The next most common objection from an employer to offering voluntary benefits(click here to read “They don’t want it”) is “My employees can't afford it.”
Of course they can't. I can be a smart aleck and say, “if you paid them more, then they could.” But you and I both know that isn't the answer.
We have a habit of living up to our means, don't we? No matter how much we make, we expand our standard of living: buy better clothes, fancier cars, add HBO to our cable line up. Everyone already spends everything they earn.
Yet how is it then that people will stop by Starbucks on the way to work, or run out to a restaurant for lunch every day, while at the same time telling you and everyone else that can't afford it? It's all about choices, and priorities, isn't it.
We want to have money, we want to save for a rainy day, or for retirement, or for whatever, but then all of a sudden, "Squirrel!" That lunch at the restaurant just seems better. That soy skinny latte seems tastier. We become willing to part with our money for that thing which we decide is a priority right now.
Since when has any insurance been a priority “right now?” If we really needed some insurance right now, because something has just happened, well then it’s too late to get it, isn’t it? Insurance companies aren't into paying out claims for something that had already taken place before you gave them a call.
Insurance is never a "priority right now, impulse-buy decision", is it? Yet, when your employees truly understand the value of voluntary benefits… And the possible cash that can come to them in the event of an emergency… And how it doesn't interfere with any other policies they already have… And how it can actually work hand in hand with what they currently have… And how it didn't cost an arm and a leg like they originally thought it would…
Well, yes, I would be interested in something like that. Thank you, Mr. or Ms. Employer, for making this available to me, and more importantly for making sure that I got educated about this before letting my knee jerk reaction, "I can't afford it" rear its ugly head.
5 objections and responses when talking about voluntary benefits.
Ian Burt
Voluntary Benefit Specialist, Kapnick Insurance Group
248.595.0744
