About a year ago, a voluntary insurance company released aresearch report that they claimed was definitive in terms ofemployee preferences regarding enrollment methodologies. Accordingto the company's research, employees absolutely preferred to learnabout their benefit options and enroll for coverages through aweb-based system. The study reported all the advantages theresearch subjects listed when explaining their overwhelmingpreference.

Within a month, another voluntary insurance company released areport that came to very different conclusions. Their research hadproven that employees much prefer to learn about benefits andenroll for coverages through an individual meeting with a benefitscounselor. The findings were touted as absolute and statisticallyvalid.

It won't surprise most brokers to learn that the first companyhad invested heavily in a web-based system and did not offerindividual, face-to-face enrollment support. The second companydid, and actively promoted their individual counselingcapabilities.