Unlocking new voluntary benefits strategies
With health benefit cost growth on the rise, employers need innovative strategies to help them maintain cost discipline while supporting employee health and well-being. Voluntary benefits can serve as adaptable components of a total rewards strategy that offers employees meaningful choices and helps employers control costs by focusing on what employees truly need to succeed.
Stop designing by generation, start designing by life stage
While it’s tempting to make broad generalizations about employee needs based on their generation, they are of limited use because no generation is a monolith. Designing voluntary benefits through the lens of life stage is more effective because employees often navigate multiple life journeys simultaneously.
Young adults may be managing student loans and establishing independence. Employees starting families often require support related to fertility, leave and childcare. Caregivers need resources for elder care, disability or special needs support. Employees nearing retirement typically shift focus toward health management, long-term care and financial planning.
A life-stages approach to program design enables employers to meet rising employee expectations with benefits that feel timely and relevant rather than generic. When employees can choose the benefits they need at different points in their lives, they feel more supported than with an all-or-nothing approach.
Build benefit bundles that connect the dots
A valuable but underutilized strategy is the intentional pairing of voluntary benefits that helps employees to experience them as an integrated system, rather than a shelf of disconnected products.
For example, family planning support can be paired with critical illness coverage that provides financial assistance for infertility treatments such as IVF or surrogacy. Adding a legal plan to this bundle helps employees navigate the agreements and documentation often required during family building.
Similarly, diabetes management strategies can be enhanced by pairing them with critical illness coverage that offers financial benefits for Type 1 diabetes diagnoses in both adults and children.
Support for mental and emotional health can add a vital component to other programs. Counseling and employee assistance program resources can be linked with supplemental benefits such as critical illness coverage for severe mental health conditions like PTSD and hospital indemnity plans that provide support if hospitalization or rehabilitation is needed.
Bundling is not about adding complexity; it is about reducing gaps and making the total rewards story easier to explain and simpler for employees to use.
Prepare for tomorrow’s risks
Two fast-growing pressure points often fall outside traditional benefits strategies but can be effectively addressed through voluntary benefits.
Long-Term Care is a challenging issue in terms of both demand and cost. Approximately 70% of adults will require LTC in their lifetime, with costs ranging from roughly $70,800 annually for assisted living to about $127,750 for a private nursing home room. State programs often leave significant gaps, such as a maximum $36,500 benefit over three years. Product innovations like Life with LTC solutions and guaranteed issue features are increasingly relevant. Additionally, emerging coverage options address the financial risk of a child’s severe disability, offering long-term monthly benefits and one-on-one navigator support.
Property and casualty insurance costs are also straining household budgets. Auto insurance rates have increased 37% over recent years, and property insurance costs have risen about 48% over five years. Nearly 76% of employees report being affected by extreme climate events in the past two years. Employers can respond by providing voluntary access to group auto and home insurance options, offering multiple carrier choices and introducing innovations such as home disaster insurance, rainfall insurance, auto wellness solutions and disaster recovery support.
When voluntary benefits address these nonmedical risks, they can strengthen employee resilience — and retention — while keeping employer cost commitments targeted.
A practical test for your next refresh
If your voluntary benefits program has not been revisited recently, it is likely out of date. Employers should review workforce demographics and gather insights through surveys and forums. Then, pressure-test the strategy against three critical questions: Does it meet employees where they are? Does it reduce financial and mental strain? Does it connect to the rest of total rewards in a way employees can understand and use?
By focusing on these principles, voluntary benefits can become a strategic, adaptable component of total rewards that addresses today’s challenges and anticipates tomorrow’s risks.
To learn more about these voluntary benefits strategies watch the replay of our webcast: Thrive with Purpose in 2026.
