Voluntary Benefits are an excellent way to provide a good employee benefits menu without increasing costs for your business. These benefits are offered through the workplace at rates lower than can be found on the individual market, and you can choose, as an employer, not to participate in the funding of the policies.

Voluntary benefits solutions can include dental, vision, accident, disability and life insurance. What’s more, even if your company offers a group health plan, some employees might want to bolster their protection through the purchase of a voluntary, supplemental policy for critical illness or accident & sickness. Such policies pay lump-sum cash benefits that can be used for non-medical bills upon diagnosis of a qualifying illness or event.

An employee could build up a very strong financial protection portfolio using a combination of employer-sponsored and voluntary benefits, and well over half of young workers surveyed in 2012 indicated that’s what they want from their employers.