On-site meditation experts. Back massages on demand. Health insurance for your hamster.

When it comes to employee benefits, it seems like companies are willing to try anything. But, when it comes to attracting and retaining the top talent in your industry, it looks like identity theft protection will rank number one in 2018.   

Here’s why.

Identity theft protection is growing in popularity

There’s a reason BenefitsPro named identity protection the number one voluntary benefit leading into 2018, and it might have something to do with the $16 billion American consumers lost to identity theft in 2016. With Americans at a higher risk of identity theft than ever before, HR managers are taking notice.

A recent survey found that 68 percent of HR professionals agree that identity protection benefits are growing in importance. Nearly 70 percent of HR executives are looking for or evaluating identity protection coverage as an employee perk to compete in hiring and retaining professional talent. Further, 56 percent cite the need to provide identity protection coverage as extra protection against a potential data breach at their organization.

Identity protection as a benefit helps employees and their companies

As data breaches reach an all-time high, it’s no surprise that Americans now rank criminal hacking as the number one threat to their health, safety, and prosperity. When employees are worried about their privacy, identity, and finances being compromised, it’s difficult for them to perform in the workplace. But, when an employee is offered comprehensive identity protection, they are provided much-needed peace of mind.   

Employees aren’t the only ones to benefit when a company offers identity theft protection as a benefit — their employers also prosper. According to Forbes, providing identity protection is one of the best ways to attract and retain top talent. Employees are well aware of the threats associated with losing their identities, and, unlike some other benefits, the service is easy to understand.

In addition to attracting and retaining some of the top talent in their industry, businesses are also safeguarding productivity. Considering identity theft can take hundreds of hours and many months to repair, that can equate to a lot of lost productivity in the workplace, time spent away from the office, and inability to focus. That process can be shortened dramatically when employees have the proper identity protection in place.  

Choosing the best identity protection service

While there are many options on the market when it comes to protecting your employees’ identities, not all plans are created equal. When selecting a comprehensive identity protection program, it’s imperative you choose a service that goes far beyond traditional credit monitoring. The following features, which come standard with InfoArmor’s PrivacyArmor®, must be included:

  • Proactive alerts that notify on applications for credit cards, wireless carriers, utility accounts, and non-credit accounts

  • Monitoring of high-risk identity activity such as password resets, fund transfers, unauthorized account access, compromised credentials, address changes, and public record alerts

  • Tools to monitor and preserve your reputation across social networks

  • A dedicated advocate to guide and manage your employees’ full recovery process, restoring credit, identity, accounts, finances, and their sense of security in the event identity theft does occur

  • A $1 million insurance policy to cover lost wages, legal fees, medical records request fees, CPA fees, child care fees, and more without the need to spend countless hours away from work

For a complete list of features your identity protection benefit should include, click here. If you need immediate assistance or have questions about how InfoArmor can help protect your employees, contact us today.