When was the last time your organisation properly reviewed employee healthcare benefits?
In the last few years, much of employers’ attention around their employee benefits has been focused on pensions. Auto-enrolment and more recently, April 2015’s pension freedoms, have seen organisations directing their energy and budgets to delivering effective retirement solutions to staff. But as the dust settles on the pensions revolution, increasing numbers of HR teams are now taking the opportunity to examine how they evolve and improve the healthcare benefits they offer to staff.
Employers are currently looking into four main areas. The first of these is wellness: our latest research [Title and publication date to come] revealed that 30% of employers plan to implement an employee wellness strategy in 2016 and a further 34% plan to do so in the next few years. This could range from group exercise challenges, to mindfulness programmes to health screening. Building an evidence-based, bespoke wellness plan can now be achieved for a very reasonable budget, with the average annual spend on wellness standing at £26-£50 per employee. For many organisations, wellness is an affordable and important part of their overall strategy.
The second is private medical insurance. As a result of changes to Insurance Premium Tax (IPT), increasing numbers of employers are now considering how they can provide private medical insurance in a more tax-efficient manner. Whether that is using a master trust or healthcare trust, it is essential to consider the options available.
Third is income protection. Reductions in state sickness benefits mean that income protection is becoming an even more valuable employee benefit. However many employers need to modernise plans where they can offer ‘pay direct’ facilities. Some income protection policies are also being adapted to include wellness features, with a focus on keeping staff fit and healthy in the first place and limiting the number of claims.
Finally, employers are looking at voluntary benefits. Employers can negotiate far better rates for voluntary health and wellness benefits than employees can in isolation. Offering a range of voluntary benefits, such as bikes-for-work schemes and discounted gym membership, can be appreciated by all employees.
My first question for employers is always ‘Are you confident that you are providing the right benefits to the right people in your business?’. It might sound obvious, but the reality is that one size fits all is rarely the right approach. It is important to understand the make-up of the workforce and assess their individual benefit needs. For example, what works for a fifty-year-old executive is unlikely to fulfil the needs of a millennial starting out in their career.
The evolution of the healthcare market is impossible to ignore. The needs of today’s workforce and the very way that we work have radically changed. Wellness in the workplace is now firmly on the agenda and employees are demanding more from their benefits packages than ever before. Employers that want to stay ahead of the game and attract and retain the best people need to ensure that their benefits are fit for purpose. Understand employees and build a benefits package that is right for them.
Soraya Chamberlain is director of corporate healthcare and wellness at Punter Southall Health and Protection
