Open-enrollment planning season is here, and one benefit has rocketed onto every “must-offer” list: employee identity theft and cybersecurity protection. HR Executive now ranks it alongside supplemental health, legal plans, and pet insurance in its “5 Key Voluntary Benefits to Watch in 2025” feature. hrexecutive.com
Why the surge? A 75 % year-over-year jump in global cyberattacks, remote work’s porous boundaries, and rising employee anxiety make identity protection as indispensable as medical or dental coverage. blog.checkpoint.com
This post unpacks:
- How voluntary-benefit priorities shifted for 2025
- The business case HR can pitch to Finance
- What to demand from a provider
- Roll-out tips that win executive buy-in
Alert: After Section 3 you’ll see a call-out box linking to Defend-ID’s free ROI Calculator + Incident-Response Checklist. Use it to quantify savings before you meet with the CFO.
1 | Voluntary-Benefit Rankings Got a Makeover
A Gallagher study cited by HR Executive shows 67 % of employers are expanding their voluntary-benefit menus to stay competitive in talent wars.hrexecutive.com Legal plans and pet insurance are still hot—but identity-theft protection earned its own category for 2025 as breaches hit record highs.
2 | Why Cyber & ID-Theft Protection Shot Up the List
- Attack volume exploded: Check Point logged a 75 % spike in weekly attacks per organisation in Q3 2024. blog.checkpoint.com
- Hybrid work = bigger target: Home networks and personal devices blur the line between corporate and personal risk.
- Employee expectations: Willis Towers Watson found 78 % of employers planned to offer ID-theft protection by 2022, making it table stakes today. hrexecutive.com
3 | The HR & Finance ROI (Share These Numbers)
- Victims can spend up to 200 hours untangling fraud without professional help—time they’re not focused on work. allstateidentityprotection.com
- Average out-of-pocket loss topped $1,500 in 2023, with U.S. employees collectively losing $43 billion. aarp.org
- Productivity drag + overtime to cover absences often dwarfs the per-employee cost of group ID-protection plans.
4 | How to Vet a Provider for your identity theft protection voluntary benefit (Your Shortlist)
| Must-Have Feature | Why It Matters | Quick Check |
|---|---|---|
| Fully-managed restoration | Off-loads that 200-hour burden from HR. | Ask if cases are handled by certified advocates 24 / 7. |
| Dark-web & credential monitoring | Finds leaked SSNs, payroll creds before fraud escalates. | Look for real-time alerts, not weekly digests. |
| $1 M insurance | Covers lost wages, legal fees, childcare during recovery. | Verify policy issuer & claim process simplicity. |
| Easy payroll deduction OR Employer Paid Options | Low friction = high adoption. | Request an implementation timeline under 30 days. |
(Defend-ID checks every box and adds small-group pricing down to 2 employees.)
5 | Implementation Tips That Impress Leadership
- Frame it as risk mitigation, not a perk. Map hours-lost data to internal salary figures.
- Bundle comms with cyber-awareness training. Employees see the benefit in context, uptake jumps.
- Pilot with a high-risk department. Payroll or finance teams become champions before company-wide launch.
- Measure & report success. Track adoption, incident resolutions, and recovered hours—share in quarterly HR dashboards.
Conclusion
Identity-theft protection has officially crossed from “nice-to-have” to Top-5 voluntary benefit status. Offering a turnkey program shields employees from life-disrupting fraud and protects your organisation from hidden productivity drains. With the right partner, launching is as simple as flipping a payroll switch.
Ready to Quantify the ROI—or See It Live?
| Action | Best for | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule a 15-min Discussion | You have budget authority & questions | Book My Call |
| Download the ROI Calculator & Checklist | Need hard numbers before proposing | Get the Toolkit |
| Subscribe for Weekly HR-Security Insights | Just exploring | Join the List |
Protect your people. Protect your bottom line. Defend-ID can help you do both.
