"Voluntary is fundamentally a retail business.” In most ways, this is a true statement. Its intent is to underline the difference between voluntary and traditional employer-paid coverages. In voluntary, the employee is the buyer and the employer a gatekeeper. In voluntary, needs are defined at the individual level and purchasing is based on personal needs and preferences.

In voluntary, enrollment is an assessment, needs-based, relationship-building process, while in employer-paid coverages, it is an administrative process. Voluntary producers need to understand these issues, to learn about employee coverage gaps and employee-buying processes, and, basically, learn to communicate with and understand the employee perspective.

It’s easy to be swept away by these facts and conclude that voluntary is an individual insurance, retail-selling business, that it’s the traditional insurance agent function, only taking place at the workplace. That would be wrong.