What group risk benefit has the biggest impact on employees?

We would say the product with the biggest impact is Group Income Protection (GIP) which dually benefits both employers and employees. Employers benefit from reduced occupational and statutory sick pay and Equality Act compliance (by retaining disabled employees in the workplace). Employees benefit from ensuring people that have had their lives turned upside-down retain as much normality as possible. If you are unable to work, GIP and its associated support services come into play to keep your bills paid and your standard of living intact and, when it’s safe and sustainable, get you back into the workplace.

Prolonged absence is a difficult time and GIP offers broad shelter, including retention in the death and private medical schemes when they are most needed. Early Intervention Services and Employee Assistance Programmes can catch problems early, Second Medical Opinion services give you peace of mind about any diagnosis or treatment recommendations and Rehabilitation Services provide dedicated support tailored to your circumstances - all so life remains as normal as possible.

Ron Wheatcroft

Technical Manager - Swiss Re

Everybody needs an income. Losing it during a period of sickness can cause serious worries for employees and their families, particularly when finances are already tight.

Of course, employers can simply choose to keep paying a proportion of pre-disability earnings. It can make good sense though to insure the risk under a group income protection (GIP) policy. This can help to stabilise claims' costs, making budgeting more certain. In addition, GIP policies include a number of services such as early intervention to avoid potential claims and rehabilitation support to enable people to begin to return to work.

Communicating the benefits well is very important. Failing to do so can reduce the impact of benefit spend. A good set of benefits can be the difference between a valued employee remaining loyal or going elsewhere. Good financial advisers will be able to help with benefit selection and communication here.

Rosemary Lemon

Technical Manager - Swiss Re

I am going to select Life Assurance. Life Assurance is a benefit that is normally offered widely across a workforce and forms an important part of Financial Wellbeing. It can sometimes be undervalued by employees as they will personally never receive it. However, it doesn’t matter who you are or what your personal circumstances are, there is usually someone you care about. Having peace of mind that those you care about will be helped financially in the event of your death is a big reassurance.

I believe this is a benefit that usually has the greatest reach and has the potential to have a very meaningful impact in the event of anything happening to an employee. I would urge employees to look at its value and to ensure they have completed their Expression of Wish forms to help guide the Life Assurance Trustees in understanding their preferred beneficiaries. Employees should also remember to update these forms if their circumstances change.