A good advert for your company - health insurance for your employees

Even in the current economic climate, recruiting and retaining the best staff possible is sometimes a difficult task. While the prospective salary is uppermost in many candidates minds when applying for new positions, extra benefits can also make a difference in their final decision. Company cars, pension schemes and membership of local gyms are all considered as useful bonuses by many people when weighing up which job offer is the best one. They are also a good advertisement for your company in the wider community as people recognise that you are interested in the welfare of your employees and not just out to get as much as possible out of them for the least amount of money. Health insurance schemes are particularly valued by members of staff these days as there are many non-urgent medical procedures that have long waiting lists on the NHS which can be attended too much more quickly when you are able to go to a private hospital. For employees with families, purchasing a private scheme on their own can be an expensive outlay so it is a major plus point if their employer offers a plan for them and their family. With the possibility of inserting advertisements on the appointment cards of private hospitals, a company can formulate a marketing plan that leverages their investment in a company health insurance scheme as well. The cards are something that all patients keep and refer to over a long period of time and so give good exposure.

Benefiting the company and the staff

These type of schemes are not only a valuable benefit for your staff but can also help to cut the cost of absences owing to sickness. If employees have access to fast treatment then they will have to take less time off work owing to long term conditions and will hopefully recover more quickly when seen to promptly. Absenteeism is a drain on staff morale in general and can engender a lax attitude in the workplace so it is well worth considering health insurance for all employees to ensure it does not become an epidemic in your company. A professional attitude in the workplace, coupled with a generous insurance scheme will help to maintain the right attitudes and you should benefit from a more cohesive workforce where illness and time off work are seen as something to be avoided if possible but also something that can be quickly remedied if it is unavoidable. Provision of company healthcare can also help to make sure that key members of staff stay motivated and on top of their jobs. When people have to take extended periods of time off work they can lose focus and even interest in their job and that can be difficult to get back. This is bad for both the company and the employee as the company loses an effective employee and the member of staff can become disillusioned and eventually wish to stop working altogether. Better to provide effective health insurance that can help to avoid these problems.

Blowing your own trumpet

Apart from the benefits laid out above, a company involved in providing this type of insurance for their employees can look at using medical facilities to promote their own services and good name as well. An advert that appears on a hospital card carries the good name of the hospital with it and will show your organisation in a beneficial light. Friends and relatives of patients are also exposed to the advertisements and will associate your company with the care and expertise provided by the hospital itself. Health insurance can have a preventative angle to it as well, with some companies giving advice on measures that can be taken in the workplace to minimise risks to the health of employees, as well as pointing out potential health issues for members of staff in general. With advertisements placed on hospital cards you are not only targeting people who work for companies such as yours, that provide business health insurance for their employees, but people who either purchase their own insurance or in some cases, pay the hospital fees directly. This means that your advertisements will be seen by an affluent sector of society as those who can afford to pay their own private medical bills will obviously be quite well off. This type of advertising has been shown to have effective results over the years and compares very favourably to advertisements placed in other print media. Your company’s own health insurance provision and advertising can help to build a solid reputation.

Big or small

There is a tendency to think that only the larger corporations can afford to provide such benefits as private medical cover for their employees but this is not the case. Whilst there are policies aimed specifically at big organisations there are also those that are tailored to meet the needs of smaller businesses. The advantage of these policies is that they provide a core level of cover that is affordable for the small business that wishes to give their employees access to health insurance, plus you are able to tailor the cover to suit your needs. Extra cover for non-acute conditions that can sometimes require long term treatment may be added to the policy as can cover for specialists’ fees for various tests and treatment for these conditions. More and more people are turning to alternative medicine to help them with such ailments today and cover can be added for homeopathy, acupuncture and several other alternative forms of treatment. This kind of flexibility has made SME insurance an attractive option for both employers and employees. The advertising that you can take out on hospital appointment cards can also provide the smaller business with a more affordable way of getting long term exposure to many people. Magazine and newspaper advertisements are very expensive and have a limited shelf life in comparison. This is not linked to the medical cover and can be employed as part of your marketing strategy, whether or not your company provides health insurance for its own employees.