Six pillars of employee wellbeing – protection
Firstly, let me clarify what I mean by ‘protection’ in terms of employee wellbeing. I am referring particularly to the protection needs employees have in relation to absence, long term disability and death. It is evident that protection needs can stretch out beyond this into areas such as dental cover and critical illness for example, but employees concerns most often fall into the three key areas already mentioned.
It is also important to point out that every single individual will have unique protection needs. A 20 year old with no dependents will have very different life assurance requirements to a 35 year old with a mortgage and three children. Protection is personal to all of us, and emphasizes that a blanket approach cannot be effective or appropriate. Giving our employees flexibility and choice is the only real way to make sure that the protection benefits offered will be fit for purpose for all.
Of equal importance are communication and engagement. In the early part of 2015 we conducted our ‘Why BWell? Survey 2015’ in which we discovered that only 44.5% of respondents felt as though they had adequate protection in the event of death. The figures for long term disability and absence were also minorities - 41.7% and 47.2% respectively.
In view of these figures, I wonder if it’s really true that the majority of employees don’t have adequate protection in the event of death? I would be surprised to find that this were the case, and propose that it’s more likely that employers are often not proactive in promoting these excellent benefits so that employees may not even know that they have them, let alone at what level.
When it comes to long term disability I would suggest that this is the most valuable benefit an employee can have. I think the majority of employees assume that the state will provide adequate assistance in the event of a debilitating condition, but in fact, the amount that would be provided is so small it would barely cover most mortgage repayments let alone food, bills and maintaining some semblance of a normal life. Yet in spite of this only just over a third of employees have long term disability protection.
I am not at all suggesting that employers need to dig even deeper and pay for all of this. Some employers already do while others can’t afford to, but all can spend time educating their employees about what protection is available, provide flexibility and choice in what is offered and the option to pay for protection products if necessary. After all, human nature dictates that we don’t worry about these things too much until a crisis happens - and then we really worry! But with the right strategy in place, every employer can ensure that their employees have the right tools to make the best decisions in order to protect their families and their lifestyles.
This article was supplied by Barnett Waddingham.
In partnership with Barnett Waddingham
Everything we stand for at Barnett Waddingham is embedded in our promise – to do the right thing. We’ve applied this meaningful principle across all aspects of our business with continued success.
