Following the public health crisis from COVID-19, more than three in five employees expect protection like social distancing and sanitizing measures to feel secure at the workplace. Additionally, employees expect more from their benefits packages. After polling 2,000 employees across various industries, Kantar found that:
- 63% of respondents expect at least one expanded benefit (e.g., a supplemental insurance program);
- 45% of respondents expressed interest in supplemental income protection beyond state benefits; and
- 23% of respondents indicated a desire for supplemental options (e.g., hospital indemnity, critical illness and a short-term disability program).
And, the study showed that 67% of the respondents were interested in purchasing supplemental insurance—as long as it was offered at a reasonable cost to help offset financial costs related to COVID-19.
New best practices
When property/casualty or health brokers implement supplemental benefit strategies on behalf of their clients, they keep their energies focused on existing relationships and they take advantage of new revenue streams. The supplemental insurance industry had a total voluntary sale of $7.463 billion new business annualized premiums in 2020, with about 60% of that originating from brokers.
Partnering with a voluntary benefit representative can allow you to keep your clients focused on you and your agency for all their insurance needs. A certified broker representative can manage the implementation to keep the process hassle-free, and can help with the heavy lifting by alleviating the administrative burdens while offering competitive broker commission packages.
Preserving your client relationships are the key to the future growth, stability and the foundation of the independent agency system. To that end, it’s critical that you discuss expanded benefits with your commercial clients, to keep their employees and workplace secure and happy.
Beth E. Frederickson
Beth E. Frederickson, CPIA, has been the principal of Voluntary Risk Managers since 2010, and she is licensed in 14 states. Currently, she serves as the secretary of the 2021 PIANJ Executive Committee, and she has been a member of the PIANJ board of directors since 2015. In 2019, Frederickson was named the Director of the Year by PIANJ. She has been an active PIANJ and NJYIP member since 1999, and is a former sponsor and executive officer for NJYIP. In addition to her work with PIANJ and NJYIP, Frederickson serves as the N.J. cancer ambassador for the AFLAC Cancer & Blood Disorders Center.
