Health cash plans are increasing in popularity, especially amongst employers. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the rising costs of living during the past few years, competitiveness in employment and the introduction of many employee benefits in the workplace, companies have had to change the way they support their employees’ physical and mental wellbeing.
According to a Microsoft report, 30% of employees reported an increase in their hours while working from home, and more than half (53%) feel they have to be available at all times.
The role of an employer health cash plan is focusing on employee wellbeing, both on an individual as well as organisational level. It has become more and more essential to help prevent burnout and create workplaces that focus on the health and wellbeing of their staff.
Providing benefits such as health cash plans, are a great way to improve your workplace wellbeing and provide your staff with the right tool to help them look after their health.
As the name easily suggests, health cash plans are essentially health plans where the individual has a yearly allowance where they can claim cashback on different benefits. This could be anything from optical to dental and physiotherapy, with some including hospital cover and non-cash benefits.
The benefits on each plan or provider can change, but essentially, they cover optical, dental and alternative & complementary therapies such as physio, reiki, chiropody and chiropractic treatments. Some even cover hospital stays and appointments, as well as the birth of a child or personal accident cover.
Each provider will have a benefit table depending on the plan, where you can see exactly what benefits your employees would be covered for, and what amounts they can claim. Please make sure you check what benefits your chosen plans cover.
Besides all the benefits mentioned above, health cash plans providers have been introducing non-cash benefits, such as Virtual GP, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), discount platforms or even gym discounts to enhance their offering.
Medicash employer health cash plans offer a variety of these non-cash benefits like Virtual GP, EAP, our exclusive skin cancer detection app SkinVision, and a physiotherapy assessment app, Phio – available to company-paid health plans.
The way it works is very simple. Each year, policyholders have a set amount of money they can claim back on each treatment. Let’s say, for example, you choose a plan that gives policyholders an allowance of £100 a year on optical. This means that each year they can claim back up to £100 of their optical costs, this being contact lenses, glasses or sight tests.
If the treatment costs more than the yearly allowance, policyholders can still claim back, but they will only receive cashback up to the amount of their allowance.
During these last two years we have seen a shift in the way employers look after their staff. Employee wellbeing is at a high, with 88% of employees in the US reporting that the meaning of success changed for them, with more and more considering a healthy work environment as vital as professional achievement.
In the UK, recent research by Deloitte has found that 28% of employees have either left in 2021 or are planning to leave their jobs in 2022, with 61% citing poor mental health as the reason they are leaving.
Putting your staff’s health and wellbeing first, will not only help retain and attract new staff but also make your employees feel like their health and wellbeing are being taken care of, reducing the costs of absences and turnround.
Medicash health cash plans are affordable (starting at just £5 per employee, per month), offer a range of health cash plans for you to choose from, and all plans include a 24/7 mental health support helpline, among other benefits.
Watch this video to find out how we have helped Fuller’s demonstrate their commitment and dedication as an employer, to boost the overall wellbeing of their workforce.