Question

Identify three voluntary benefits an employer can provide to employees, describing the benefit and indicating why it is important to employees. Indicate how these benefits can assist and organization is attracting and/or retaining employees.

Answer 1

Answer:

As health care costs continue to rise, so has the demand for voluntary benefits. Since many employers find it increasingly difficult to provide employees with a complete benefits package, voluntary benefits have become an ideal solution. Voluntary benefits allow employers to offer benefits that are attractive to employees without added cost to the company. Employees benefit because they have a variety of insurance options available conveniently in one place, and often with lower premiums than individual polices they would have bought themselves.

What are voluntary benefits?

Voluntary benefits are coverages and products made available to employees for elective purchase. These programs have four key characteristics:

• 100 per cent employee-paid
• Offered through an employer
• Solicited and enrolled through a carrier or enrollment firm
• Paid through automatic payroll deductions

Because of their cost efficiency and portability, as well as their contribution to an employee’s work-life balance, voluntary benefits are becoming a central component of many companies’ overall benefits strategies.

What are some common voluntary benefits?

1. Permanent life insurance: Life insurance is an employee benefit frequently offered by employers. Life insurance is an insurance policy that provides, in exchange for monthly, quarterly, or annual premium payments, a lump sum of money to the designated beneficiary of an employee who dies.
2. Accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D): Accidental death and dismemberment insurance (AD&D) is usually a rider to a health insurance or life insurance policy. The rider covers the unintentional death or dismemberment of the insured. Dismemberment includes the loss, or the loss of use, of body parts or functions (e.g., limbs, speech, eyesight, or hearing). Because of coverage limitations, prospective buyers should carefully read the terms of the policy.
3. Other Post Employee Benefits: Other post-employment benefits (OPEB) are the benefits that an employee will begin to receive at the start of retirement. This does not include pension benefits paid to the retired employee. Other post-employment benefits that a retiree can be compensated for are life insurance premiums, healthcare premiums, and deferred-compensation arrangements.

Why should employers consider expanding their benefit offerings to include voluntary benefits?

Trends show employees have a strong emotional appeal towards these benefits and have come to expect them. Usually, there are no fees or costs for employers. They complement the goals of most corporate work/life programs.They offer easy implementation (most do not have legal and regulatory issues associated with insurance benefits). They require little post-implementation administration or support.

What are some specific advantages to offering voluntary benefits?

• Opportunity to access a broader array of benefits.
• .Freedom to choose benefits that best suit their needs.
• Affordable premiums (often deducted on a pretax basis)
• Portable coverage
• Easy enrollment process
• More convenient and time-saving than buying on their own
• The convenience of payroll deduction
• No medical exams
• More lenient underwriting requirements

How these benefits can assist and organization is attracting and/or retaining employees?

• Employees will be assured of Job security and as they are getting permanent life insurance, they will not be having any kind of fear in working in an organisation.
• Employees are getting Retiree medical insurance, it will act as an ingredient to boost the morale of the employees and power to work within fact double motivation in an organisation.
• A positive culture of workplace will be built up and each and everyone has a positive mindset towards the working condition.