EXCLUSIVE: Dairy Crest has rolled out a series of presentations to its 5,300 employees to tell them about the second-opinion doctor’s service that it added to its group income protection (GIP) scheme in 2012.
The presentations, which will continue until early May, started with a briefing for 60 staff at the dairy food company’s head office.
The service includes access to 24/7 second opinions on diagnosis and treatment for employees and their immediate family.
Since the service was added to the GIP in July 2012, its provider Best Doctors has received 20 referrals.
The GIP is provided by Canada Life and brokered by Aon Hewitt. It is available to members of Dairy Crest’s stakeholder pension scheme. Only 40% of employees have access to the GIP, but the Best Doctors’ service is available to all staff.
Simon Cumpsty, head of employee relations and reward at Dairy Crest, said: “It would have been very awkward, if not impossible, for us to promote such a service solely to the employees covered by our GIP.
“It also meant we could embark on a very visible and widespread communication approach, targeting the entire workforce, an impossibility if only some were to benefit.
“We decided to roll out the briefing to our manufacturing and processing facilities, and over the last couple of months [a Best Doctors representative] has visited five of these locations, briefing almost 800 Dairy Crest people.”
