Why Employee Well-Being Matters More in the Post-Pandemic Future

Since the onset of the pandemic, dimensions of work and life have been upended. This unprecedented chapter impairs employees’ holistic wellbeing with increased social isolation and physical limitations. To navigate through the post-pandemic future, organizational practices must focus on nurturing employee wellbeing.

HRD¹, a human resources trade journal, conducted a survey to uncover employees’ satisfaction on existing mental and physical benefits. A disconnect was observed as 60% of employees view that companies should invest more on their holistic wellbeing, while only 30% of employers believe in offering more support.

The findings validate a shift in employees’ needs, and that benefit strategies should be redesigned to center around greater care and flexibility.

Boundaries dividing work and personal life are fragmented. The erosion of work-life balance triggers employee burnout and prevalence of mental health disorders. McKinsey ² revealed that 70% of employers intend on sustaining and expanding investments on mental health resources, to further promote employee productivity, satisfaction and talent retention.

Next, employees’ social wellbeing is diminishing. Workplace isolation derived from limited social interactions and support from colleagues, may lead to employees feeling disconnected professionally.

As homes now converge as offices, poor workstation setups could result in chronic musculoskeletal pain and eye strains. Furthermore, extended periods in prolonged sitting positions, fixated working postures and repetitive work without much mobility, can affect employees’ physical wellbeing

Organisation of Escape Room Game and Distribution of  Care Packs by g&m HR Team

A concerted effort to boost employee morale and job satisfaction is paramount. Pulse surveys should be conducted to diagnose primary stressors and needs of staff.

Human Resource departments could introduce engagement initiatives such as regular check-ins, modify policies and practices around inclusivity, and align insurance plans with wellbeing programs.

Organizations should also model healthy behaviors. Cultivating wellness habits such as encouraging frequent breaks, taking afternoon strolls, partaking in corporate fitness programs and more, can promote self-care and physical well-being amongst employees.

Businesses can also give employees assurance that they are well-protected with a suitable group health package.

g&m has expertise in dealing with businesses of all sizes including SMEs and large corporations. We partner with an extensive network of insurers to provide tailored insurance solutions for your needs.

Coverage for such packages can include:

• Medical: Hospitalisation & Surgical, Outpatient GP & Specialist and Dental Care
• Life: Term life and critical illnesses.
• Add-ons: Personal accident, maternity and preventive care.

Fill up the form below and let g&m be your partner in supporting your employees’ well being.

In response to the transition towards working from home, g&m can also provide Work from Home insurance to protect your employees against any risk associated with the home environment. Click here to find out more.

Source(s):
1. https://www.hcamag.com/asia/specialisation/mental-health/remote-work-is-hr-doing-enough-to-support-well-being/245853
2. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/national-surveys-reveal-disconnect-between-employees-and-employers-around-mental-health-need

What can you do to Protect your Business?

Responsible data protection can help reduce cyber threats. Besides investing and maintaining good data protection systems, be sure to also conduct regular training to educate employees on best cybersecurity practices.

Another way is to insure your business against the unforeseen. Cyber Insurance, also called cyber liability insurance or cybersecurity Insurance, covers businesses against losses from cyberattacks when their digital systems fall victim to hackers.

Areas that Cyber Insurance can Cover:

• Business interruption loss due to a network security failure/attack, human errors, or programming errors
• Data loss and restoration, including decontamination and recovery
• Incident response and investigation costs
• Delay, disruption, and acceleration costs due to business interruption

• Crisis communications and reputation mitigation expenses
• Liability from failure to maintain data confidentiality
• Liability from unauthorised use of your network
• Network or data extortion / blackmail (where insurable)
• Online media liability
• Regulatory investigations expenses

As an insurance broker, we represent clients to provide the best policies suited to their needs.

Speak with us to protect your business data with Cyber insurance.

Reimagining the Workplace in a Post-COVID World

The pandemic has changed the way we perceived work. Employees who worked from home have adjusted to new working habits, and many employers have now embraced virtual communication and flexibility.

Working from home removed the hassle of commuting and enabled employees to attend to personal matters easily. This provided greater balance between work and personal affairs.

At the same time, with social restrictions put in place since 2020, some are looking forward to social interaction post-COVID.  Offices meet social needs by providing an environment for employees to interact and collaborate physically.

COVID-19 made us embrace and adapt to new working norms, redefining our work cultures. Working from home could well remain as an option in the post-COVID world as part of hybrid work arrangements.

With new working arrangements and shifting employee needs, employers can look into revisiting existing employee benefits packages as well.

As an employer, g&m’s Work From Home Insurance can help to protect your employees with:

· Mental Health Support
· Ergonomic Cover
· Mobile Office Cover
· Domestic Perils Cover

Contact us now via the form below on how to support your employees.

As an employer in Singapore, some mandatory employee insurance is required by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), such as work injury compensation (WIC) insurance.  

Under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), employees can file a claim if they were injured in a work accident or suffered a disease due to work. Here’s what you need to know.

As a business owner, you are mandated to purchase WIC Insurance for certain employees. From 1st April 2021 onwards, all non-manual employees earning up to ,600 per month would require WIC insurance.

Next, the payout limits for Death, Total Permanent Incapacity, and Medical Expenses have also increased.

Also, employees on light duties due to work injuries will now also be compensated for their income loss based on their Average Monthly Earnings.

Will there be Overlaps if I purchase both WICA and FWMI?

While there are situations whereby both WICA and FWMI can cover, they are not substitutes for each other and having one doesn’t exempt you from needing the other. Each of them caters to different needs.

Unsure whether you fulfill MOM requirements for your employees?

Get advice on Mandatory Employee Insurance from our friendly experts today.

There are many different types of insurance coverage available for businesses – professional liability, work injury compensation, business interruption, and more. While it is crucial to have sufficient coverage to protect your company’s assets, it is also important for you to make sure you are not spending more than necessary on your insurance.

Here are 5 tips from us on how to reduce insurance premiums for your business:

You can ensure that you receive a more accurate premium rating by providing your insurer with as much underwriting information as possible. This would allow the insurer to properly assess the risks involved, and in turn provide you with a more competitive rate.

While we understand that many businesses would want to be sufficiently covered and protected against risks, not every class of insurance may be required for your business. We can help you to determine the types of coverage necessary for your business, to avoid over-insuring and only getting the insurance your company really needs.

Good housekeeping measures will ensure a lower risk of accidents happening in your workplace. Here are a few healthy workplace habits you can adopt:

i) Make sure that you have safety equipment provided for your employees.

E.g. helmets, boots, or gloves if necessary. Also consider warning signs for injury-prone environments like construction sites and factories.

ii) Keeping the floors and walkways clear of objects that might cause employees to trip and fall.

E.g. loose wires, boxes, uneven tiles and carpeting.

iii) Properly station all machinery at their respective locations. Also ensure all crates and boxes are safely stacked.

The best way to minimise the hidden costs of workplace injuries and related insurance costs is to prevent accidents from happening in the first place.

i) Analyze your workplace and operations – Evaluate your business from top to bottom and review your equipment as well as all workplace activities.

As part of your evaluation, talk to your employees to learn about their safety concerns, such as whether they feel adequate safety measures are in place.

Before adding new operations, equipment or facilities to your business, be sure to analyze them for risks as well.

ii) Mitigate hazards – Simply identifying and being aware of hazardous practices, equipment and infrastructure is not enough.

When hazards are identified, you should seek to remove or control them by replacing or fixing equipment, adding new safety measures or changing workplace operations.

At risk locations, firefighting equipment should be readily available. Ensure that there are fire drills and training on how to use these firefighting equipment so that employees will be prepared during a real fire. All employees should also be well-informed of the escape routes in the event of a fire.

iii) Implement training – Train your employees about workplace safety and how to identify hazards.

This can be done by including workplace safety training as part of employee onboarding, and by offering refresher training courses on a regular basis.

In addition to injury-prevention training, you may want to include first-aid training so that your workforce can respond effectively if an accident does occur.

You can also check if an employee has attended the following courses:

• Basic Industrial Safety and Health Course (BISH)
• Building Construction Supervisors Safety Course (BCSS) or Supervise Construction Work for WSH
• Construction Safety Orientation Course (General Trade) (CSOC)
• Safety Orientation Course (Metalworking) (MSOC) or Apply Workplace Safety and Health in Metal Work
• Shipyard Safety Instruction Course (General Trade) (SSIC)
• Shipyard Supervisors Safety Course (SSSC)

There are many advantages of working with an intermediary when it comes to general insurance –

i) We always act in the interest of our clients

ii) We will thoroughly review your existing coverage and provide advice accordingly

iii) When the need for claims arises, we will guide you through the entire claims process and follow up with insurers on all outstanding matters

iv) We are your first point of contact for all your insurance matters

There are an estimated 260,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore and together they account for 72% of all employment and contribute more than S0B to the economy (in 2018). SMEs are defined as companies with annual turnover of less than S0M or employs less than 200 workers.

Running a business is not without risks. Therefore, it is important for SMEs to understand the various business insurance to better protect our assets, liabilities and employees from the risks associated with operating a business.

Now as we start the new 2020 year, it is a good time for us as business owners to review if we have our business risks adequately covered. Let’s take a look at some of the SME insurance available that can help us manage the risks.

In running a business, one of the last things we want is a lawsuit filed against us due to our negligence in business practices. Negligence implies not taking proper action in regard to a reasonably foreseeable event; it has nothing to do with our intention. Public Liability Insurance protects our business financially from any claims that arise in relation to damage or injuries sustained by third parties and/or their property during our usual business activities. Most businesses will find public liability insurance relevant to them, especially those businesses that carry significantly higher risks. If our business involves any of the following, we should consider Public Liability Insurance:

• Manufacturing or repairs works
• Working in areas not owned by our business
• Regular visitors to our work premises
• Direct interactions with our customers
  

Not having enough Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance (which is also known as Professional Liability Insurance) can put our finances and even our business at risk, if we are running a business which involved providing advisory and consultancy services, eg. medical doctor, lawyer, financial adviser, business consultants etc.

This insurance protects a professional such as an accountant, solicitor, architect and engineer against his legal liability to pay damages to persons who have sustained financial loss arising from his own professional negligence or that of his employees in the conduct of the business. The insurance offers indemnity strictly on legal liability basis. The PI insurance also indemnifies him for defence cost and expenses incurred in respect of a claim.

It is highly recommended that SMEs should consider an all-risk property insurance policy which compensates the business in the event of losses or damages to our property (including goods-in-transit in Singapore) which arise due to perils which were not anticipated. Some of the coverages which are available under such insurance policy are business interruption due to burglary, fire, machinery breakdown, explosion etc. 

Employees are one of the most important assets to our businesses. Over 70% of 3.5 million Singaporeans are working in SMEs. Taking care of our employee’ well-being benefits the business. If employees are happy and well, they’re more productive and so the business thrives. Under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), it is mandatory to protect our employees against work accidents or illnesses for:

• All employees doing manual work, regardless of salary level
• All employees doing non-manual work, earning less than SGD1,600 a month (revised to SGD2,100 from 1st April 2020)
  

SMEs have the option to purchase Employees’ Benefits coverage for other employees or provide some of the following:

• Group Term Life Insurance: provides a lump sum benefit upon death; total & permanent disability; or upon diagnosis of a terminal illness.
• Group Critical Illness Insurance: provides a lump sum benefit upon diagnosis of any insured critical illnesses.
• Group Hospital & Surgical Insurance: reimburse eligible expenses incurred in the event employee is hospitalised.
• Group Personal Accident Insurance: provides a lump sum benefit upon death due to accident; total & permanent disability due to accident; or other losses due to accident as listed in the schedule of benefits.
• Group Disability Income Insurance: provides a fixed and regular benefit in the event an illness or accident suffered by an employee leaves him incapable of engaging in his own or any occupation.
• Group Out-Patient Insurance: provides reimbursement of outpatient expenses incurred in clinics.
• Group Dental Insurance: provides reimbursement of eligible dental expenses.

The above-mentioned 4 essential types of business insurance are important for us to consider if we are running a business. For more information, please approach your insurance broker for a discussion to provide your SME an adequate coverage against potential risks in business.

Need someone experienced in SME/Corporate insurance to assist you to find and decide on the  insurance plan your need? Feel free to reach out to us at corporate@gnm.com.sg