Most workplace life insurance customers are generations X or Y, and tend not to shop around for life insurance, according to a LIMRA study.
Ron Neyer, assistant research director, LIMRA Distribution Research, said: "Younger, less experienced buyers typically do not have financial advisers, so they tend to look to different information sources compared to older customers."
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He added: "Workplace life insurance buyers are also more likely to be first-time customers of individual life insurance, and about a quarter have never had a general discussion with someone who represents the industry."
The report, Shopping for Life Insurance: Seeking Simplicity at the Workplace, revealed workplace customers are more often single, and they do not do a whole lot of shopping around after being presented with an option at work.
In fact, 62 percent consider only one offer, and only one in six explores a third option.
Neyer said: "For workplace buyers, the search for life insurance frequently begins and ends at work. Many rely on their employers’ expertise for carrier selection."
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By GlobalDataThe report found the top reasons workplace customers purchase life insurance is to provide for family living expenses and cover burial expenses. They place added emphasis on income replacement than customers who use other distribution channels.
The 2014 study found that 36 percent of workplace customers apply online or via e-mail, more than any other application method.
It noted that one-on-one meetings, which have traditionally been the preferred worksite approach, are less feasible today as more employees telecommute and fewer employers grant direct, in-person access to their employees.
Neyer said: "There are plenty of opportunities at the workplace for insurance companies to connect with today’s younger shoppers."
"Most workplace life sales are simply triggered by an offer to purchase an employer-sponsored plan."
The study examined more than 2,300 recent buyers, including 650 who purchased worksite coverage. Results were weighted to match a random sample of US life insurance buyers.
Generation X typically refers to people born between 1966 and 1976. Generation Y refers to people born between 1977-1994.
