Health and Wellbeing at Your Business
Having your staff’s health and wellbeing on your agenda makes sense. For most of us, the connection between a happy-healthy workforce and productivity is an obvious one. Employee benefits like Private Medical Insurance, Healthcare Cash Plans and Employee Assistance Programmes help you to look after your team. And they also have several benefits for you as an employer.
Why Focus on Wellbeing?
Modern life is stressful. The challenges, difficulties and demands we face affect our mental and physical health. And the pressures of work can often add to that. Particularly now that technological developments, improved connectivity and remote working has blurred the line between office and home. However, making wellbeing part of your company culture can help address this.
For example, the proactive and preventative elements of cover encourage healthier lifestyle choices. These include, workplace health screenings, alternative therapies (like reiki, hypnotherapy and nutritional therapy) and discounts on gym membership.
Likewise, benefits such as Employee Assistance Programmes and Virtual GPs provide an opportunity for early intervention. This can help prevent more serious conditions and consequences developing for your employee and your business.
The Business Case for a Focus on Wellbeing
Beyond benefiting your workforce, there are several further incentives to focus on wellbeing.
Firstly, a culture that supports and encourages employees can help your business attract and retain the best people. And backing this up with a health benefits package means you can deliver on the promises that culture makes.
Secondly, employee absence is costly to any business. As is presenteeism (where staff are unwell but still attend work). Benefits like private medical insurance help you deal with this. It allows staff to avoid lengthy NHS waiting lists. Which means they can be seen and treated quickly when they are ill. As a result, your business gets key personnel back sooner.
Similarly, staff can pick and choose appointments to suit them. This flexibility means treatment doesn’t have to get in the way of work. It can be booked to fit around busy periods, key projects or important deadlines.
Affordable and Valued Benefits
Health and wellbeing benefits are a great way to reward your employees. But some benefits, like private medical insurance, have a reputation for being expensive. Although this isn’t completely unfounded (as premiums can increase quickly if they’re allowed go unchecked against the wider market or if a number of expensive claims are made) there’s lots that can be done to manage spending.
For example, taking the time to compare the market and using the services of an independent broker helps you stay on top of costs. Moreover, years of product innovation and the variety of options allows cover to be tailored to suit your business and meet most budgets. As a result, health benefits are often more affordable than many businesses realise.
Finally, when policies are arranged through an employer it usually costs a lot less than if employees bought the same cover as personal plans. As such, the perceived value amongst staff is often greater than the actual cost.
If employee wellbeing is on your agenda, why not have Healthcover conduct a free and independent review of your options?
Find out more: Healthcover’s Comprehensive Guide to Business Health Insurance.
Author: Healthcover
Healthcover is a specialist intermediary and provides independent advice to businesses on their employee health, wellbeing and medical insurance needs.
Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal, belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of Plus Accounting. All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.