The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is launching an automatic benefit increase option designed to protect life insurance beneficiaries from inflation.

Guardian also announced an automatic re-enrollment feature designed to make it easier for employees to increase their life insurance coverage.

Inflation protection, common on individual life policies, is not widely available on voluntary (employee-paid) group life insurance plans, the company said.  Guardian’s automatic increase feature helps protect beneficiaries against inflation by offering a five percent contribution increase option, or cost of living adjustment (COLA), for five years after the first year of participation in the plan, the company said.

The workplace is often the primary source of live insurance protection for many people, said  Barry Petruzzi, second vice president of group benefits for Guardian, citing LIMRA research.

“Inadequate life insurance protection is an ongoing problem in the U.S. – particularly so in these difficult economic times.  And life insurance protection can be reduced significantly by inflation. Thus Guardian believes it is important that inflation protection features common on individual policies are also made available through the workplace,” Petruzzi said.

For example, with Guardian’s automatic increase feature, a base coverage amount of $100,000 would become $127,628 in five years. The increased amount would be payable at the time of a claim, the company said

Petruzzi said that through buy-up features, “Guardian continues to make it easier for employees to increase their benefits through buy-up programs and other voluntary offerings. The development of these enhancements is part of Guardian’s ongoing commitment to help small and midsize employers attract and retain the best talent with high-quality, affordable benefits that help provide employees with protection and peace of mind.”

Buy-up features that allow employees to increase their life insurance above the basic coverage offered by their employers are more important than ever as employees rely more heavily on the workplace as their primary source of life insurance protection, the company said.  Guardian’s auto re-enrollment option offers employees the opportunity to gradually increase life insurance coverage each year — without a medical exam — if they re-enroll in Guardian’s plan.