Blog
September 2, 2021

Group Risk Protection, all covered


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There have been many onset issues that have stemmed from the pandemic since it made its global presence known in early 2020. Several lessons have and will be learnt but perhaps the greatest of all lessons will be that life is fragile. Things that we took for granted we can no longer assume and for many the way we work and socialise looks to have changed forever.

What do employees in Ireland want?

Last week Morgan McKinley, the global professional services recruitment consultancy, released the results of their first ever cross-sector employee benefits survey in Ireland. This seems to have been the most comprehensive survey of its type carried out in Ireland to date, and identified the benefits most valued by employees. The findings revealed that the 3 most important benefits to employees were Health Insurance, Pension and Paid Sick Leave.

The survey also revealed that Health Insurance was in 5th place in the benefits most offered by employers in Ireland and that Multinationals offered the most comprehensive packages to employees. When you consider that SMEs make up the majority of businesses in Ireland this is quite unsettling.

The report also revealed that nearly one in four employers surveyed reported that they changed their benefits package since the pandemic, so a seismic shift is clearly occurring in the way employers provide benefits for their employees. 

Thankfully, if you are an employer, you have an opportunity to address this fragility and can do so in a way that is highly affordable to the company and highly valuable to your employees and their families by adding Group Risk protection to any benefit package you put in place for your employees. 

The Benefits to you as an Employer

On a number of levels both the company and employee benefits from a Group Risk Protection Policy. There are two main types of cover to consider, Death in Service benefits and Disability benefit. The benefit to you as the employer is easily understandable when you consider that:

  • The premium is fully deductible against corporation tax.
  • As a possible benefit, it helps you to attract and retain employees by bolstering your existing benefits package.
  • It demonstrates that you care about the welfare of your employees and their dependents.

The Benefits to Your Employees

As the key beneficiary of the policy, your employee’s stand to gain significantly from being insured through a group risk protection policy as it provides certainty to them and their dependents by way of:  

  • A lump sum is payable on death as a multiple of the employee’s salary or a pension to their next of kin. They could be insured for up to 4 times their salary.
  • They can also be insured for a loss of annual income if they were unable to work long term due to a major accident or illness. This is especially important to high earners when one considers that the State Invalidity Benefit will only pay €10,842 p.a. for a single person or €18,585 p.a. for an individual with dependents.
  • It gives your employee the option of not taking out more costly individual cover, assuming they see themselves as a long term employee and you, the employer, continue to maintain the cover in place.
  • Employer funded premiums are not treated as a benefit-in-kind on the employee.
  • Most of all, it reduces anxiety and gives peace of mind. This is a benefit that’s not fully appreciated until it the sum insured is needed to be paid!
  • Because it is a Group Risk approach to medical underwriting higher non-medical underwriting terms are possible that would not be available on an individual level. This is something that might be of particular interest to those in the 40+ age bracket as statistically this is the age from which our human frailties drive up the cost of personal life assurance and income protection covers.

Your Best Business Asset

Despite this being a time of uncertainty employees are very certain about what is important to them, namely personal provision in the face of disability, illness or even death. Having group risk protection in place ensures that you both attract and retain those who play a pivotal role in where you are today and where you will be tomorrow.

Call us today on 01-8455827 to discuss your group risk protection needs or use our call back option to set up a Zoom meeting or phone call at a time that suits you. 

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Simply book yourself into an appointment at one of our available times.