A study by the British Chambers of Commerce has found that over 43% of businesses have had employees absent from work for more than four weeks due to ill health. The British Chambers also found that more than 55% said that they would do everything within their power to assist staff back to work following a period of illness.
Despite this fact, there are still a very low number of SME businesses offering protection benefits to employees. It appears that employers understand the impact of ill health on both employees and their organisation, but very few have appropriate cover in place.
There is a range of different protection benefits that remain vital to filling this gap. Group income protection, for example, is an affordable way to protect employees unable to work as a result of long-term absence by ensuring a continued income for a set period. This is a great way to help employees during a difficult time.
Other products, such as key person cover can support organisations by providing a payment into the business to help cover recruitment costs or loss of profit if a key individual is unable to work for an extended period of time.
Find out more about the employee financial protection gap.
