Total U.S. annuity sales increased 22% to $77.5 billion in the second quarter, according to preliminary results from LIMRA’s U.S. Individual Annuity Sales Survey. This marks the highest quarterly sales ever recorded since LIMRA began tracking annuity sales and nearly $9 billion above the previous record set in the fourth quarter of 2008 during the Great Recession.

In today’s tight job market, companies are focused on how to differentiate themselves to attract and retain the best talent. There has been a lot of attention on salaries and hybrid work arrangements but how do employee benefits figure into the equation?

New annualized premium for supplemental health insurance products, (collectively accident, critical illness, cancer, hospital indemnity, and other supplemental health insurance products) increased 6% in the first quarter of 2022 year-over-year. During the same period, new annualized premiums for workplace life insurance and disability insurance fell, according to LIMRA’s workplace benefits sales surveys.

Despite the continued challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the annuity industry rebounded strongly — with the first quarter of 2022 seeing total U.S. annuity sales increase 4% to $63.3 billion. LIMRA expects this momentum to continue through the next several years.

“The outlook for rising interest rates and fairly level equity markets will have investors continuing to look for the balance between protection, growth, and guaranteed income, creating a strong potential for individual annuity sales to break the all-time record levels of sales experienced in 2008,” says Todd Giesing, assistant vice president, LIMRA Annuity Research.

With the onset of the pandemic, workers became increasingly concerned about their financial security and emotional and physical well-being. According to a new study by LIMRA and EY, there is a growing employee appreciation for non-medical benefits such as paid family medical leave, life insurance, disability insurance, and wellness programs. The study predicts this increased demand, combined with the fierce competition for top talent, will drive non-medical workplace benefits to grow 20% by 2026.

COVID-19 raised consumers’ awareness about the importance of life insurance. According to LIMRA research, half of U.S. workers believe their life insurance benefit is more important due to COVID-19. To ensure every worker who has access to life insurance at their workplace opts in, our industry needs to expand efforts to educate employers about the value their workers place on life insurance and encourage them to highlight this important benefit during their next open enrollment.

After strong results in 2019, the total new premium for individual life combination products decreased 23% to $3.7 billion in 2020, according to LIMRA’s 2020 U.S. Individual Life Combination Products Annual Review. There were approximately 421,000 policies sold in 2020, down 7% compared with 2019 results.

Life combination products provide life insurance coverage with long-term care or chronic illness coverage, an attractive value proposition to consumers, according to LIMRA consumer research.

Employee benefits brokers have served as a long-standing bridge between carriers and their clients. Many employers value working with a trusted benefits professional to help navigate a daunting array of oftentimes similar options. While well established, the broker-employer relationship is evolving at a rapid pace.

LIMRA recently partnered with EY to better understand the future direction of the workplace benefits industry. The research explored the perspectives of key stakeholders in this segment (i.e., employers, employees, brokers, and technology providers) and found that while brokers are still highly regarded, their role is rapidly shifting from a sales-focused, transactional business model toward one that is more consultative in nature. We expect this shift to accelerate over the next five years as several environmental trends driving this change continue to unfold.

With all of the health issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, LIMRA research shows employees are placing greater importance on the benefits offered by their employers, and are more closely examining their benefit needs.

In 2020, LIMRA asked full-time employees with insurance benefits what changes they made to their benefits package during their 2020 open enrollment period. The results highlight the immediate short-term impact of the pandemic.

Healthcare costs have been on the rise over the past decade. In response, some employers have scaled back on their health insurance offerings, at times leaving gaps in coverage. As a result, the voluntary benefits market, where employees pay the premiums, has become more popular among employers.

These voluntary benefits programs, however, have underlying costs to employers, including those related to implementation and administration. Digital tools can help employers reduce these costs by simplifying operations and improving efficiency.