Why healthcare doesn’t have to be a top tier benefit

Jobs and workers evolve all the time leaving businesses to work out how best to provide value for money while keeping pace.

In the olden days, health benefits looked like private medical insurance for leadership and senior managers, and a combination of things like cash plans, EAPs, and health checks for the rest. But is that model fit for purpose, now?

The world has changed. Attitudes to health have changed - alongside attitudes to the role of workplaces in supporting it. The job market and how we value skilled workers at every level has changed. And whether we like it or not, the NHS and its ability to provide swift interventions has changed, too.

Increasingly, businesses are looking at the budget they have for health benefits and at the number of people in their organisation - and asking themselves how they can provide the most value for the most people.

Whole –of-workforce health solutions are increasingly about creating equity as much as they’re about addressing sickness absences, improving productivity or boosting engagement.

That means that businesses looking to modernise and extend health support beyond the top tier, need to look at with fresh eyes.

5 things to consider for wider workforce health benefits:

1. What is needed by businesses and employees?

For many organisations, the first step towards workforce-wide health care is to look at what’s really needed in terms of health support – from both an employer and employee perspective.

That might mean unpicking legacy benefits to identify duplication, and to really understand current usage. It will certainly mean collecting health data and understanding the health challenges in your population. Is sickness absence a problem – and what issues are driving it? It’s not only about understanding the sort of support your employees would actually value, but about bringing them with you on the journey to a workforce-wide solution. See number 3 below.

2. Look for practical value

Once you’ve stripped down to the health needs of your business and your people, it’s time to look for practical solutions that directly address those themes. It has to have enough to do something for everyone – whether they’re 16 and only interested in gym membership and shiny teeth, or 69 and worried about their prostate.

By its nature, a workforce-wide health benefit won’t include all the bells and whistles of a traditional, gold-plated PMI policy designed for that top tier only. You have to decide what elements are going to make the most difference - and add the most value.

If you’re looking to reduce sickness absence duration or improve return to work times, look for services that focus on early intervention and diagnosis – that can still work across large populations. If MSK is a key issue, look for solutions that include first-line physiotherapy support. If dental support is important to your workforce, look for solutions that roll-in dentist fees or cash back on dental work.

The key is in quality and usability over quantity. Watch out for too much choice - which can make it difficult for employees to understand or use the benefits you’re buying for them.

3. Engage stakeholders early

Engaging with all stakeholders about your health benefits should begin as early as possible. That includes your workforce, any unions, your board and in particular your financial decision-makers. Bringing them with you from day one, keeping them informed about the options and choices available, outlining the pros and cons and demonstrating the potential return on investment, are all vital steps in the successful transition from health as a top tier benefit to a workforce-wide one.

4. Think beyond affordability to sustainability

Affordability is very much in the eye of the beholder but the real key is to look at sustainability and how affordable the solution is over the long term. No business wants to introduce a benefit only to have to take it away three years down the line.

Historically, we know that traditional PMI premiums are often linked to both usage and claims - which can lead to significant price rises over time. Businesses should be looking for ways to manage costs and spread risk, and for solutions where there is a strong track record of sustainability.

5. Internal communications

Workforce-wide health solutions can only be effective if your employees know about the benefits, understand them - and then actually use them. The success of your programme can only ever be as good as how you communicate about it, at the point of roll-out and beyond.

That of course looks very different for different populations.f you’ve got a relatively young workforce working mainly from an office or desk, digital channels are an obvious choice. But your messaging still needs to be very clear and very simple – making it as easy as possible for busy people to engage with it within a few seconds or clicks.

If you’ve got lots of people out on the road, on shift in a manufacturing line or out in the field up a telegraph pole, your communications might look more like posters on the back of loo doors, in-person on-site training sessions, or wallet-sized, bite-sized information with key services and contact details.

With all of that in mind, make sure you’re looking at service providers who can help you shape support to suit your teams, and target uninsured people at every level and in every role.