This piece is by Sammy Rubin, CEO and Founder, YuLife;
The UK is experiencing a multi-dimensional workplace health crisis. Low levels of employee wellbeing appears to be one of the major drivers of ill-health in the country, as highlighted by the Darzi report into the challenges facing the NHS, which showed that there are now 800,000 more people on long-term sick leave than before the COVID pandemic.
Mental health conditions were identified as the most common cause of long-term absences from work, now responsible for 44% of UK absenteeism. By April 2024, about 1 million people were waiting for mental health services. This changing reality is placing unprecedented strain on the NHS. Recent YouGov research commissioned by YuLife has revealed that 56% of UK employees are not confident in the NHS’s ability to support their rehabilitation after a long-term absence from work.
Given the well-documented challenges facing the NHS, businesses have a clear role to play in stepping up and showing support for employees’ health and wellbeing. Yet many businesses are also underperforming in this respect: Our research also found that of employees who have experienced sickness or injury lasting more than two weeks, 52% said that their employer did not help with their recovery and return to work. That means that around one in five UK employees has experienced a long-term health-related absence from work with no employer assistance. As the government expands provision for sick leave to those on lower wages and from the fourth to the first day of sickness, the question on everyone’s lips, especially small businesses, is: who is going to fund this?
In this context, Group Income Protection (GIP) is moving more into the spotlight as an increasingly essential proposition for businesses looking to safeguard their employees’ health, keep costs down, and provide access to services that can help employees back to work, or prevent them from going on sick leave in the first place.
The state of Group Income Protection
Businesses commonly undervalue GIP as an employee benefit, despite its potentially transformative impact for employers and employees alike Reports have found that the UK’s statutory sick pay is one of the least generous in the OECD, while almost seven in ten UK workers lack any form of income protection. This leaves a significant financial gap for employees who are unable to work for extended periods due to illness or injury.
In response, businesses can be proactive and introduce GIP as a vital benefit valued by employees as a key component of their financial and personal wellbeing, while also bringing tangible value to the business itself.
Companies can also maximise the benefits GIP policies offer by going one step further to assist employees who have been on sick leave for long periods. Whether this is flagging up opportunities the policy offers for rehabilitation support or finding ways to ease their adjustment back to the workplace so they can return as quickly as possible.
If current trends continue, work absences due to long-term sickness will cost the UK economy £66.3bn a year by 2030 in lost productivity. Businesses have a clear incentive to reverse this downward trajectory, and GIP products can play a major role in helping employees who experience long-term ill-health get back into the workforce.
Redefining GIP: Proactive, Preventative, and Engaging
GIP doesn’t just have to be something that kicks in when things go wrong. Instead, it can be part of a broader, proactive approach to financial and personal wellbeing that’s continuously supporting employees. Offering preventative resources like mental health support, fitness and healthy lifestyle incentives, and wellness initiatives before employees get sick will encourage overall wellbeing and reduce the likelihood of illness or injury in the first place.
The result is a healthier, more engaged workforce, and businesses will reap the benefits: Companies with healthier employees experience fewer sick days, fewer insurance claims, higher productivity, greater retention, and a lower turnover of staff.
Another way in which insurers can modernise GIP products is through the use of gamification to bolster employees’ engagement.
For example, employers can offer incentives for activities that promote physical and mental wellbeing – rewards for participating in healthy behaviours like walking or meditating, fitness challenges, or mindfulness practices.
YuLife research found that 87% of employees who take up these activities regularly see an improved level of wellbeing. Gamified engagement is especially impactful when it comes to employees’ mental health because employees are rewarded by taking simple steps to kick off healthy habits – for example, a 1-minute breathing activity, performed consistently over time, which can have a profound effect on stress and anxiety levels.
Leveling Up IP
GIP can become a benefit that transforms the nation’s health, and has already proven its impact at many workplaces around the country.
Offering proactive and engaging GIP products can change the lives of individual employees, but perhaps even more significantly yields a tangible ROI for businesses. A Total Economic Impact™ study from Forrester revealed that YuLife’s approach yields an 11.5% reduction in absenteeism, a 2.75% reduction in turnover, a 2.5% increase in productivity, and almost a threefold increase in employees’ utilisation of their benefits.
When businesses encourage a preventative approach to wellness and underpin that approach with the latest technology, employees will engage with benefits in a way that improves their mental and physical wellbeing, reducing the likelihood of sick days and empowering businesses to spearhead a society-wide push for better health.
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