In The Great Reshuffle, There’s No Success Without Group Health Insurance And Wellness Benefits

Is betting on healthcare offerings and corporate wellness programs the only way forward?

With the Covid-19 pandemic’s lasting effects on the Indian workforce, should employers rethink their responsibilities to their employees and create a holistic work culture that addresses changing priorities in safety, mental health, and more? Group Health Insurance (GHI) is no longer an attractive benefit, it is a must-have.

Let’s discuss.

What is the Great Reshuffle?

Crores of people around the world have left their jobs in search of more fulfilling roles with greater flexibility. This phenomenon has been branded as the ‘Great Reshuffle’.

As initial lockdowns lifted and life went back to more “normal” ways, people quit their jobs in huge numbers. By October, 2021, there were a record number of open positions, staff shortages, and some of the highest resignation rates the world has ever seen. This phenomenon pre-dated the Great Reshuffle and was called the ‘Great Resignation’.

In the Great Shuffle, the ability to work remotely is highly valued among employees, many of whom want to retain that flexibility since the pandemic has ended. High job vacancies thanks to the Great Resignation mean that salaries, healthcare benefits, employee wellness and work-life balance are becoming differentiating factors in retaining employees and reducing retention.

What does the Great Reshuffle mean for founders, leaders and the HR community?

In a post-pandemic India, employees are simultaneously confronting pressures of heavier workloads, children and senior citizens at home, and a volatile political environment, topped with consistent news of rupee depreciation and layoffs. Studies show burnout and depression are on the rise among India’s working class.

Business leaders who prioritise employee healthcare and wellness are reportedly more prepared to foster resilience among employees. This helps employees overcome adversities, boost wellbeing, and feel more confident about the future of their workplace and career.

According to recent reports, employee healthcare and wellbeing is predicted to have the greatest impact on the workplace of the future. There are four key aspects that broadly contribute to this overall wellbeing:

1. Group Health Insurance
2. The ability for employees to work remotely
3. Wellness programs that address employee mental health, stress, and burnout
4. Work-life management benefits

By not having a comprehensive, forward-looking group health insurance cover, companies miss out on hiring and retaining top talent

The Great Resignation, the Great Reshuffle, the rise of millennials and Gen-Zs at work, and the rise of tech-first insurance brokers are propellers of this shift.

In 2022, GHI is a non-negotiable offering for the following reasons:

• Your employee and their family is secured: GHI insures your spouse, parents and children are covered
• Your employee is covered from Day 1: If your employee buys an insurance policy on their own, they are subjected to a waiting period based on pre-existing diseases. However, you can avail all your healthcare benefits for all treatments from Day 1 if your company provides healthcare cover.
• Customisations of benefits build happier and healthier workplaces: With Nova Benefits, your GHI plan can be hyper-personalised based on the needs of your company and employees. Flexibility of benefits allows for voluntary additions of term life insurance, super top-ups, additional maternity benefits and covers, inclusive policy aspects like LGBTQIA+ cover, unlimited teleconsultations, and non-employee cover for your assets and liabilities, among many more.
• You enjoy tax benefits: Premiums paid by employers are tax-deductibles. An employer can qualify to get credit back and be compensated for the amount paid towards group health insurance premiums.

Gen-Z demands a workplace culture centred on healthcare and mental wellness

According to the LinkedIn Global Talent Trends Report, 2022, more than 3X employees are likely to be happy at work when they are “provided with a care package and feel cared for at work”.

There’s no growth without employee wellbeing: Employers need to adapt to the flexible workplace

Challenges bring opportunities for employers to promote employee collaboration in whatever format best suits everybody – remote work, work from office or a hybrid ecosystem.

Other opportunities include supporting balanced work schedules that work around professional and personal needs, with team-leads being more aware and empathetic of employee wellbeing.

In the US and UK, employers are becoming more intentional about employee healthcare goal-settings, engagement, feedback, and wellness benefit communications.

International enterprises hope these positive changes put them on the path towards a more resilient employee culture and increase employee retention and productivity.

Employees want holistic employee wellness programs

Employees want their employers to help protect them from physical, financial, mental and other risks.

Due to COVID-19, employees are placing increasing value on “feeling safe, protected, and prepared across all areas of well-being”. And they need employers to restore that sense of security through healthcare benefits and other support.

That doesn’t just mean being physically safe, employees also want financial and other protections from today’s unknowns, which will require employers to rethink what “protection” means to their workforce, employees, and workers’ families.

More than half of your employees worry about their wellbeing

And that’s driving productivity down!

Holistic wellness is a reflection of mental, financial, social, and physical health. Often, financial stress tops the list but because these aspects are interconnected, initiatives that address the full spectrum of employee wellness are most likely to succeed.

Nova Benefits takes a 360-degree approach with proactive, corrective and reactive healthcare and wellness benefits.