Most workplaces offer their employees common benefits such as health insurance and a retirement account. However, some businesses go a step further and offer their workers an additional suite of workplace benefits that are meant to help enhance their lives and protect them financially against various risks.
What are they?
Work benefits are a suite of benefits that companies often offer in addition to more common benefits such as health insurance and a retirement account. They often are called “voluntary” benefits because most companies don’t contribute anything to help defray the cost. However, because they are offered through work, employees are able to get lower group rates.
Who are they for?
Voluntary benefits usually are available to all full-time employees, and they may be available to part-time employees as well. Though they can be a good choice for anyone, such benefits can be particularly important for single parents, people who are the sole breadwinner in a family and those who are prone to a job-related illness and/or injury that could leave them without income for long stretches.
How do they work?
Work benefits generally are very narrow in what they cover. For example, one policy might cover accidents, another serious illness, and another death. If you experience a covered event, you must make a claim, and then the policy will pay out benefits, although there may be a waiting or qualification period before you receive any money.
Different types of coverage
There are a number of workplace benefits on the market, and what is offered will differ from employer to employer. Some of the most common benefits are short- and long-term disability insurance, accident insurance, critical illness insurance, long-term care insurance and universal life insurance.
Major benefits
The main benefit of having voluntary benefits is that you get supplemental coverage to pay for things that health insurance and other forms of insurance don’t cover. A big benefit of getting such benefits through your workplace is that the premiums usually are cheaper than if you get a standalone policy.
