David Shearman, employee assistance programme expert for wellness specialist Lifeworks, said there has been a shift in the types of claims groups insurers have seen in recent years, from illnesses such as cancer to claims for mental health and psychological issues.
With approximately one in five staff members likely to be off work with stress or long-term mental health issues, he said it was important advisers help their corporate clients not only provide protection policies to help staff financially, but also communicate the associated benefits that are built into many policies.
Lifeworks, which offers personalised, independent and confidential assistance to employees through an app and phone service, can help employees with any issues they might be facing, from bereavement to financial difficulty or even stress as a result of bullying.
It is seen as a freebie and if you attach the word 'free' to a service, it can devalue the service that it offers.He told FTAdviser the use of employee assistance programmes (EAPs) can help keep employees healthy, well and at work instead of them being left to fend for themselves and ending up taking long-term absence through sickness.
However, he stated too often the EAP was "the best-kept secret" within group policies, and more needed to be done to promote it.
Mr Shearman said: "We have worked within the group income protection market for approximately 10 years now.
"It isn't a marketing gimmick, that if [an employer] buys a group income protection policy it gets this embedded EAP service as part of it.
"It is seen as a freebie and if you attach the word 'free' to a service, it can devalue the service that it offers. But we believe advisers need to drive more of the value that EAPs can provide to their clients."
He explained the reason why Unum and Canada Life have been using Lifeworks was not to just attach a "freebie" to the policy but to help prevent long-term sickness and the cost to business this can entail.
Mr Shearman said: "The reason [we started working with Unum] was that Unum had seen a massive increase in the types of claims they were seeing for long-term sickness.
"There was a significant shift from the typical things you would associate with absence from the workplace, such as musculoskeletal or cancer, to mental and psychological issues.
"Today, approximately 40 per cent of Unum's claims received for long-term sickness is for mental and psychological health, so the whole idea of embedding the EAP into the insurance benefit is to help catch the employee at an earlier stage in their illness, and provide them with the help and support they need to keep them in work.
"The aim is to keep them healthy, productive and engage with them, so they do not go to long-term sickness."
He also explained how EAPs through wellness and health advice and counselling can help prevent presenteeism, where employees are bringing themselves to work but are unable to concentrate or operate properly, which is having a significant effect on the workplace in terms of reduced productivity.
Mr Shearman said: "Productivity and presenteeism is hard to actively track it and put a value on it for [any] particular workplace.
"We know from our own statistics that one in five employees will be suffering from an issue in the workplace which will be affecting their productivity.
"Some of the organisations we work with have tens of thousands of employees, so you can imagine the number of employees being affected by issues inside or outside of the workplace, and the effects this will have on their productivity."
In 2017, the Centre for Mental Health report, Mental Health at Work: The Business Costs 10 Years On, reported that reduced productivity at work in the UK cost employers approximately £21.2bn, compared with £10.6bn for sickness absence.
The report stated: "Every organisation in the country is affected by mental health problems in the workforce, and while there is growing awareness among employers that addressing these problems makes good business sense, much remains to be done."
The report, which was authored jointly by Michael Parsonage and Geena Saini, also stated there was a critical need for organisations to promote wellbeing, create healthy work environments, support those experiencing mental ill-health and equip employees returning to work."
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
