Employers have to offer good employee benefits to compete for good workers.
Employers who want to be more competitive but cannot afford to incur added costs are investigating, and increasingly adopting, what is known as voluntary benefits programs. Voluntary benefits plans allow employers to offer their employees a cafeteria line of benefits choices. Employers may, but usually do not, subsidize these benefits. What makes voluntary benefits acceptable to, and even appreciated by, employees is that the employer's group purchasing power allows participating employees to obtain additional insurance or prepaid coverage at lower costs than if they purchased such coverage individually. Employees who choose to purchase insurance through such programs typically pay their premiums through payroll deductions or electronic funds transfers from their checking accounts.