Why critical illness insurance is an open goal for employers
But if they can’t work for a while due to debilitating sickness or an injury, what happens? Employers need to be aware of the impact on that person and their family in the event of a health catastrophe. Implementing catastrophe cover as a workplace benefit can help to ensure employees are prepared in the event they become seriously ill.
This can be in the form of critical illness insurance – an employee benefit that pays out a lump sum direct to the employee in the event they are diagnosed with an illness such as a cancer, heart attack, or stroke.
The good news is that results from the 2016 Swiss Re Group Watch report show that employers are cottoning on to the benefits of providing their employees with additional financial protection. The number of people covered by voluntary and flexible critical illness schemes has increased by nearly 30% in the last year.
It’s safe to say that critical illness is becoming increasingly more popular with employers and employees alike.
Critical illness is an open goal
As an attractive financial benefit for employees and at no cost to the employer, critical illness cover is an open goal benefit if it’s set up right.
With more and more employers choosing to offer critical illness to their employees it’s important that the scheme is set up in a way that gives employees choice to select financial benefits that suit their lifestyle, making the benefit more meaningful. Employers should not limit and unduly restrict their employees’ benefit option.
At Ellipse, we have seen schemes restricted to £150,000 despite the fact we offer £500,000 maximum benefit. Considering the fact that critical illness doesn’t cost employers, providing more options from the outset is surely the best tactic.
It’s a game of two halves
But, it’s only an open goal if you tell everyone about it. It’s all well and good employers establishing a flexible critical illness scheme for their employees, but if they don’t know about it, it’s going to be a waste of time and money. This is where employers need to think about providing financial education in the workplace, giving them the perfect opportunity to educate their people about the financial benefits they offer.
Clear communication to employees about exactly what critical illness is, how they can access the benefit and how to select their desired benefit option is essential. Making sure employees are clued up should take pride of place in internal communications, easily done through internal emails or a shared networking site.
Employers looking to offer their people additional workplace benefits, can do so easily with critical illness. Providing the scheme is set up to cater for a variety of different financial circumstances and is communicated clearly and regularly, they’ll score points with their people.
This article was provided by Ellipse.
