Supporting Employees Better With Tailored Benefits

Employees need customised support which is tailored to their individual needs and circumstances. That’s one of the main findings to come out of two separate pieces of recent research. For organisations, this reality should act as a wake up call to review the group risk benefits they offer.

Employers Urged To Offer Tailored Workplace Support To Cancer Survivors

Cancer Survivors’ Day is celebrated every year on the first Sunday in June. It is designed to help raise awareness of cancer, sufferers and survivors.

To coincide with this year’s Cancer Survivors’ Day, nurse-led wellbeing provider RedArc called on employers to offer customised support to employees with cancer, rather than trying to accommodate everyone with a one-size-fits-all approach.

RedArc’s call to action comes after a survey by group risk industry body GRiD found that cancer was the number one reason for employees claiming across all group risk benefits.

[Related reading: Is It Time To Review Your Group Risk Policies?]

GRiD said that organisations need to do as much as possible to signpost the support that’s available under the group risk benefits they offer. For example, access to Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and a second medical opinion service.

Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, explained that cancer is the most "prevalent cause" of claims on employer-sponsored financial protection benefits. However, she added that the advantages of such policies "go beyond being simply a financial lifeline for staff and their families at the point of cancer diagnosis or death."

"No two roads from diagnosis through to being back in the workplace will be the same, so employees and employers should lean on all the resources and support that they have available to them which are provided at no extra cost within group risk policies."

A Quarter Of Employers Do Not Offer Male-Specific Health Support

Meanwhile, a separate survey by digital health app Peppy found that 25% of organisations currently do not offer any male-specific health support in the workplace. This is extremely ironic given that Peppy’s research also found that as many as 81% of employers believe that by not doing so, they risk losing their best talent.

The need for male-specific health support is underlined by the fact that working-age men are 32% less likely than women to visit a doctor, which can lead to significant issues lingering untreated for extended periods of time.

Peppy said that men benefit from discreet, holistic workplace health support, as it makes access to help easier and there is less burden on the individual.

Furthermore, Peppy added that by adding male-specific health support, organisations can improve take up levels. So employers might look to offer support for prostate and testicular cancer, as well as nutrition, fitness, and mental health care.

[Related reading: Are Your Health And Wellbeing Benefits Flexible Enough?]

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Are the group risk benefitsyour organisation offers tailored to the individual needs of your employees? If not, you could be risking staff attrition by not providing your people with all the support they need. Contact us today to find out what’s available when it comes to group risk benefits and how you can shift your offerings to better align with your employee’s requirements.