In this time of national crisis, employers and their staff need the services and products provided by the employee benefits sector more than ever.
With the mental, physical and financial health and wellbeing of staff strained more than ever, as advisers and providers I am sure you are doing all you can to stay as close to your clients as possible, helping them through the myriad complexities visited upon us by this unprecedented upheaval.
For our part, we at Corporate Adviser will do our best to furnish you with expert independent information, advice, opinions and data from across the entire spectrum of our industry. To help us in our task, please contact us at john.greenwood@definitearticlemedia.com with ideas, opinions or subject matter you would like us to cover in greater detail.
Now is a time for positive, constructive debate, clear thinking and efficient process – and for the fast and free flow of ideas. To meet this need we will be connecting with you digitally, bringing together consultants, advisers, providers and other stakeholders, through a series of remote round tables and forums. Only by connecting, sharing problems and debating them publicly can we come up with the very best solutions for employers and their staff.
As for events, it is very much a case of business as usual, but later in the year. Will be moving our Master Trust & GPP Conference and Corporate Adviser Awards to the second half of the year. Details of the new dates will be published very soon.
As journalists we appreciate that providers face logistical challenges never seen in the post-war era – there has never been a time where entire workforces have been sent home indefinitely.
We must also be understanding of the fact that some providers, for example those providing medical services, will rightly be prioritising handing over resources to government to support the national effort against the Covid crisis and save lives.
Other providers, including group risk insurers, will not have every answer to every single complexity around who is entitled to what, or which claim time limit starts at what time, until they have fully considered what this crisis means. Turning the entire economy, and society, upside down brings with it legal and regulatory issues that need to be fully thought through. It is going to take time to fully understand where liability stands all the way down the food chain.
Pension providers too will understandably want to manage the potentially negative behavioural responses of members to jaw-dropping falls in fund values.
But within this context we will continue to ask the tough questions that need to be asked, uncovering problems, highlighting ineffective processes and scrutinising performance.
Yes there is a need for calm, but there is also a need for challenge, for strong, independent analysis and for working together to find the best ideas that can help employers plan for the future and support employees.
