Employers can increase participation in voluntary benefits by providing live assistance to explain benefit options and delivering a clear message on disability risks, according to a survey by Sun Life Financial. The majority of respondents said they spent no time reviewing their benefit options. The only exception was medical insurance, for which at least a quarter of respondents reviewed their benefits options for thirty minutes or more. Benefit participation rises when employees get live assistance to learn about benefits options, and online or print assistance to enroll.
Employees incorrectly believed that they had the same chance of needing life insurance as needing short-term disability and long-term disability insurance. Yet statistically, men are twice as likely to suffer a disability as to die during their working years, while women are three times as likely.
Employees misunderstand how different types of benefits provide different levels of financial protection, ranking dental coverage as protective as both short-term disability and long-term disability. However, a household’s financial loss from disability, or worse, from the death of a breadwinner, generally far exceeds the costs of a dental procedure.
Michael E. Shunney of Sun Life’s Employee Benefits Group advised plan administrators put all verbal and written benefits communications into plain language and use the right communications at different stages in the enrollment process; offer live assistance to help people learn about benefits, but provide the independence of online or print forms to let them enroll. Shunney added, “Finally, devise powerful ways that resonate with employees about a sobering theme — that over the course of a working life, we all stand a far greater chance of becoming disabled than of dying.” For the full report, go to
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