MetLife Life, Disability & EAP: Solutions to Meet Evolving Benefits Needs
Employee benefits programs are set to play a pivotal role as employees take a fresh look at the protection and financial security their benefits options can provide. 62 percent of employees think benefits are more important because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And 78 percent want benefits that work together to protect their physical, financial, mental, and social well-being.¹
Powerful solutions, holistic protection
As employers seek to optimize, enhance, and effectively communicate their benefits offering to address evolving employee needs, they’re looking to Life and Disability solutions. Perennially ranked among the top must-have benefits by employees in MetLife’s annual trends study, group life, short-term disability, and long-term disability benefits are proving to be effective solutions to address current employee concerns.
Over the past year, the need for life insurance has been top of mind, with 31 percent of Americans saying they’re more likely to buy life insurance because of the pandemic.² Life insurance options through the workplace enable employees to purchase coverage at affordable group rates to help ensure they have the protection they need for their families’ future financial obligations.
Similarly, employees have heightened awareness of the value of their Disability insurance benefits as an important way to help protect a portion of their income – in both the short- and long-term – if they become disabled and unable to work. Half of employees consider Disability insurance a must-have benefit. In addition, when an employee has both Life and Disability benefits, their life insurance premiums may be waived in the event of a disability, ensuring their life insurance protection remains in force while they recover.
Added value: EAP options
Over the past year, stress and burnout levels among employees are up, with 34% of employees feeling burned out while working more than half the time – a 25 percent increase since April 2020. In recognition, 74 percent of employers are offering – or planning to offer – added value services for employees, such as Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). And, in response to the COVID crisis, 57 percent of employers have increased their employee communications about EAP benefits.³
Employees are seeking this type of support. One in four workers says they have sought help for stress, burnout, or other mental health issues in the past 12 months. Nearly half (48 percent) who sought help used a resource available through their employer.
For employers, adding an EAP option to their Life or Disability benefits is an effective way to enhance their offering and provide the work-life support their employees need. MetLife provides a range of EAP options⁴ for Life and Disability customers that include confidential counseling, referral services, and other resources to assist employees and their immediate families with life issues, such as childcare, eldercare, financial, and legal services. Employers can select from three EAP plan options to best meet the needs of their workforce.
Help small business employers address evolving employee needs by optimizing the protection power of Life, Disability, and EAP benefits. Click here to learn more about MetLife’s solutions, designed to work for small businesses.
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1 MetLife’s 19th Annual U.S. Employee Benefits Trends Study, 2021.
2 2021 Insurance Barometer Study by Life Happens and LIMRA, April 2021.
3 Institute for Corporate Productivity Survey, April 2020.
4 EAP services provided through an agreement with LifeWorks US Inc. (LifeWorks by Morneau Shepell).