Whilst it has been a painful year for many employers and employees, interestingly, sickness absence in the UK fell dramatically in 2020. This could be due to the large numbers working from home making it harder for illness to spread, or possibly because furlough masked true levels of illness. But if nothing else, 2020 served as a sharp reminder to many companies of their moral responsibility to their workforce.
We have yet to see the full effect that long covid will have on sickness rates but whether it is covid or other causes of long term sickness, at the EB Partnership we believe that employers would benefit from ensuring they look after all of their employees, "in sickness and in health". Not only from the standpoint of "doing the right thing" but also as it fosters excellent staff morale as well as providing recruitment and retention benefits.
Group income protection schemes are significantly cheaper than individual cover and provide payments to companies so that if employees fall long term sick, the company can continue to pay the individual for a set length of time, typically for 3 years - 5 years or even up until retirement age.
If you are an employer and are interested in implementing a scheme like this then please make sure you get in touch with us.
