Employers are increasingly exploring ways of getting more bang for their bucks from existing health and wellbeing budgets.
This is according to Carlos Jaureguizar, CEO of Bupa Global, India and UK (pictured centre), who was participating in a panel debate coinciding with the launch of the insurer’s latest wellbeing index.
At the event held at the London Olympic Stadium last week, Jaureguizar told delegates employers are striking a balance between short and long term decisions against increasing economic pressures.
“We have seen cases where those employers that are able to adapt are maybe using the same budget to buy and bring in different solutions to the employees that are ad-hoc and more adapted to the needs of the employees,” Jaureguizar explained.
Jaureguizar maintained that the outcome is “great” for these employers and cited the example of a big bank who is making greater use of their health assessment capacity to identify employees at more risk of poor health than their peers and is tailoring solutions accordingly.
“That’s only one example,” Jaureguizar continued.
“We have seen examples where people have had trouble accessing primary care, so we can give them access to primary care in 24 hours and this reduces the impact of not accessing help,” he continued.
“The reality is companies are struggling due to the economic situation and the key point is how do you take decisions in the short term that won’t impact the health of your employees in the long term?” Jaureguizar concluded.