Worksite Smarter.
The Value of Voluntary Workplace Benefits for Women

Posted on: March 11, 2025

Working women have made great strides over the last few decades — achieving record labor force participation, leading the charge in educational attainment, and securing greater representation in leadership roles across all sectors and industries.

And yet, financial well-being remains an elusive goal for many, partly a function of the persistent gender pay gap and partly because of the role that many women still play as primary caregivers.

Indeed, full-time working women earn, on average, just 84 cents for every dollar paid to men for the same level of education and expertise.¹ The gap is greater still for minority women who work full-time, with Black women earning just 66 cents and Latina women earning 58 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men in 2023.²

Lower lifetime earnings make it harder for women to build wealth and save for a comfortable retirement.

Regardless of working status, women are also more likely to be the primary caregivers in their family to children and aging parents, which compels a disproportionate number of women to leave the workforce prematurely or take jobs that pay less but offer better work-life balance. And when they themselves are the ones who get sick, the financial implications of having to outsource caregiving and household responsibilities — even temporarily — can be dire.

Despite the challenges that women face, however, or perhaps because of them, women are becoming far more adept at building their financial safety net. Fidelity’s 2024 Women & Investing Study found that 71 percent of U.S. women own investments in the stock market, an 18 percent increase over 2023.³ Other research reveals that 53 percent of women said they felt confident managing their investments in 2022, up from 49 percent in 2018.⁴

Working women with access to voluntary employee benefits — who choose to take advantage of them at the workplace — have an even greater potential opportunity to help secure their financial future. Such benefits, readily available during open enrollment and potentially at a discounted negotiated rate, can be a simple and effective way to help women protect their income and savings, grow their nest egg, and support their family.

Voluntary workplace benefits can include:

• Supplemental health insurance
• Group life insurance
• Disability income insurance
• Retirement plan contributions

Here’s a closer look at how each of these group benefits could potentially help working women plan ahead for the unexpected, protect themselves and their loved ones, and counter some of the obstacles they face on the path to financial security.

Supplemental health insurance

Supplemental health insurance can offer some relief at a stressful time, by providing a benefit payment which can be used for anything, such as to help cover some of the out-of-pocket medical expenses so the insured can focus on getting well.

The value of such coverage is potentially greater for women, who face significantly higher health care expenses than men.

According to Deloitte, working women in the U.S. pay $15 billion more on health care expenses each year than working men, even after pregnancy-related claims are excluded. The average employed woman on a single health insurance plan, it found, spends approximately $266 — or 18 percent — more on out-of-pocket healthcare costs per year than the average employed man, which further exacerbates the gender pay gap.⁵

And according to the American Cancer Society, women younger than age 50 are 82 percent more likely to develop cancer than men as of 2021, the most recent year for which data are available. That figure has climbed since 2002, when the incidence rate of developing cancer for women was 51 percent higher than men.⁶

Roughly half (49 percent) of women have indicated that they do not have emergency funds available to cover unexpected expenses, including medical bills.⁷

Supplemental health insurance can help working women shoulder some of the financial burden. Examples include group critical illness insurance and group accident insurance, which provide certificate owners a lump sum benefit for a qualifying diagnosis, such as a heart attack, stroke, cancer, or a covered injury.

Generally speaking, supplemental health coverage can be used for anything, including help with co-pays and deductibles, but also travel related to care, missed wages, in-home health care, and childcare if needed due to a covered condition.

Group life insurance

Group life insurance can also be a versatile tool to help women protect the ones they love — sometimes for a lower premium than they might get by purchasing private whole life insurance on their own.

Some types of group life insurance, like group whole life (GWL) provide a guaranteed death benefit to the designated beneficiaries when an insured passes away, as long as the certificates’ regularly scheduled payments are made. A GWL certificate also builds cash value over time.

As premiums get paid, the cash value in a whole life insurance policy accumulates and grows tax deferred. That cash value will increase over time, regardless of the performance of financial markets, and can be tapped by the certificate owner for any reason— to help with a sudden expense, help pay for college tuition for their kids, or help supplement their retirement income.⁸

In some cases, group life insurance can also help to reduce the financial stress and costs associated with a chronic illness, a benefit that may be particularly valuable to women. Why? Women live, on average, nearly 5.3 years longer than men⁹, often outliving their spouse and would-be caregiver. As such, they are far more likely to develop chronic health conditions as they age and require assisted living support. The benefit may be used however they want, including paying for in-home care or making home modifications.

Another perk of group life insurance, apart from the potentially lower premiums, is that some policies are portable. That’s an important point. If the insured were to lose their policy when they left their job and wanted to maintain coverage, they would otherwise need to purchase life insurance in the private market and likely submit to medical underwriting. Depending on their health and age at the time, they might just find that their new premium would be cost prohibitive. Or, worse, they might not be eligible for coverage at all.

Disability income insurance

Employees who choose voluntary benefits during open enrollment often underestimate the importance of maxing out their group disability income insurance, which is designed to replace a portion of their income if they become too ill or injured to work.

That can be a mistake. Statistically, we are all far more likely to experience an illness or serious injury than we are to die prematurely. According to the Social Security Administration, 25 percent of today’s 20-year-olds can expect to be out of work for at least a year because of a disabling condition before they reach their normal retirement age.¹⁰

And, for women, pregnancy-related complications present added risk.

In fact, in 2022 pregnancy was the most common reason for a short-term disability income insurance claim (18%), followed by infectious/parasitic diseases, including Covid-19 (15.9%) musculoskeletal disorders (15.1%), injuries (9.9%), digestive disorders (7%), and mental health issues including depression and anxiety (8.3%).¹¹

The leading causes for long-term disability income insurance claims were musculoskeletal disorders (25.2%), injuries (13.1%), cancer (11.5%), mental health issues (9.1%), and circulatory disorders including heart attack and stroke (7.3%).¹¹

For any gender, the financial implications of a short- or long-term income disruption can be devastating. But considering in 2023, 59% of women were more likely living paycheck to paycheck vs. 41% of men, the loss of income could have even greater impact on women.¹²

Retirement savings

Lower lifetime earnings not only make it harder for working women to pay their monthly bills, but also make it harder to fund their retirement nest egg. It may also result in a smaller Social Security benefit down the road.

According to Bank of America, the average 401(k) account balance for men ($89,000) was 50 percent greater than that of women ($59,000) in 2023.¹³ Couple that with longer life expectancies and it’s easy to see why women face a greater risk of outliving their assets.

While defined contribution retirement accounts, like 401(k)s, are generally considered to be part of an employer’s standard benefits package, the amount that workers choose to contribute largely determines their ability to retire comfortably and on time.

Those who can’t contribute the maximum annual limit in any given year should at least be encouraged to contribute enough to secure the employer match, so they don’t leave free money on the table. They should then set a goal of increasing their contribution by, say, 1 percent per year as raises and bonuses allow, especially those who have fallen behind on their savings.

Conclusion

Despite the progress that working women have made, many still struggle to achieve financial wellness for themselves and their family. By taking advantage of voluntary workplace benefits, however, women can help protect their income, guard against risk, and take control of their financial future.