Most older workers do not benefit from employer-provided insurance products, according to a report from Canada Life.
The provider’s survey of 600 employers and more than 3,200 members of the UK public for its Building longevity-ready workplaces in the UK report found more than half (58%) of those aged 45-54 and two thirds (66%) of those aged 55-64 do not have employer-provided insurance products.
This was despite employees ranking health insurance (67%), income protection (63%) and life insurance (55%) as the three highest valued benefits behind salary, annual leave, pension contributions and flexible working.
Just four in 10 (38%) employers regarded employee health and wellbeing as a high priority, and businesses did not typically recognise the increasing value that employees place in benefits such as critical illness cover and income protection as they move through their working lives.
However, more than two thirds (68%) of employers recognise that they have an increasingly important role in providing services and benefits that help enable people to stay in work for longer.
The report found while more than four fifths (83%) of employers agreed longer working lives were inevitable as life expectancy rises, just one in four (25%) of individuals aged 65 or over who were still working do so because it was a financial necessity versus approximately four in 10 (42%) who were motivated to stay mentally and physically active.
The report also found half of UK employers (50%) believed the shape of work will need to change in the future, but only one in eight (12%) employers had a longevity strategy in place
More than two thirds (68%) of employers recognised that they have an increasingly important role in providing services and benefits that help enable people to stay in work for longer
However, three-quarters (73%) of UK employers also thought the government will need to take a more active role in helping people work for longer too.
Lindsey Rix-Broom, incoming CEO Europe, Great-West Lifeco and CEO Canada Life UK, (pictured) said: “It is clear from our research that building longevity-ready workplaces requires collaboration and meaningful dialogue between individuals, employers, advisers and policymakers.
“Getting this right is not only a practical necessity – it is a moral imperative and a pathway to unlocking the growth and potential of the UK’s workforce and, by extension, the wider economy.”