The answer when the budget says no.
Voluntary benefits are employee-paid policies offered through the workplace at group rates and deducted from payroll. Available to groups as small as three, they let an employer put real coverage in front of their people without funding premium.
They matter most where the medical deductible is high. A plan with a five thousand dollar deductible is genuine coverage for a catastrophe and cold comfort for a broken wrist. Accident and hospital indemnity plans pay cash directly to the employee during exactly the event that would otherwise wreck their year.
There is also a tax angle. When premiums are deducted pre-tax under a Section 125 arrangement, the employer’s payroll tax base drops — which can offset or exceed the administrative cost of offering the benefit in the first place. Confirm the specifics with your CPA, but the direction is reliable.
What employees can choose.
Accident
Cash benefits for injuries and the treatment that follows.
Pays fixed amounts for fractures, dislocations, emergency room visits, imaging and follow-up care. Popular with trades, warehouse, construction and any workforce that moves for a living.
Critical illness
A lump sum on diagnosis.
Pays a defined amount on diagnosis of a covered condition such as heart attack, stroke or cancer. The money is unrestricted, which means it can cover the mortgage and the deductible rather than only the medical bill.
Hospital indemnity
Fixed payments per admission and per day.
Pays on admission and for each day of a covered stay. Designed to sit alongside a high-deductible medical plan and absorb the first-dollar exposure that deductible creates.
Voluntary life and disability
Employee-funded income protection.
Additional term life or disability coverage beyond any employer-paid base, at group rates through payroll. See group life and disability.
Voluntary benefits, answered.
Does this cost the company anything?
Premium is paid by the employees who enroll. The company’s cost is the payroll deduction setup and the time to offer it. Depending on how the deductions are structured, the company may see a reduction in payroll taxes.
How small a group can offer this?
Groups of three or more employees. It is one of the few meaningful benefits genuinely available to very small employers.
Do employees actually enroll?
Participation depends almost entirely on whether the benefit is explained. Handed out as a brochure, it gets ignored. Explained in person with concrete examples of what it pays and when, participation is substantially better. That education is part of what we do.
Will this replace our health plan?
No, and it should not be sold as though it could. Voluntary benefits supplement medical coverage — they pay cash on defined events. They are not a substitute for a health plan and do not satisfy any coverage requirement.
The rest of the package.
Group Health
Medical coverage across every major Washington carrier.
Read more →Group Dental
The benefit employees use every year and rate highest per dollar.
Read more →Group Vision
Exams, frames and contacts — inexpensive, and always noticed.
Read more →Group Life & Disability
Income protection that costs a fraction of medical.
Read more →Level-Funded Plans
Fixed monthly cost, capped risk, refunds when claims run low.
Read more →Offer benefits without funding premium.
Voluntary benefits work for groups of three and up, and the company can offer them at no cost.