Employers with more than 50 employees are more likely to consider adding a new voluntary benefit in the next 18 months.

AVON, CONNECTICUT, USA (June 27, 2019)

In addition, the recent Eastbridge report shows that employers with 50+ employees are also more likely to move certain benefits to voluntary or shift more costs of group plans to employees. When examined by industry, employers in the Business and Personal Services industries are more likely to make benefit changes than other industries. More than a third of these employers also indicated that they may add a new voluntary product, move certain benefits to voluntary or shift more costs for group plans to employees, according to the report, MarketVision™ — The Employer Viewpoint: A Closer Look at Employer Demographics in the Voluntary/Worksite. Other findings from the report include:

• 60% of employers offer at least one voluntary product (based on a weighted average of the employer population in the U.S.); however, when reviewed by employer size, employers with more than 50 employees are most likely to offer at least one voluntary product.
• The most common health products offered are medical, prescription, dental and vision across all employer sizes. However, employers with more than 2,500 employees are much more likely also to offer cancer, critical illness and hospital indemnity products. 
• The industry segments of Manufacturing, Finance/Insurance and Health Care have the highest percentages offering most health products. Employers in the Business Services and Financial/Insurance industries have the highest percentages offering cancer, critical illness and hospital indemnity/supplemental medical products.

Other topics in the report that are segmented by employer size and industry include:

• Reasons and preferences for offering voluntary products.
• Enrollment, education and communication methods and preferences.
• Administration preferences and use of benefit administration systems.

Eastbridge’s biannual MarketVision™ — The Employer Viewpoint study tracks the needs, wants and expectations of one of the market’s key stakeholder groups: employers. This segmentation analysis report delves into the 2018 MarketVision™ report findings to identify how employer benefit offerings, needs and attitudes vary by demographic components; specifically, by employer size and industry. 

Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. is a marketing advisory firm serving insurance and financial services organizations in the United States and Canada.