“The dynamics between employer and employee are forever changing; if anything the pandemic showed us how fragile this relationship can be. We went from the great resignation to the great recession in a matter of two years and the greatest lesson for anyone to take here is that organisations cannot neglect employee health and wellbeing.
Why you may ask? The lines between the workplace and personal space are dwindling. Employers today are not only responsible for an employee’s physical wellbeing, but also their mental health. It is due to the blurred boundaries between work and personal lives that companies have to adopt what you call ‘soft motivators’ to attract and retain employees. After all, we spend 8-10 hours a day working. That means roughly 50 hours a week and almost 3000 hours a year!
What have we seen changing? With the above context, just workplace wellbeing initiatives that tick off boxes are not enough. The definition of care at work is translating from being merely on paper to people leaders and companies demonstrating it.
Plum itself has the following initiatives for our employees:
· An insurance policy with 1L maternity benefits, setting the right benchmark for organizations to encourage more women at work
· Covers for infertility including IVF and surrogacy as workplace stress is causing new lifestyle conditions
· Parental covers
· Mental health counselling
· Teleconsultations
· Vision and dental checkups
· Plum’s proprietary wellness sessions
· Covers for LGBTQ+ and live-in partners. This is a small but pivotal step towards workplace inclusivity.
Similarly, we are counseling all of our customers to create new ‘benchmarks for benefits’ for their employees and we have seen organizations like Meesho, Unacademy, Fi, DarwinBox and many more go that extra mile when it comes to employee wellbeing. Afterall, group health insurance is no longer just a to-do, it is a window to holistic health that plays a key role in attracting and retaining employees. “
