Gil Lowerre is president atEastbridge Consulting Group; Bonnie Brazzell is vice president ofEastbridge Consulting Group.

Nearly every benefits broker will tell you that they nowsell voluntary. Understandably, many brokers are primarilytuned in to the employer's voice during the sales process. For someproducers, this remains a default mode, born from their rootsfocusing on medical and other employer-paid groupdistribution.

Although this legacy centers on the employer conversation, it'sgood from time to time to check in on the sentiment among our finalcustomer: the employee. After all, by neglecting thisperspective, you may be leaving credibility and revenue potentialon the table.

For some distributors, the first question is whether employeeswill even buy into work-site products. Many producersfeel that one of the challenges in finding success in the voluntarymarket stems from a lack of employee interest. However, employeeownership data would challenge this belief. The recent MarketVision Employee Viewpoint study from Eastbridge found that overhalf of employees own at least one voluntary product, and 60percent of employees who own voluntary products own more thanone.

With the issue of employee interest settled, another commonquestion concerns which products are the most popular. The sameEastbridge study looked at voluntary ownership by product and,interestingly, it's no longer just the usual suspects. Accidentleads the market at 16 percent ownership, with the usual team oftraditional products, such as life, dental and vision, closebehind. However, non-traditional products are starting to gainsignificant ground as well. Identity-theft protection now has avoluntary ownership rate among employees of 10 percent, surpassingthe rates of products such as voluntary long-term disability andvoluntary AD&D. Related: 5 strategies to increase employee participation involuntary benefits

For those employees who don't yet own any voluntary products,the interest in purchasing identity-theft protection, again, comesin second place (tied with hospital indemnity), while long-termcare tops the list.

The right products are a good start, but communication is thenext critical factor in reaching our end customer. The most commonforms of communication to employees introducing them to voluntarybenefits were either email or print material provided by theemployer. When it comes to preference for learning about voluntarybenefits, most employees prefer to learn on their own, but groupdemographics need to be considered. Employees over the age of 50are more likely to prefer learning from printed material, whileyounger employees seem to want internet or intranet-basedmaterials. The idea of speaking with someone in person about theirbenefits found the most even appeal across all age ranges.

Employees are interested in voluntary benefits and are buyingthem more and more often. But we must remember to listen to whatthis audience is telling us. Keeping up on which benefits employeeswant, and how they want to learn about them, will help us betterserve employers.