A great deal is happening in the voluntary benefits market, as more brokers and carriers enter the space, and employers realize supporting overall wellness—physical, emotional and financial—increases presenteeism and productivity.

Eastbridge Consulting Group Inc. in Avon, Connecticut, projects that voluntary sales for 2015 will increase between 3 percent and 6 percent from 2014, and will continue to rise 3 percent to 5 percent over the next several years. It's possible that growth might be even higher, as more carriers get into voluntary benefits and brokers sell higher amounts, says Bonnie Brazzell, vice president at Eastbridge.

“Brokers understand voluntary benefits better than in the past and are seeing more opportunities as their employer clients move from employer-funded to employee-funded voluntary benefits to try to control overall costs,” Brazzell says. “Brokers also see more opportunities as more employers move toward high deductible plans, and can see how particular voluntary products fit into the overall benefit package.” According to Metlife's 13th annual Employee Benefit Trends Study, employers' top employee benefits objectives are retention (41.1 percent) and controlling health and welfare benefit costs (37.3 percent).