The pandemic and The Great Resignation have changed the world and with it the way we work. Employees now place a greater importance on their well-being than ever before, and employers that offer benefits packages that align with the lifestyle needs of the working population have a significant leg up on the competition.

Yes, it’s time to expand your benefits program and the competitive advantages employers get – increased employee retention, engagement, and satisfaction. It is well worth the effort.

Workers going through the pandemic have had it tough. More than half of American workers have expressed that the financial, physical, mental, or social health concerns they face lead to higher stress levels and lower productivity, while over 90% believe that they become more productive and engaged at work when they feel secure in their lives¹. To provide the right support for a workforce’s well-being, employers need to pay closer attention to the benefits employees are asking for.

Benefits are so important to employees that a Prudential Insurance survey during the pandemic discovered that 52% of employees would leave their current job for another with the right benefits for them². Expanding your benefits program and supporting it with the right tech is a solid strategy to overcome these hurdles and prevent talent loss. And the best part is that there’s already a proven no-cost method that employers can leverage right now to show workers that they’re valued.

Enter voluntary benefits – perks, services, and coverage offered by an employer but paid for by an employee – that give employees the ability to fill the gaps that traditional benefits can’t cover. While voluntary benefits have evolved beyond just supplemental health products, many HR and benefits teams still operate with outdated definitions.

Today, voluntary benefits have four definitive features:

1)      They must provide a value that’s not available elsewhere

2)      They extend beyond traditional health benefits

3)      They are completely employee-selected and either partially or fully paid for by the employee

4)      They can be purchased via payroll deduction

The desire to develop a well-rounded, holistic benefits approach reached a new high in 2022.  In our latest 'Corestream Benefits Trend' survey, dated August 2022, we learned that 79% of respondents plan to focus on adding more voluntary/lifestyle benefits and/or employee discounts to their benefits strategy in 2023. And, the most popular benefits to offer are currently focused on mental health services, legal services, and financial counseling. 

To make implementing voluntary benefits into your existing benefits program hassle-free, employers can partner with tech providers. Leading voluntary benefits SaaS companies help employers create a robust program that caters to their population’s needs, through various offers that range from supplemental insurance and lifestyle services to employee discounts on popular goods. These software providers also shoulder most of the administrative work that comes with expanding and offering voluntary benefits to employees, as well as setting up the necessary communications strategy to promote utilization.

Employers looking to improve employee retention and engagement after The Great Resignation should reevaluate and expand their benefits program.

Gary Gordon, Regional Sales Manager, Northeast, Corestream 
[email protected] 

¹MetLife (2021) Redesigning the Employee Experience: Preparing the Workforce for a Transformed World. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://www.metlife.com/employee-benefit-trends/

²Moran, G. (2020, September 29) 6 Ways the Pandemic Is Changing the Benefits Employees Want. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://www.fastcompany.com/90556268/6-ways-the-pandemic-is-changing-the-benefits-employees-want

³Willis Towers Watson (2021, May 13). Pandemic Accelerates Employer Voluntary Benefit Offerings, Willis Towers Watson Survey Finds. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from https://www.wtwco.com/en-US/News/2021/05/pandemic-accelerates-employer-voluntary-benefit-offerings-wtw-survey-finds.