The healthcare and associated employee benefits specialist has launched Vitality At Work for SMEs, allowing the employer to offer care and information to the whole workforce, not just employees who have signed up to private medical insurance benefits.
According to Greg Levine, managing director - sales and distribution - for Vitality, the service was devised with the aim of supporting employers to address some of the main causes of absence across the whole workforce and helping businesses to support employees to live healthier lifestyles.
It will provide fast access to a private virtual GP, physiotherapy services, as well as a range of mental health support and treatment. It also gives access to a number of lifestyle benefits and rewards through the Vitality Programme, including discounted gym membership, running shoes and fitness devices.
Mr Levine said employers will also be able to access information on their workforce’s health through Vitality Healthchecks and Vitality Age - a measure that uses aspects of a person’s wellness, such as exercise levels and nutrition, to assess how healthy they are, making it relative to their actual age.
This comes after Vitality carried out its Britain's Healthiest Workplace study, which as FTAdviser's sister publication the Financial Times reported in 2019, showed a strong correlation between the lifestyle choices that employees make, their physical and mental health, and how they perform at work.
Mr Levine commented: "From our own experience and research we know that when employers engage staff in their health and wellbeing, they see significant increases in productivity.
"With sickness-related absence and presenteeism costing British businesses and the economy billions of pounds in 2019, it’s vital businesses look at how they can support their staff live healthier lives and Vitality at Work has the potential to be instrumental in this.”
Clients who cover at least 10 of their employees with full PMI will be able to select ‘Vitality at Work’ for £7.50 a person each month.
There are also incentives for businesses who encourage their employees to maintain healthy lifestyle habits and engage with the Vitality Programme, with the opportunity for them to earn up to 10 per cent cashback of their annual premium on renewal.
Stuart Scullion, executive chairman of The Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries, said the service was "a great example of how by combining some key healthcare benefits it is possible to create a product that has the potential to improve the overall health of a business’s employees, all at an affordable price point".
He added: “Vitality at Work will be especially useful for AMII intermediary members, supporting them to better talk to their clients about productivity across their entire workforce, with the opportunity to introduce healthcare and lifestyle benefits to all employees.”
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for Group Risk Development, said Grid had been working for some time to encourage employers and their advisers to consider the value of additional support offered alongside group income protection plans, whether this is helplines, nurses on call or other benefits.
She said: "We have been promoting the advantages of offering additional healthcare benefits within a group risk product to give value to employers and their employees and to support a healthier workforce overall.
"Government is even encouraging employers to do more to promote physical and mental wellbeing in the office, so any savvy employer will be using such services to the best of their ability and encouraging staff to take advantage of these."
Generally, she added, value-added services as the ones being offered by Vitality, are available to all employees, whether or not they are insured under the employer's specific healthcare scheme, as it is about "prevention and supporting staff, which helps with engagement and productivity. We wouldn't do it if it were not worth it".
However, getting people to take this up has not always been easy. In a Grid survey of 500 decision makers at firms, carried out by Opinium in 2017, only 32 per cent of employers said they made regular use of all the extra support within group risk products.
However, claims statistics from Grid in 2018 revealed there was increased usage, with 75,446 interactions made in 2018 with the various additional help and support services that are funded by group risk insurers giving daily value to employers regardless of whether or not a claim was made under their policy.
Ms Moxham added: "As ever, communication is key. Employers have to know about the extra help that comes along with insurance products in order to communicate them effectively, in turn, to their people. This then drives greater usage, which knocks on to better appreciation, engagement and productivity giving a win, win outcome."
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
