Voluntary benefits

Employees just aren’t using their vacation days and it’s taking a toll...on their health, their work-life balance and, ultimately, affecting the company’s bottom line. Using vacation or paid-time off allows workers to recharge both physically and mentally.

Industry experts provide an overview of three new voluntary products — that employers might not know about yet — so benefit advisers and brokers can get a leg up before a competitor does.

Although most employers review retirement plan costs annually, many are not assessing fees evenly across all asset classes — and that’s where benefit advisers come in.

Industry experts say that while unlikely, the historically stable product line may have the potential for price changes as its sales continue to rise.

Given that hospital charges currently represent about a third of the $2.7 trillion annual U.S. health care bill, employers may want to consider offering hospital indemnity insurance as a voluntary benefit. When an employer is reviewing these plans, there are several important features to look for.

Benefit advisers are poised to close the gap between employers’ need to control health costs and comply with the health law and employees’ lack of interest in taking ownership of their health care choices.

Workers who travel out of their state or country of hire to perform work on behalf of their employers create liability exposures, due to complex laws, administrative rules and regulations that deal with workplace injuries and diseases across the U.S. and abroad.

With interest rates near record lows, employers are increasingly seeking new retirement investment options for their employee participants. Advisers should be prepared to discuss absolute return assets, industry experts say.

Commentary: There are some misconceptions about a particular rising-star voluntary product and blogger Sam Fleet breaks them down.

The life insurance and annuities market continues to grow, but advisers hoping to capitalize on that will first need to meet the challenges of a diversifying U.S. population.

While small-business employers are just as keen on providing the same benefits as their big-business counterparts, a recent study says employers can look at offering competitive voluntary benefits as a way to entice employees and boost employee retention.

Supplemental benefit SurgeryPlus is a new product offering for advisers, especially those who work with self-funded clients.

One recent court case suggests your employer clients should consider including disclaimers in benefit notices to protect against changes in retirement plan payouts.

A handful of letters from trade groups and the Chamber of Commerce reject as “premature and imprudent” the DOL’s proposal to require retirement plan service providers supply guides to fee disclosures.

The do-it-yourself approach may be all the rage for home renovations but when it comes to benefits, employees still need guidance from their employers.

Offering dental coverage and encouraging employees to stick to yearly care regimens can boost employee well-being and overall productivity.

Commentary: Blogger Michael Klachefsky shares ways that disability insurance providers and absence management vendors can help with some unexpected consequences of the health law.

While many in the industry think voluntary sales is a no-brainer for benefit advisers and employees alike, there's one type of product that hasn't seen a boost thanks to the ACA.

Once viewed as a nice-to-have benefit, some say voluntary benefits should now be advertised and heavily promoted to millennial-age employees as an important component in their overall portfolio of benefits.

Commentary: How brokers can select the right decision support tool to enhance voluntary sales, according to guest blogger Steve Adams.