Today’s tight labour market makes recruitment and retention difficult for every employer. Competitive salaries are no longer enough. Job seekers are scrutinising benefit packages for healthcare and wellbeing support.
Healthcare benefits are a clear signal that the employer really cares, and have become an expectation in many sectors.
Besides the obvious recruitment and retention advantages, rapid access to medical care such as tests, treatment, surgery and dental appointments also brings clear productivity gains.
Employees can schedule appointments into their busy lives with ease. And minor health complaints are less likely to deteriorate into serious conditions involving lengthy absences.
Almost five million UK employees now have private medical cover, and for good reasons.
Private medical insurance gives employees prompt access to high-quality and timely healthcare, supplementing NHS provision. And it’s flexible. Employers can adjust their group policy to business needs and budgets – by extending it to family members, for example, or slimming down provision to manage costs.
Employee wellbeing
Give employees health security and choice. Protect them from long waiting lists and overloaded GP surgery call-handling.
Workplace loyalty
Meet the growing expectation for access to private healthcare. Make your business an attractive option, and build loyalty in the workplace.
Productivity boost
Offer early health treatments to avoid lengthy periods of pain, discomfort and absence. And reduce the risk of more serious problems later on.
The scarcity of NHS dental provision has a damaging effect on workplaces across the UK. 37% of UK workers are taking time off due to dental problems, according to Bupa.
A group dental insurance policy is designed to help employees meet the costs of routine check-ups and other dental treatments, carried out privately or by the NHS. Following dental treatment, employees simply claim back costs. Employers can choose to extend the cover to employees’ family members.
Duty of care
Make dental care affordable and accessible. Timely check-ups and treatment will deliver fast relief and can help identify other health issues at an early stage.
Reduced absence and presenteeism
Free your employees up from the misery of toothache. Positive health outcomes can lead to lower staff absence and higher productivity.
Recruitment and retention
Build workplace loyalty. With reduced NHS availability and increasing private dental costs, it’s becoming one of the most popular employee benefits.
Waiting lists and treatment delays create havoc on employees’ lives. No surprise then that health cash plans are being rolled out in more and more employment sectors, according to the Reward and Employee Benefits Association (REBA).
With health cash plans, employers help their people recover the full or partial cost of common health expenses – such as eye care, dental treatment and physiotherapy – straight away. Many health cash plans also offer discount portals and additional wellbeing services at no extra cost.
Introduce an affordable benefit
Health cash plans are a low-cost employee benefit. And with their additional wellbeing services – such as a virtual GP – employers can expand their benefit package at no extra cost.
Meet employee expectations
Reward schemes that go beyond pay are becoming an expectation in the job market. As part of a meaningful benefit package, they attract talent and build workforce loyalty.
Offer financial support
The cost of everyday healthcare such as optical or dental appointments can mount up. By putting a health cash plan in place, you’ll help employees meet their living costs.
Our employee benefit specialists are here to guide you through the process of selecting healthcare schemes:
Step 1 – We’ll sit down with you and get to know your business and its employee wellbeing strategy. We’ll use our specialist knowledge to explain the healthcare benefits available and agree requirements. We’ll then go out to the market and match your needs with suitable policies.
Step 2 – We’ll guide you through the policies that we think are a good fit, and we’ll make recommendations. We can tailor provision to your employee profile and business needs.
Step 3 – We’ll help you set up your group policy and provide the support you need once it’s up and running.
Step 4 – We’ll support you all year round. We can manage your annual renewals. And we’ll continue to listen, so your policy remains fit for purpose as your business changes and grow
Our specialist team offers seven decades’ experience of employee benefits. We’ll give you the convenience of a single point of contact and coordinate healthcare cover on your behalf.
We’ll take the pain out of group healthcare, saving you time and money, and protecting you from the risk of non-compliance. And we are transparent with costs.
We’ll also keep you updated on the latest employee benefit trends and keep an expert eye on your healthcare policies.
Sometimes you just know that you’re in expert hands. First Actuarial are thoroughly professional and proactive. They’re always happy to share their knowledge, and they always do what they say they’ll do. We couldn’t ask for more helpful consultants.
– HR Manager, UK employer