Insurance portability is the ability to leave a company insurance scheme but still retain your insurance benefits, keeping the same cover and the same conditions.
In other words, it allows for the freedom to leave a business but still keep a hold of nearly all the same advantages afforded by the wellness insurance package.
This makes it valuable to your employees: but it’s also valuable for your business. Here’s why and how:
Company insurance schemes are often better than individual schemes. Your employees can get lower premiums, better conditions and more broad cover, just to name a few advantages, as well as avoiding the rigmarole of setting up an individual policy. People want to be able to take these advantages with them if they leave your business, particularly if you have some additions that are difficult to find in the individual sphere.
People want to be able to take these advantages with them if they leave your business.
One good example is the pre-existing conditions waiver that many wellness insurance packages include (if you have the required number of employees in the scheme). The rise of heart problems, diabetes, cancer and mental health issues have increased premiums, and an aging workforce is finding it harder and harder to cover their expenses in later life.
With a pre-existing conditions waiver, they no longer have to worry about past issues affecting their claims — and if you offer a portable policy, they can take this with them if they leave or retire.
What about the case for your business? What value does portability bring?
At first glance, portability doesn’t seem like it would be good for your company. After all, it makes it easier for people to leave.
But here’s the reality: company loyalty as we know it is long gone. Almost half of the current generation of young workers only plan to stick around at their current employer for two years or less (though that job-hopping fever is starting to cool in recent years). Meanwhile, the older, experienced generation are swiftly reaching retirement and want to avoid the increased costs of insurance after they hang up the towel. People want freedom, they want flexibility, they want stability, and they are looking for those companies that are willing to offer it to them — simply employing people isn’t enough any more.
People want freedom, they want flexibility, they want stability, and they are looking for those companies that are willing to offer it to them.
Think of it this way: you are using your wellness program and its associated insurance benefits to help in your recruitment and your staff retention. You are trying to offer something that your competitors can’t, beyond just a bigger paycheque. But as more and more catch on to the value of a wellness insurance package, it is becoming harder and harder to differentiate yourself in this sphere as well.
That’s where portability comes in. It is an attractive feature to the transient workforce of the future; if you offer it, you’re more likely to attract the best and the brightest. Which would you prefer: having the best in your industry for two years, or not having them at all?
That is the choice you are faced with when it comes to portability. You need to give your workers what they want, or you might miss out on some great talent.
All you need to do is speak with your insurance advisor and ensure that it is included in your plan. The process involves a small amount of paperwork, but nearly every detail will be handled by your insurance advisor.
Portability is valuable to your employees, and that makes it valuable to you. By offering it, you are providing something that is difficult to find outside of a corporate wellness insurance package, and attracting the best in the business — the younger generation for the flexibility, and the older generations for the stability.
Invest in portability, and you’ll be investing in the effectiveness of your wellness program.
To find out more about your wellness program (and making the most of it), download our free guide below.