The annual Benefits Selling/Eastbridge voluntary benefits survey was conducted during March and April of this year, and almost 350 producers responded, representing a combination of employee benefit brokers, traditional voluntary brokers, enrollment companies, and agents. This article focuses on the current trends as reported by those active in the market on a daily basis and compares these to results from past studies.

One strong theme emerged in this year's survey: Brokers who are selling voluntary are selling more today than in the past.

In fact, 38 percent of those brokers now actively sell voluntary benefits, compared to only 21 percent just two years ago. "Actively sell" in this survey is defined as trying to sell payroll deduction voluntary/worksite programs to all cases and often using voluntary products to initiate the client relationship.