Flexible Insurance Benefits Is The Key To Employee Retention Asserts ADP HR Head
By : Reshmi AR
Update: 2024-04-29 15:32 GMT
Managing employee health and productivity has become more and more challenging in the post pandemic world. Deccan Chronicle in a tete-a-tete with Sujnan Venkatesh, HR Head ADP Pvt Ltd, tried to decode how organisations are reimagining their health insurances and other health benefits for employee wellbeing and retention.
How critical do you find the role/need for the right employee insurance benefits in the current competitive job market while trying to attract and retain top talent?
Indians, in general are underinsured especially when it comes to medical and wellness insurance. IRDAI statistics show that just six crore Indians buy insurance for themselves. That means many individuals depend on company-provided group insurance benefits, primarily because those are heavily subsidized with top-up options at cheaper premiums than the market.
When employers provide access to benefits programs, we can cultivate a culture of wellness from a place of empathy, compassion, and avenues for proactive support for associates and their families – factors that the current generation of associates consider to be important in deciding whether to continue with the current employer.
What priority do you believe the employees attach to the factors determining the insurance programs, and how can employers adjust their priorities to suit the staff diversity?
We know that associates are looking for more than a rigid group insurance benefit that provides a common coverage blanket for everyone. Flexibility and access to choose insurance that meets diverse, multi-generational families’ unique needs is the new normal, and that does not include just base health coverage.
Employers must start to readjust their priorities to provide access to flexible, customizable, and voluntary options for holistic wellness coverage that includes mental health counselling services, geriatric care, advanced pregnancy care, chronic health conditions management, sibling cover, best-in-class feminine care and more.
Could you explain the recently launched FlexiCare program at ADP? How has the introduction of the FlexiCare program impacted participants?
The needs of our associates are always at the heart of how we design our benefits and programs at ADP, so we asked them what they want. 67% of them said they need the choice to personalize their family insurance package while 84% responded that they would love to have the flexibility to choose some/all types of insurance plans.
ADP FlexiCare is our new family-centred insurance benefit that gives associates access and more flexibility to choose whom and how they want to insure. It comes with options like voluntary sibling care, elder care, critical illness care, feminine care, pregnancy care, conditions management care, and multiple health insurance top-up options at heavily subsidized and affordable premiums.
What is the distinction between FlexiCare and traditional group Mediclaim insurance policies, and in which way does the program address the different needs of ADP’s workforce?
Traditional Mediclaim insurance policies are rigid in terms of coverage, dependant definitions, no coverage for siblings, and no options that the associates can avail of for holistic wellness care.
ADP understands that it is extremely hard and complex to get access to insurance coverage that meets associates’ personal needs and the unique needs of their families. We designed FlexiCare to equip associates with access to additional plans and the flexibility to choose based on the needs of diverse, multigenerational families. Access to customization includes options to add siblings under 25 years of age, siblings with special needs, coverage for twenty-five critical illnesses, chronic condition management, advanced feminine and pregnancy care, and more.
What are the reasons behind the choice of several types of insurance and the level of customization flexibility that the FlexiCare program offers?
In today’s rapidly advancing medical landscape, having the right insurance coverage that meets the personal needs of each associate is more critical than ever.
As an associate-centric organization, we are laser-focused on knowing the expectations of our associates about wellness benefits, and we carefully designed the FlexiCare program to support them and their families through their wellness journey. Their preferences include a preference for a critical illness plan, inclination towards medical insurance for up to four parents/parents-in-law in the base policy, advanced family care, elder care, advanced feminine care, pregnancy care, and coverage for siblings in the base corporate Mediclaim plan – FlexiCare includes all of these and more!
FlexiCare not only helps our associates meet their family’s healthcare needs but also equips them to take care of their financial well-being when it matters the most.
How does ADP monitor the success and the impact level of fostering employee trust, satisfaction, retention rates, and overall well-being at the workplace?
At ADP, we are always listening to the voices of our associates. We constantly ask them to share their feedback and ideas with us and those become our guiding factors in evaluating the practices and benefits that we provide to them.
In addition to these surveys, we also closely monitor the effectiveness of our offerings through the volume of enrollments, the demographic bifurcation of the kind of voluntary FlexiCare plans that associates are choosing, and other plans that they want us to add in the next year’s policy period. We also track the level of satisfaction through their participation in various wellness sessions, and their feedback on on-site wellness facilities like specialist doctor visits, medical centres, and more.