Private medical cover often gets top billing. Cash plans, gym discounts and wellbeing apps usually follow. And financial protection tends to sit quietly in the background, even though it can be the benefit people need most when life takes a hard turn.
That’s the gap our webinar, The benefits leader's guide to financial protection, set out to close. Led by Mike Hesch, head of employee benefits at engage Health Group, and Niall Munro, director of benefits sales at Ciphr, the session covered why protection gets overlooked, how life assurance, income protection and critical illness cover work in practice, and how to build a business case that gets sign-off. Here are the key takeaways.
Why employee financial protection gets left behind
During the pandemic, health benefits took over. Private medical insurance and cash plans became the default focus and protection fell down the list. Plenty of employers now have solid health cover in place but nothing for dependants of an employee who dies, falls seriously ill or can’t work long term. That’s worth a fix. Life assurance and critical illness policies increasingly come with generous extras built in, at no extra cost, that many employers don’t realise they already have.
Three types of cover, three different jobs
1. Life assurance
Life assurance is often the cheapest and most valued place to start. It pays a lump sum, usually a multiple of their salary, to an employee’s dependants if they die. It’s simple to explain and it prices well.
2. Income protection
Income protection replaces a percentage of salary if an employee is off work long term because of illness. Most policies also fund support so employees can go back to work, a benefit for both employer and employee.
3. Critical illness cover
Critical illness cover pays a lump sum if an employee is diagnosed with and survives a listed condition. The value is in the detail. Core cover typically includes cancer and heart conditions, but insurers also offer optional extras like hearing loss – which can be easy to miss and easy to forget you’re covered for.
Cover everyone, not just who asks
Employers sometimes want protection to be voluntary or limited to directors. It rarely pays off. Insurers price “all staff” cover far more competitively, because there’s no risk of selection against them, while only people worried about their health opt in. Restrict cover to one category and the price usually goes up, not down.
A flexible benefits platform like Ciphr benefits solves the tension. Set a baseline for everyone – say four times salary – then let employees who want more, perhaps after a house move, top up themselves through salary deduction.
An employee financial protection benefits business case that lands
Here are our top tips for putting together an employee financial protection benefits business case:
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Before you price anything, go back to basics
What does your organisation value? What’s your position on wellbeing? Is retention a problem? Benchmarking data on what competitors already offer is often the single most persuasive input into a business case.
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Frame protection as an investment in resilience, not a cost
A chief financial officer (CFO) responds very differently to “we need to spend more on benefits” than to “here’s what this gives us back.”
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Once the case is made, double check
Work through who needs cover, what it might already replace (a paid-for Employee Assistance Programme could be duplicated by one built into a life assurance policy) and what different providers offer for the money. The extras vary between insurers and the cheapest quote isn’t always the best value.
Why communication decides whether employee benefits work
Every policy we’ve mentioned comes with extras: an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), bereavement support, sometimes counselling. But none of it helps if nobody knows it’s there.
The fix is simple and persistent. Explain clearly what’s covered and what isn’t, then repeat it. Deliver monthly updates, short videos, and plain English guides to ensure all employees know what is available, how it benefits them, and how to access it. A good flexible benefits platform like Ciphr benefits will do all of this for you with tailored employee communications to the right people at the right time.
One size doesn’t fit every workforce
A younger team without mortgages may value income protection far more than life assurance. A team with dependants and property may see life assurance as essential. Look at your demographic, ask what your people worry about, and let that shape what you lead with.
Three places to start:
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Check what you already have, and what it might duplicate. A standalone EAP versus one built into a life assurance policy, for example
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Get benchmarking data on what similar employers offer to support your business case
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Plan your communications rhythm before launch, not after
Watch the full webinar
If you missed the live session, you can catch up on the full recording below.
If you’d like to see how Ciphr benefits can help your organisation with their financial protection employee benefits offering, get in touch or book a demo.