Employee Medical Insurance. Is it worth it?
An increasing number of businesses are offering private medical insurance policies for employees to safeguard both the health of their staff and the future of their business. There is a cost involved but most businesses agree that not investing in staff health and wellbeing is a false economy.
Why?
Less absenteeism
Employee healthcare insurance can shorten long-term sickness absence, as well as reduce the incidence of short-term sickness.
According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), staff absence from work costs businesses in the UK over 12.2 billion pounds a year so reducing it through private healthcare policies for staff could actually save your firm money.
Boost productivity
Offering medical insurance to staff can boost morale and productivity. Offering this popular benefit makes staff feel valued and part of the company. Because they have this option in place, they are also likely to get small medical complaints seen to quickly.
Attract and keep the best staff
Recent research has shown that private healthcare is the second most important employee benefit to jobseekers. The most important is a pension. Some participants in the survey even said that employee benefits such as healthcare could actually determine whether or not they took a job.
Staff who feel valued and happy with their employment package are much more likely to be loyal to their employer.
Employee benefits packages don’t have to cost businesses the earth either. You could consider offering a flexible benefits package where staff choose the benefits that are most important to them, whether that’s a gym package, subsidised car, pension or private health package.
Patient Choice provides cost-effective private medical insurance policies for individuals and businesses in the UK. For more information visit the Patient Choice website.
This Medical Insurance article was created on 25th August 2009
