Growing numbers of small businesses in the UK are offering their employees private healthcare insurance. As employee perks go, private healthcare insurance can be costly for businesses. But the benefits more than outweigh the downsides. Indeed, even the smallest businesses could eventually see a return on their investment on private healthcare insurance.

What is Private Healthcare Insurance?

For small businesses, private healthcare insurance provides your employees with access to numerous private healthcare services.

What’s included in private healthcare insurance? It all depends on your insurer. Most insurers will allow you to tailor a policy to suit the specific needs of your sector and your people. But a good private healthcare insurance policy might include:

• Diagnostics – No more waiting months for an appointment! Your employees can get access to fast-track diagnostic services, either through dedicated round-the-clock helplines or through face-to-face consultations. 
• Treatment – Cover for hospital procedures and operations. Again, it’s fast-tracked and from independent providers, and the cover can include anything, from routine hospital procedures to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. Policies can also cover dentist, optician and chiropody appointments.
• Outpatient – Private healthcare insurance can also cover you or any member of your team should you need to see a specialist. Wherever you are and whatever you’re facing, you can get a fast-tracked appointment with a specialist located close to your home.
• Therapy – Private healthcare insurance can cover pretty much any type of therapy, whether that’s physiotherapy for joint and muscle pains, or private consultations for mental health issues.
• Health and Wellbeing – Some businesses offer gym memberships and other schemes as part of their private healthcare insurance. After all, prevention is always better than a cure, and few things are more effective than regular exercise at preventing serious illnesses from developing.

What Are the Benefits of Private Healthcare Insurance?

The amount you pay for your private healthcare insurance will depend on the size of your team, the sector you work in, and the specific type of cover you’d like to receive. Cover can be expensive. But once you see the business benefits of private healthcare insurance, you might agree that any expense is justified.

Private Healthcare as an Employee Perk

Private healthcare cover could help you to attract and retain the top talent your business needs to succeed. One study found that 48% of employees rank private health insurance as one of the most valued of all employee benefits. It demonstrates that you genuinely value your people, which is the sort of thing that might also make you stand out from your competitors.

The Impact of Private Healthcare on Employees

According to the Office of National Statistics, around 141.4 million working days are lost to injury or sickness in the UK each year. Every time an employee takes time off, your business loses money. And all this money can add up over the course of a year.

Private healthcare insurance can help to reduce the number of sick days your employees take. Diagnostic services mean that employees can get help long before conditions become serious problems, while fast-access to services mean they can get necessary treatment and return to work as soon as possible.

How Private Healthcare Can Increase Productivity

Private healthcare insurance can offer total peace of mind. Employees can rest assured that, should they ever need to, they can access top of the line medical services in no time at all. Meanwhile, instant access to therapy and mental health services can help them deal with stress, financial worries, and many other issues.

All of this can lead to overall happier employees, and studies show that happy employees can be around 12% more productive. 

Good for You, As Well as Your Team

Running a small business requires almost superhuman levels of commitment. Many small business owners get so invested in growth that they neglect their own health and wellbeing. This is going to cost you in the long-term.

If the person steering the ship ever falls ill, will your business be able to survive? And just as important: How can you possibly expect to make informed business decisions if you suffer from stress and burnout?

Get private healthcare insurance for your business, and both you and your employees can enjoy the same fast and easy access to healthcare. If any one member of the team is suffering, then the whole business will suffer as a result. Private healthcare insurance guarantees that your business can safeguard its single most vital asset: Its people.