22 GHP Q1 2023 and mental health concerns among the UK population, everincreasing NHS waiting times and oversubscribed GP services are having a huge impact across the country. As a result, a driving factor in Medicash’s recent success has been its focus on diversifying access to treatment by embracing the digital revolution in healthcare, much of which can be accessed remotely. In recent years, the company has expanded its digital and virtual offerings to include a range of apps and online services for its policyholders, covering everything from counselling sessions to skin cancer monitoring to physiotherapy treatment. Taking advantage of recent leaps in modern technology is a key element of Medicash’s approach to health plans, allowing employers to not just financially support their team’s health, but to facilitate access to treatment as quickly and easily as possible. With a new policy being sold every two minutes in 2022 by Medicash, the company are on track to break the half-a-million policyholder mark this year and see no signs of stagnation on the horizon. More companies than ever before are looking for innovative ways to win the recruitment ‘Battle for Talent’ that emerged in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly among the younger generation of professionals entering the talent pool seeking inclusive, wellbeing-focused employers. Between the post-pandemic focus on individual wellbeing and the impact of the ongoing cost of living crisis, the modern workplace is one where employees are valued and rewarded on a significantly more personal basis than ever before. By empowering employers to prioritise their workforce’s everyday health, Medicash is helping to drive this transformation, building healthier, happier workplaces across the UK. The world of work has undergone a dramatic shift in recent years. From pandemic lockdowns to inflation hikes, changes in the economic and social climate have had a radical impact on our approach to how, why, and where we work.These cultural shifts have rippled across the employee benefits industry, with our Best Healthcare Plan Provider 2023 winner, Medicash reporting a surge in interest for whole-of-workforce wellbeing solutions. We take a look at the reasons for this demand, and Medicash’s success in meeting it. In just three years, employees across the UK have seen themselves work both from the office and from home, with new technology and software, and through numerous national health and economic crises. There’s no wonder then that over threequarters of UK professionals report moderate-to-high levels of workplace stress – or that for the first time, in 2022 the WHO included ‘burnout’ as a recognised medical diagnosis within the International Classification of Diseases. These stressors have sparked a necessary change in workplace culture, one where employee health and wellbeing is as highly valued as salary and career progression to candidates. This increasing focus on a people-centred workplace has seen UK health plan provider Medicash experience a sharp rise in demand for its employee benefits, increasing its policy base by over 125,000 new policyholders in 2022 alone. Medicash’s health plans primarily allow policyholders to both cover the cost of everyday healthcare and increase their access to treatment. Amid the ongoing cultural shift in UK workplaces to create healthy, supportive environments, health plans such as these are becoming invaluable tools for employers in providing support for their workforce. In fact, according to the CIPD’s Health & Wellbeing at Work Report 2022, 21% of UK employers offered a health cash plan to all members of their workforce and this is increasing each year, with reasons such as lowering sickness absences, promoting inclusivity, and improving employee morale cited as the main drivers. Promoting inclusivity is key here – as private medical insurance can be relatively expensive for companies to fund, surveys have shown that many organisations only offer this benefit to certain levels of staff. Medicash health plans, by contrast, start from just 95p per employee per week, allowing companies to cover a far greater number of employees at a very modest cost. It’s for this reason that health cash plans like those offered by Medicash have long been touted as a whole-ofworkforce solution when it comes to healthcare benefits. Of course, there’s more to promoting the health of a workforce than just cost. In addition to the well-documented rise in stress Wellbeing for the Whole Workforce Oct22312 Company: Medicash Health Benefits Ltd Contact: Andy Abernethy Email: [email protected] Website: www.medicash.org 18
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