Running a business entails responsibilities, the primary of which are generating revenue and earning a profit. However, taking care of employees and ensuring their welfare are other vital functions of operating and managing a business.
One of the ways you can do this is by providing employee insurance. If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to talk to insurance companies in Saudi Arabia to discuss your business insurance options.
Why is employee insurance a key company benefit?
How Employee Insurance Benefits Employers
When you provide your employees with insurance coverage, not only do you safeguard the welfare of your precious human resources but also benefit your business.
1. Compliance That Protects Your Bottom Line
Insurance is compulsory in some territories. Saudi Arabia, for instance, requires private-sector employers to provide their employees with health insurance.
If you operate in a country that compels employers to provide employees with insurance, complying is the only way to avoid hefty penalties.
In Saudi Arabia, for instance, companies with more than 51 employees can get fined up to SAR 20,000 for every uninsured employee. If you have 100 employees without company-provided health insurance, that equates to a SAR 2,000,000 (approximately $532,000) of non-compliance fines you’ll need to declare on your financial statements.
2. The Benefit That Boosts Employee Productivity and Morale
An employee constantly worrying about how they’ll pay for the cost of an unexpected hospital visit or work-related (or non-work-related) injuries cannot be at ease. They’re distracted, unable to focus on their jobs, and incapable of fully committing to your company. Instead, they spend considerable time and energy thinking up ways to protect themselves, their income, and their families in case the unthinkable happens.
By giving employees insurance, you take these worries away. Since your employees can focus, they are more productive.
With health insurance in place, specifically, your employees can consult a doctor when they feel unwell. This leads to healthier employees, and healthy people make for productive employees.
As a bonus, insuring your employees demonstrates that you mean it when you say you value them and their contributions in the workplace. Employee insurance sends a clear message: “You’re important to us, and we have your back.” It’s a simple gesture with a ripple effect, building loyalty, improving morale, and reducing turnover.
3. Competitive Edge in Recruitment
Not only are your employees less likely to leave if you have employee insurance benefits. You’re also more likely to attract new talent.
Job seekers are picky—especially when talent pools shrink and the skills demand overtakes supply. Offering a solid insurance package—one with life insurance, medical insurance, accident insurance, and relevant benefits like educational assistance, savings, and retirement plans—can tilt the scales in your favor. When your prospective hires compare offers, they’ll realize how your benefits stand out.
Essential Employee Insurance Types
There are various types of insurance policies, but try to provide at least the following to your employees:
1. Health Insurance
Health insurance covers your employee’s medical expenses, including doctor’s fees, hospital accommodation, diagnostic and surgical procedures, and other medical expenses related to covered medical conditions.
Why get it: Not only is health insurance typically compulsory, but most employees expect their employers to provide it.
Don’t settle for bare-bones coverage. Consider including hospitalization support, maternity benefits, outpatient consults, diagnostic procedures, and emergency care, at least. Additionally, you should aim for a higher benefits limit.
Do you have a younger workforce? Consider wellness programs and preventive care options. Teams with families? Provide comprehensive and generous medical insurance coverage to your employees’ dependents, too. Better yet, aim for something that exceeds minimum coverage requirements and is tailored to real-world needs.
2. Life Insurance
Life insurance pays a death benefit if the insured dies while the insurance policy is active. In the case of employee life insurance, the employee is insured, the company pays the premiums (with or without the employee partly contributing), and the employee’s family members are the designated beneficiaries.
Why get it: Life insurance takes a load of worry off employees’ minds. They know that if an accident or a sickness takes them away from their loved ones, there’s life insurance to help their family financially cope while trying to find their bearings.
Enterprises like to tell their employees they’re family. You cannot neglect life insurance if you’re serious about treating your employees like family members. It’s concrete proof you care and are looking out for your employees’ families, too.
3. Disability Insurance
Disability insurance pays a benefit if the insured loses mobility or the use of his limbs and other body parts while the insurance policy is active.
Why get it: For any employee performing a job that requires repetitive movements, manual labor, and working in hazardous environments, a disability insurance benefit can be reassuring.
For instance, someone employed at a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) piping solutions company and tasked with HDPE pipe welding faces general and specific work hazards every day. They’d be reassured to know they’ll be taken care of if a work accident renders them unable to work again, at least in the same capacity as before.
4. Accident Coverage
Accident insurance pays a benefit if the employee meets an accident. Typically, accident insurance coverage can be added as a rider to life insurance policies.
Why get it: Accidents don’t follow schedules. A slip during a site inspection or a mishap during welding could lead to costly medical bills and recovery time. Accident insurance helps cover those unexpected expenses, from hospital stays to rehabilitation services.
5. Mental Health Care
Mental health coverage can be included in health insurance plans.
Why get it: Stress is sneaky. It creeps into the workplace, slowing productivity and chipping away at morale. Whether it’s tight deadlines, family pressures, or other stressors, employees need support if their worries become unbearable. If your insurance benefits can cover therapy, counseling, and mental health workshops, that would be great.
Provide Employee Insurance
Your employees are critical to your business’s health.
If you want them to stay, attract more talent, and protect yourself from compliance penalties, provide employee insurance.
At the very least, consider offering employees the essential types of insurance.