Mercer Marketplace offers identity theft protection as voluntary benefit

Identity theft and data security is a concern of every shopper whether they shop online or at brick-and-mortar stores. But as the more profound breaches at Target and other retail giants have gained hold on consumer minds, voluntary benefit offerings have surfaced on private insurance exchanges to help combat this growing digital dilemma for employees.

Approximately 1.6 million taxpayers were affected by identity theft in the first half of last year, according to a recent audit from the U.S. Treasury Department. There’s value for employers to proactively help employees protect themselves against identity theft as it can profoundly affect employee productivity and absenteeism. “Everything is growing, and the Target breach [has] brought heightened awareness to the marketplace,” says Karrie Nelson, principal at Mercer Voluntary Benefits.