Single and never married employees are less likely to enroll inlife insurance and disability insurance, though most who participate in thesebenefits say they will be important in the next five years,according to a national online survey conducted by HarrisInteractive.

After questioning full-time employed adults who are enrolled inbenefits, the survey found:

• Thirty-nine percent of single and never married employees arecovered by life insurance while 61 percent of all employees areenrolled. However, 74 percent of single and never married employeeswith life insurance regard it as important, very important orextremely important in five years.
• Of the single and never married employees, 26 percentparticipate in disability insurance, versus 42 percent of allemployees. Still, 71 percent of single and never married employeeswho are enrolled in disability insurance perceive it as important,very important or extremely important in five years.

According to the survey's results, many single and never marriedemployees may face an increased financial risk, says Randy Horn,president and CEO of Colonial Life. Now that the majority ofcompanies offer open enrollment for benefits, employees have thechance to review their benefits and make decisions about anysupplementary coverage needed.

"Although most single employees don't have anyone depending onthem financially, they still need life insurance to help pay forfinal expenses and any outstanding debt, such as credit cards ormortgages," says Horn. "And single employees place themselves atconsiderable financial risk if they're not insuring their incomewith disability insurance. If an illness or injury caused them tobe unable to work, they couldn't pay their everyday living expensesfor long and don't have a spouse to rely on for help."

Horn also highlights the importance of benefits education andcounseling for employees and recommends workers carefully reviewtheir benefits options and ask questions to ensure they make thebest coverage decisions.