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One in four line managers’ report that they are managing more people than before the Covid-19 pandemic, some with teams of as many as 50+ people, according to the Legal & General Wellbeing at Work Barometer.1
Group Income Protection (GIP) is no longer just about salary replacement. But as anyone in this industry knows, GIP also comes with a range of wellbeing, early intervention and rehabilitations services included which is a lot of management support. Claims statistics from 2021, highlighted that of all the employees able to return to work through group income protection in the UK, 30% were supported by Legal & General.
However, in order for this market to grow it needs to move with the times. And that involves genuinely placing all these services first in conversations with employers. This requires us to evolve our tailored pathways even more, ensuring all the specialist providers we work with ‘speak’ to each other and to other benefit providers within an employer’s armoury, and provide true joined-up multidisciplinary team (MDT) support.
This benefits employers as it provides them with effective help and support and gives employees an understanding that their employer cares. It can also benefit Human Resources (HR) with an improved ability to see how benefits can be integrated into wider wellbeing strategies providing the organisation with a robust wellbeing programme that is better able to build blocks for wider employee engagement.
Line managers: the squeezed middle
Line managers sometimes need to be a coach, mentor, confidant, motivator, engager, morale booster, risk assessor, disciplinarian…the list goes on. And as our research findings show, with an increase in the size of teams for many, they’re squeezed now more than ever.
At the same time though, there’s a strong potential for them to become advocates; leading by example and facilitating wider wellbeing support amongst their teams. In other words, happy customers who are willing to spread the word. Advocacy is all about trust and loyalty. And in the hugely competitive wellbeing marketplace trust and loyalty is paramount.
That will only come when we as an industry can offer our clients a reason to develop an emotional bond with us, to trust us, to love what we do, so that shifting to a competitor just because they offer a lower price, ceases to become a feature. And where new business can be won because we offer joined up thinking (not just more products and services) to the kind of problems facing most if not all organisations right now, in terms of wellbeing and employee engagement goals.
So, what kind of support could/should the group income protection industry offer to line managers?
- Positioning of benefits as an integrated part of wellbeing. Don’t just leave it with HR or the CEO to share a brochure or a flyer about benefits and services. Speak direct, share human stories, help line managers understand where benefits fit in to day-to-day conversations, ‘check-ins’ and wider wellbeing initiatives.
- Support to carry out stress risk assessments. Take advantage of stress risk assessment support from providers, where available, especially in small to medium-sized businesses where HR and Health & Safety resource is probably tight. Help line managers identify pain points and apply those insights to workload and working practices. Also, to identify where embedded value services and early intervention from group income protection providers might be put to good – and targeted – use. For example, Legal & General’s latest group income protection claims statistics, published last year, reveal that 92% of employees with mental health claims were able to return to work within the deferred period through often receiving support at an early stage in their absence.
- A direct line to vocational clinical specialists: Make sure line managers know that expert help is only a phone call away. Legal & General launched the ‘Be Well’ helpline last year; a direct line to vocational clinical specialists, with expertise ranging from nursing, occupational health and physiotherapy to occupational therapy. Available for support whether employees are absent or not, it is designed to help both HR and line managers support their employees to remain in work and is available for guidance where an employee is showing signs of stress and/or struggling to carry out their full range of duties.
- Wellbeing training and employee communication toolkits. Most insurers now offer bite-size wellbeing training, they can share case studies on what good wellbeing support looks like, and they might offer free access to expert toolkits; for example, helping employers self-create the kind of targeted communication programme that is usually only a reality for big companies with deep pockets.
Sources
1 Wellbeing at Work Barometer – Legal & General’s research was conducted by Opinium among 1,000 employees within businesses with over 250 employees, 13 – 27 August 2021.