ith a corporate office in Kailua, Hawaii and new satellite location in Anchorage, Pamela Whitfield is no stranger to Alaska. Whitfield, the owner of Elite-VB, is a twenty-five-year voluntary benefits veteran who spent eight years establishing accounts with her team at a Midtown office. Previous clients include Native corporations, oil and gas companies, nonprofits, and government entities. Under her agency’s leadership, more than 25,000 new policies were written between 2013 and 2020 in more than 150 new Alaska accounts (for disability, accident, critical illness, life, and other employee-paid options). “Enrollments were always designed for high participation, utilizing custom websites, videos, and more, taking the burden off of HR,” Whitfield says. “Best of all, as a broker, our services are at no cost to your organization.”

Elite-VB’s Anchorage office is armed with cutting-edge technology and new carrier options that make the old ones look obsolete. “It’s clear that representing one carrier isn’t putting the client’s best interests first,” Whitfield says. “Elite-VB believes in bringing the BEST carriers to the market based on your company’s specific needs and demographics. It just makes sense, and with premiums decreasing, wouldn’t your employees love better benefits at a lower cost?”

Besides, three in four employees consider voluntary benefits as a deciding factor for whether they work for and stay with an employer in 2022, according to Corestream’s “2021 State of Voluntary Benefits” report. Recruiting and retention are the most serious issue facing Alaska (and Hawaii) businesses. “No business is immune to this ‘great tsunami’ of workers leaving the workplace,” Whitfield says.

While Elite-VB has access to outstanding benefits counselors, virtual solutions make voluntary benefits more accessible and feasible to implement. Whitfield feels virtual solutions that are effective—compelling, dynamic, and custom-designed—are the best way to communicate and enroll voluntary clients in 2022 and beyond. Elite-VB can evaluate an organization’s current program and ensure the benefits are relevant to employees’ needs, easy to process, and affordable. “I’ll make sure your employees get the best bang for their buck,” she says.

Whitfield is committed to making a difference in the lives of employees and the community. She previously served as president of the Alaska Association of Health Underwriters and garnered the 2016 BBB Torch Award for Ethics. During the pandemic, her proclivity for helping further intensified. In 2020, Elite-VB produced masks for the Alaska Native Hospital and the Pioneer Home and facilitated COVID-related training for human resources professionals.

Now Whitfield is helping Hawaii business owners, brokers, and unions implement COVID-compliant, virtual voluntary benefit programs as she did in Alaska in 2013. With new variants emerging, it’s even more critical for employers everywhere to take a fresh look at voluntary benefits. Whitfield admonishes: “COVID-19 changed everything. Do not go into 2022 with a voluntary benefits program that was designed in 2016. New carriers provide mental health and telemedicine, and it does not take more than an hour to see if your current program meets your employees’ needs—and contributes to your hiring and retention goals.”