Flexi-health benefits to tackle post COVID blues in India Inc
by – Kiran Kalakuntla, CEO – Ekincare
When it comes to corporate health benefits, it is the onus of the HR team to decide upon the kind of benefits that have to be given to the employees. The problem with this approach is the companies have a diversified workforce consisting of Baby Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z etc and the health requirements vary drastically from one generation to another. This is the primary reason that health benefits lack utilization and most employee well-being programs fail. In order to address these issues, employers are now offering flexi health benefits programmes whereby employees can customise and structure benefits as per their needs.
The need for Flexi-health benefits
Employees have now become more conscious of eating healthy, exercising regularly, monitoring their stress and sleep cycles, and keeping an eye on their as well as their family’s health. As with everything else today, there are a variety of solutions for every problem in the market and people are inclining more towards a preventive lifestyle than to cure an ailment when it occurs. Now is the need for organisations to offer health benefits that focus on preventive care in addition to just helping cure illnesses through blanket insurance packages.
Flexi health benefits empower each and every employee of an organisation to access a variety of healthcare and emotional wellbeing solutions from the comfort of their home and also ensures that the HR partners are able to adapt to changing times and find new ways to increase employee engagement and productivity.
More power to employees
Every employee is unique, and health benefits should reflect that. Flexi-health benefits help to engage employees by allowing them to choose from a wide array of benefits tailoring to their needs and offer competitively priced benefits which give employees a good value for money. Flexible benefits empower employees to ensure their organization is meeting their professional and personal needs.
Lower organizational costs
From the employer standpoint, this flexibility also means that employers can save money by not spending on benefits that individual employees do not value. This type of plan setup may allow smaller employers a way to offer more benefits without excessive expenditures.
A leading American retail company specializing in home improvement saved up to 90% on healthcare cost through our Flexible Health Benefits solution.
Increases employee recruitment and retention
It is essential for organizations to offer comprehensive benefits packages in order to stay ahead of other employers within their industry. These days employees place high importance on benefits packages and is indeed one of the deciding factors between two jobs.
A spending account is like a bank account with money added and the employee has the power to choose the required health benefits such as Health Checks, Chronic Care programs, Doctor Consultations, Gyms and fitness sessions, pharmacy orders and so on. HR professionals have the liberty to set spending limits on each of these health solutions and can also define who gets to use the benefits — only the employee and/or family members of the employee. Putting funds directly into an employee’s Spending Account instead of deciding what is good for their health gives each and every employee the autonomy to decide what’s best for them and their family members.
Flexi health benefits do help organizations offer health benefits as per employees’ needs and convenience which in turn helps in transforming employee health through preventive and personalized interventions.
