Why Offer Life Insurance As An Employee Benefit?
As businesses grow, and seek to grow faster and smarter, which employee benefits they choose to offer starts to become a very significant matter. It has a major impact on your business’ ability to attract and retain top-of-industry talent, to maintain high employee morale, and to foster greater overall productivity.
It’s no secret that health insurance is the number one sought-after employee benefit. But life insurance is also one of the top benefits that employers choose to offer – and for good reason.
Here are the top 5 reasons why it makes sense to include life insurance among your company’s employee benefits offerings:
1. It’s Popular With Employees
There are some employee benefits that you have no choice but to provide, such as (in many cases) workers compensation insurance. When you are selecting an “elective” benefit, therefore, you want to maximize the employee satisfaction it will produce.
Life insurance easily ranks among the most in-demand benefits. What will happen to my family or other loved ones after I’m gone? That’s a question many are concerned about, and life insurance can be a big part of the answer.
A good way to get a list of great benefit options is to simply survey your current workforce, and if you do, life insurance is almost sure to make it onto (and near the top of) the list.
2. Life Insurance Is A Relatively Affordable Benefit
Employee demand may be the starting point, but you also have to get practical. How affordable is this benefit or that to provide to my staff at a reasonably discounted rate?
Life insurance can usually be had with big group-rate discounts, making it affordable both to employees and employers alike! In fact, it is often feasible to offer it “free” to your employees.
Most businesses are fully capable of providing quality life insurance policies for all of their workers who want one at a good price point. That fact alone makes life insurance a popular benefits option.
3. Life Insurance Is Very “Customizable”
People are different. Their family and life situations vary greatly. Your employees are no exception to that, and these differences can have a big impact one which type of life insurance policy a particular employee would find most suitable.
Thankfully, life insurance comes in numerous shapes and sizes and can be easily customized to each policy holder’s precise needs. They can choose between term life and whole life (if you offer it). The amount of coverage can vary, the premiums, the deductibles, the length of the term with term life policies, and more.
Your employees will appreciate being treated like individuals, being given the opportunity to customize their own life insurance policy to fit their exact needs and budget. They may have to pay extra in order to do this, but they will know that they are still paying less than what it would cost if it weren’t employer-based and therefore will still be happy with it.
4. High-Risk Jobs Virtually Require Life Insurance
There are some professions that are so high-risk that it would be almost foolhardy to work them without a good life insurance policy under your belt. Construction jobs, forestry, commercial fishing, transportation and big-rig shipping, and many factory jobs could fall into this category, for example.
Insurance rates might be higher for those in these types of careers, but an employer-based policy could still save employees significantly. And making it a benefit could also speed up the onboarding process for new hires and make it easier to ensure all of your desired new employees can get covered.
However, it should also be noted that all jobs involve some level of risk. Therefore, this point shouldn’t be taken to mean that only the highest-risk workers should have life insurance. It just shows that they especially need it.
5. You Can Protect Your Business By Covering Key Employees
It can also make sense to cover yourself, the business owner or manager, with a life insurance policy that will help protect the future of the business. This could also apply to any top executives and similarly “critical” employees you may have.
There are various ways you can set up a policy to protect your business. You could simply protect your small business from being drained to pay off your personal debts or final expenses. Or, you could make the business or a successor the beneficiary.
Every potential employee benefit has its pros and cons, its relative strengths and weaknesses. But some are “safer” and more universally in demand than others. Life insurance, for the five reasons listed above (and more), falls into that category.
To learn more about how life insurance can benefit you and your business, or to get a free quote from an experienced life insurance agent, contact Flagler Financial today!