Care Act.

What health, retirement, technology, voluntary, and wellness issues will benefit professionals be wrestling with next year? The editors of Employee Benefit Adviser and Employee Benefit News have put together a web seminar series with top benefit experts to offer insights on the biggest 2015 trends.

Tailoring a voluntary benefits plan to better suit the very different needs of workers with entirely different generational goals and objectives can be challenging, but the payoff is better participation.

On the whole, benefits professionals do feel a high level of satisfaction with the majority of technology they use, but shortcomings in end-user experience remain a frustration.

EBN’s inaugural technology survey indicates that 41% of respondents plan to increase their spending on technology next year, with 45% having already increased their spending from 2013 to 2014. Much of that spending is directed toward new employee portals and front-end systems to better integrate and utilize various benefits functionalities (health, retirement, voluntary benefits and more).

Commentary: The more companies we come in contact with, the more we hear this statement and the more we realize how much employers are relying on their broker, says Beverly Beattie.

Advisers need to know what employees want, what the competition is doing and be current on tax law before setting up an executive benefit plan.

Despite the past two decades of employer efforts to improve gender diversity and equality in the workplace, women remain underrepresented at most levels in the workforce and are not progressing in their careers.