William Hutchinson, CLCS

What Are Voluntary Benefits?

Voluntary benefits are employer-sponsored insurance products and services that employees can elect and pay for individually, either fully or through cost-sharing arrangements. Because employees fund most or all of the cost, voluntary benefits allow employers to expand the breadth of their benefits offering without proportionally increasing their own benefits spend.

Common voluntary benefit categories include critical illness insurance, which provides a lump-sum cash payment upon diagnosis of a covered condition such as cancer, heart attack, or stroke. Accident insurance pays benefits based on specific injuries or events, covering out-of-pocket costs that medical insurance does not fully address. Hospital indemnity insurance provides a daily cash benefit during a hospital stay. Legal plans, pet insurance, identity theft protection, student loan assistance, and financial wellness programs round out the non-medical voluntary benefits category that has grown significantly in employer adoption over the past several years.

Why Are Voluntary Benefits More Important in 2026?

Healthcare costs are the primary driver of voluntary benefits growth in 2026. LIMRA’s 2026 workplace benefits analysis projects that employer healthcare costs will rise approximately 8 percent this year without plan design changes. As employers manage that cost pressure, they face a parallel challenge: maintaining a competitive benefits offering in a market where employees increasingly evaluate total compensation based on benefits quality.

According to MetLife’s 2026 EBTS, 62 percent of workers believe non-medical benefits are essential to accessing preventive care. The same study found that employees who use 10 or more non-medical benefits are 69 percent more likely to feel holistically healthy. The connection between voluntary benefits access and overall workforce health and engagement is one of the most consistent findings in recent workplace benefits research.

Which Voluntary Benefits Should Employers Consider in 2026?

Critical illness and accident insurance are among the highest-value additions for workforces where employees carry HDHP coverage with significant out-of-pocket exposure. These products provide cash benefits at the moment of a significant health event, addressing exactly the financial gap that a high deductible creates.

Hospital indemnity coverage addresses the daily out-of-pocket costs that accompany hospitalization, which most health plans cover only partially and which can generate significant employee financial stress even when a claim is ultimately paid.

Legal plans address employee financial stress around legal fees, will preparation, and contract review. Financial wellness programs address the financial stress that MetLife’s 2026 research identifies as the top stressor for 83 percent of employees.

A wellness and population health strategy that integrates voluntary benefits with the primary medical plan is more effective than one that treats them as unrelated additions. Employee benefits strategy advisors can help employers build a voluntary benefits portfolio that complements the existing program structure and aligns with the workforce’s actual needs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Voluntary Benefits

Ready to review your voluntary benefits program before open enrollment? The team at Tooher-Ferraris has been helping employers build complete, effective benefits programs since 1932. Contact us today or request a group employee benefits consultation to get started.

For the past two years, HR leaders have been focused on getting AI tools into the hands of their workforce. The more consequential challenge heading into 2026 is what to do about the anxiety those tools have created about the future of work itself.

What Does AI Mean for Employee Well-Being and the Benefits Program?

AI is changing the nature of work faster than many employees feel equipped to navigate, and that uncertainty is showing up in the data employers use to evaluate workforce health. Employees are not primarily anxious about a specific job disappearing. They are anxious about relevance, about skills becoming obsolete faster than they can be replaced, and about long-term financial security in a labor market where the rules about what skills matter are shifting.

Those anxieties have direct connections to the benefits an employer provides. An employee who worries about income disruption values disability insurance differently than one who feels economically secure. An employee who is anxious about the future engages with financial wellness resources differently than one who feels stable. An employee processing change and uncertainty in their workplace needs mental health support that functions well and is easy to access.

According to MetLife’s 2026 EBTS, the workforce is both optimistic about AI’s efficiency potential and concerned about what technological change means for well-being and long-term security. SHRM’s 2026 recap of its annual conference noted that the real AI challenge is not adoption — it is redesigning work in ways that maintain human skill development, engagement, and meaning.

Which Benefits Directly Address AI-Related Workforce Anxiety?

Income protection and disability insurance provide financial security against the scenario most employees fear: a period in which they cannot work. Short-term and long-term disability coverage addresses the financial gap that would occur if an employee’s income were interrupted. As AI-driven workforce changes create uncertainty about role stability, income protection benefits take on added meaning as a signal that the employer is invested in the employee’s financial security.

Mental health and EAP access matters in this context for a reason distinct from clinical treatment. Workplace anxiety about technological change, fear of skill obsolescence, and uncertainty about job security are psychological stressors that benefit from professional support. An employee assistance program that is actively promoted, easy to access, and well-utilized is a meaningful resource for a workforce processing significant change.

Financial wellness programs address the underlying economic stress that AI-related uncertainty amplifies. According to MetLife’s 2026 EBTS, 83 percent of employees say rising living expenses and economic uncertainty are their top stressors. Financial wellness resources — including budgeting tools, emergency savings programs, and access to financial coaching — help employees build the financial resilience that makes workforce change less destabilizing.

Learning and development benefits are among the most direct responses to skill obsolescence anxiety. Employers who offer tuition assistance, access to credentialing programs, or structured learning pathways communicate concretely to employees that the organization views their development as an investment. When AI is displacing certain skills, demonstrating that the organization will support employees in building new ones is one of the most effective retention and engagement signals available.

What Should HR Leaders Communicate to Employees About AI and Their Future?

The employees who are most anxious about AI are the ones who have received the least clear communication about how their organization is thinking about AI’s role in the business and what it means for them specifically.

Benefits can be part of that communication strategy. An open enrollment communication that connects benefits to the specific uncertainties employees are navigating — here is how our disability coverage protects you if your role changes, here is how our financial wellness program helps you build a buffer, here is how our EAP supports you through transitions — is more effective than one that lists coverage options in isolation.

Human capital management strategy increasingly treats benefits communication as an employee experience tool. Employee benefits strategy advisors can help employers identify which benefits are most relevant to the specific workforce concerns their employees are expressing and how to position them in enrollment communications for the 2026 plan year. Wellness and population health programs designed to support employees through change and uncertainty are a complementary investment alongside core benefits enhancements.

Frequently Asked Questions About AI, the Workforce, and Employee Benefits

Ready to review how your benefits program addresses what your workforce is navigating in 2026? The team at Tooher-Ferraris has been helping employers build benefits strategies that reflect the real needs of their workforce since 1932. Contact us today or request a group employee benefits consultation to schedule a review.

For employers running a calendar plan year, August is not early. It is exactly on time.

Why Is August the Right Time to Start Open Enrollment Preparation?

August is the right time because meaningful open enrollment preparation requires more than updating a benefits guide and scheduling a presentation. It requires a complete review of plan design decisions already made, the compliance and communication materials those decisions require, and the multi-touch employee education strategy that turns enrollment from a checkbox exercise into a meaningful decision.

The planning that happens in August determines what employees experience in October and what the employer’s cost and utilization data looks like next April. The employers who consistently achieve higher voluntary enrollment rates, stronger benefits literacy scores, and lower mid-year surprises are the ones who start this work now rather than in September.

Tooher-Ferraris hosts regular educational events to support HR leaders during this period. The upcoming webinar on Hot Topics in Employer Stop Loss on August 19, 2026 covers cost management topics directly relevant to fall renewal planning.

What Should HR Leaders Be Doing in August?

August open enrollment preparation should focus on four areas.

Plan design finalization. If the organization is making any changes to plan tiers, deductibles, networks, or contribution splits, those decisions should be finalized in August so that materials can be built on accurate, confirmed information. Late plan design changes create cascading problems in communications, compliance documentation, and benefits administration system configuration.

Compliance materials review. Summary of Benefits and Coverage documents, Summary Plan Descriptions, and required notices including Medicare Part D and COBRA notices need to be reviewed and updated annually. The 2026 HSA contribution limits of $4,400 individual and $8,750 family represent specific numbers that may need to be updated in existing materials.

Communication planning. According to SHRM’s 2026 research, the most effective benefits communication touches employees at least five times before enrollment closes, across multiple formats and channels. A communication plan built in August can include emails, manager briefings, self-service tools, and a dedicated enrollment support period.

Benefits education content. The gap between what employees have access to and what they actually use is primarily an education gap. According to MetLife’s 2026 EBTS, 62 percent of workers believe non-medical benefits are essential to accessing preventive care, yet enrollment in voluntary and supplemental benefits consistently underperforms relative to employee expressed interest.

A structured employee benefits strategy review in August gives employers time to address plan design questions, confirm compliance, and build the communication infrastructure before enrollment opens. For employers who want to review their total program before making enrollment decisions, a group employee benefits consultation is a practical first step.

For employers who have already published a benefits benchmarking review, our Insight on how to use benchmarking data at renewal negotiations is a relevant companion resource.

How Do You Get Employees to Actually Use Their Benefits?

Utilization is an education and communication problem, not a plan design problem. Human capital management strategy in 2026 increasingly treats benefits utilization as a business metric alongside engagement and retention. HR leaders who position their open enrollment communication plan as a utilization improvement initiative produce measurable results from the same benefit offerings that underperform in less intentional programs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Open Enrollment Preparation

Ready to build your August open enrollment preparation strategy? The team at Tooher-Ferraris has been helping employers run effective benefits programs since 1932. Contact us today or request a group employee benefits consultation to get started.