Voluntary Benefits: What's in it for You?

The right kind of on-the-job benefits can add value to any job, no matter what your base salary is.

One way to maximize how you protect your assets is with insurance policies that your job makes available to opt into, such as life and disability insurance.

There are a number of companies that provide what are called voluntary benefits, including Aflac (Stock Quote: AFL), Principal (Stock Quote: PFG), Guardian and Unum (Stock Quote: UNM).

MainStreet.com asked Tim Knott, vice president of insurance operations at Assurant Employee Benefits (Stock Quote: AIZ) for more information on getting the most out of the benefits being offered to you.

MainStreet: What are voluntary benefit plans?
Tim Knott: Voluntary benefit plans are insurance products that are sponsored by employers but paid for by employees, typically on a payroll deduction basis. There are different types of benefit plans. They include term life, long-term disability, dental, vision and accident plans.

MS: Why are voluntary benefit plans popular now?
TK: Now there’s a greater awareness of financial risk and of not having an income to support your family. More and more personal responsibility has been given to employees when it comes to choosing and paying for their own benefits. I expect this trend to continue and I also expect the poor economy to speed up the process.

MS: People are anxious about job security and skittish about spending money. Why are voluntary benefits a good investment for employees?
TK: Unemployment is [on people’s] minds right now but there are many other ways that a family can lose income, such as the disability or death of the primary wage earner. I can understand why people would be skittish about paying for voluntary benefits when money’s hard to come by, but protecting your income is important, a lot more important than other discretionary spending.