Don't you hate it when the only time you hear from a product vendor is when they want to sell you something? In some ways, that's one of the market realities keeping voluntary benefits locked in a box that says "enroll."

It's time to redefine "voluntary" when it comes to benefits. Why? Employers provide benefits to employees because they meet the employees' economic needs and because they help the employer attract and retain employees. The employers' benefit package makes enrolling easy for employees.

But the benefits provided by an employer are only valuable if employees choose to use them.

That's why there are two kinds of voluntary in today's benefits world. One is familiar: the traditional voluntary enrollment process. The other, which should be growing as an area of focus, is using benefit-related communication programs to encourage employees to actually use benefits. There are many examples of products that will help employees and employers, but employees need to understand them more clearly. Three examples are telemedicine, financial wellness and employee assistance programs.

Telemedicine may be a relatively new service to employees, and may seem logical to some, but many others wonder if they should trust the service or may consider the local emergency room a better answer. It's time employees and their covered dependents understand that this is not an experimental service. Many responsible providers can deliver adequate, accurate medical advice with the convenience of immediate service through a simple phone connection.

Telemedicine is good for the employer, too. It's much more cost-efficient than emergency room visits in most cases, and it may save on absenteeism, as employees no longer have to take time off from work to seek care.

We have covered financial wellness before, but to recap: Well-designed financial wellness plans can help employees make the most of their paycheck while serving to reduce employee and family stress. They help employers cut down on stress-related presenteeism and absenteeism and help employees and their families make good financial decisions. Employees need to be made aware of the financial wellness resources, and they need to understand how easy it is to access those services.

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) also help employees mitigate stress. EAP counselors have expanded their scope to help people overcome both traditional stress sources such as marital difficulties, substance abuse and depression as well as more recent stress sources, such as social media anxiety or violence at the workplace, and an increasing number of natural disasters. All too often, those who should be using EAP services are unaware of how much help they can provide.

The two kinds of voluntary have one common denominator: communications with employees. We need to move beyond the perception that benefit communication programs are focused on enrollment. We need to have year-round benefit communications focusing on the uses of employer-provided benefit programs and education about how easy access to these programs can be.

Let's help employees understand that when they hear from a benefit provider, it's a valuable service, not just a sales pitch.

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Instant Insights /

Two kinds of voluntary

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