Providing an attractive benefits plan is just as important as a competitive benefits package. Short-term insurance benefits are now increasingly in demand from staff as their expectations of company obligations towards them continue to rise and competition in the open market for skills intensifies.
Competitive organisations are realising the value in adding to the fundamental benefits packages that include healthcare, retirement and often disability insurance, with added benefits such as short-term insurance for employees’ personal needs. And the value to be derived from having a fully comprehensive employee benefits package that takes care of items such as vehicles and homes at more competitive rates than if approached individually is far reaching.
Quite often, an employee will stay at a job that has less salary because the benefits are excellent and other employees who may be paid very well will leave their jobs because the benefits are simply not there. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the addition of short term insurance benefits is becoming a permanent feature of South African HR structures.
In today’s financial and business climate consumers are under enormous financial stress. They remain heavily indebted and their disposable income is still under pressure, despite figures showing that the situation is easing. The reality is that the cost of living continues to rise alarmingly, petrol prices are increasingly dramatically and this is expected to have an upward impact in inflation.
Moreover, skills shortages remain the single biggest challenge for most businesses and the cost of recruitment and training is significant. This does not begin to touch on the less definable costs of lost productivity and possible impacts on corporate image resulting from inexperienced staff as a result of high staff turnover.
