How Can Group Health Insurance Reduce Attrition?

According to a 2020 Deloitte India survey, India faced an attrition rate of around 15% in the last fiscal year, higher than the world’s average of nearly 14% in the same year. There were various reasons that fueled India's attrition rate, such as lower salaries, reduced fringe benefits, increased workload, insufficient group health insurance, and reduced interpersonal & social interactions.

Besides monetary benefits, another factor that accelerated the attrition rate in businesses, especially startups and SMEs, was a reduced or lost sense of belongingness. This was particularly observed last year when almost everyone was forced to get confined to their homes and, as a result, felt drifted from the workplace.

However, as a startup founder, you can take some well-thought initiatives to make your employees feel that you and the company care for them. One such step could be to provide group health insurance to your employees.

What is Group Health Insurance?

Group health insurance is a medical cover that helps businesses provide health insurance benefits to their employees under a common umbrella. These plans have always been opted by big corporations, but now even startups and SMEs are using them to reduce their attrition rates by remaining competitive in the market.

How can Group Health Insurance Reduce Attrition?

A group health insurance helps you keep your attrition rates lower by providing the following benefits to your employees.

• Peace of mind: A group health insurance plan provides your employees much-needed peace of mind by providing them access to quality healthcare services. It provides them the assurance that the company is there to support them and their family financially in case of a medical emergency.
• Helps meet their fringe expectations: Group health insurance is one of the most popular fringe benefits offered by companies. Thus, it has become a part of the standard benefit expectation of employees these days and affects their decision to join a company, especially startups and SMEs. Thus, a group health insurance plan helps you retain as well as attract talent to your venture by helping you remain competitive in the market.
• Inculcates a feeling of belongingness: More than monetary benefits, employees often give a higher weightage to qualitative factors like the feeling of shared identity and belongingness to the organization. This is especially true for higher-level positions and newly joined folks. When you provide them with group health insurance, they feel they belong to the pact. This, in turn, results in reduced attrition rates.

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What must be included in the Coverage ☂️ of Group Health Insurance for Better Employee Retention? ‍

The coverage of group health insurance plans can vary with the chosen health insurance provider. However, these plans can always be customized to meet the specific medical needs of your employees. As their leader, you must check if the following are included in the coverage of the plan.

High sum insured: Sum insured is the maximum amount of coverage available under a group health insurance plan. It helps your employees cover the medical expenses of themselves and their family members (if you have extended the plan to cover them) in case they need to get hospitalized for at least 24 hours. A high sum insured value protects them from financial strains in times of emergencies.

Daycare treatments: These refer to the medical procedures and treatments that require less than 24 hours of hospitalization. Coverage for these treatments helps you provide wider health insurance coverage to your employees.

OPD cover: OPD expenses are the most common health-related expenses of an individual. However, they are not included under health insurance plans by default and need to be opted for separately. When you enhance your group health insurance plan to cover even OPD expenses, you help your employees realize that you stand strong with them at all times.

Maternity benefits: Like OPD coverage, maternity benefits and newborn care expenses are not part of standard group health insurance plans. By including these benefits in your group health insurance plan, you assure your female employees access to top-notch healthcare services and help them stay stress-free. This can have long-term effects on the attrition rates of a company as motherhood is a special phase of female lives to which they attach great importance.

Pre-existing diseases: Pre-existing diseases are generally covered under health insurance plans but only after a waiting period, which can be as long as 2 years. If you customize your group health insurance plan to provide for expenses incurred due to pre-existing diseases from day one of the plan purchase, it can help you provide the maximum coverage to your workforce. This is an important inclusion as work stress and hectic schedules often lead to chronic diseases among employees, which can be hefty on their pockets in the long run.

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Conclusion

A company is formed by its employees, but its culture is curated by its top management’s thoughtful leadership and management skills. Over the years, group health insurance has emerged as a full-proof solution to the issues of high attrition rates. However, merely providing group health insurance does not serve the complete purpose. You must ensure that you provide the group health insurance coverage with the right coverage and employee benefits.

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