Does your business feel the impact of an absent employee? When your team is small, it’s a real challenge to shift work responsibilities and plug holes in your processes due to an unexpected absence.

While employment is more than three per cent higher than it was at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, working hours are up by only 1.75 per cent due to increased levels of absenteeism, according to an Economic Insights report on Canada’s labour market by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce called In sickness and in “health”. That means employees are losing extra hours due to illness or family-related issues – putting stressors on your business performance.

Unplanned absences pose disruptions to production in labor-intensive settings, to customer service and to your business’ financial results. Solving absenteeism challenges and ensuring your employees are able to get to work on time and stay on track is paramount to success.

Your organization may not be able to predict absences or effectively respond to gaps, but you can take steps to ensure a strong and supportive employee health insurance plan is in place. For employees who are struggling with their health, insurance can provide the support they need to manage it more effectively, reducing their time away from work.

Absent Present

How health insurance helps you support employees

Physical illness and poor mental health are just some of the reasons why people might be unable to attend work. As an employer here are some of the ways offering health insurance coverage to employees can help these issues (and your business).

  • Prescription drugs so your employees do not have to pay out of pocket for medications, including those that help control their chronic conditions and decrease their suffering from stress
  • Dental care because dental pain can be distracting
  • Vision care to prevent or correct impairment and digital eye strain or identify more serious issues like cataracts and glaucoma that can cause vision loss
  • Extended health care including physiotherapy to help with tendonitis and post-surgery issues, eliminate nagging foot pain or help employees better cope with a chronic condition like arthritis or back injury
  • Coverage for Professional / Registered Therapists including individual, marriage and family therapy, or addiction counselling can help an employee think about their problems differently and give them ways to manage
  • Additional Plan “built-in” tools that can help employees learn new ways to deal with the expected and unexpected in life:
    • Mindfulness tools that help individuals connect with the moment instead of reliving past regrets or worrying about the future
    • Access to virtual care for secure medical consultations with friendly, knowledgeable clinicians on their mobile smartphone or tablet by text or video chat whenever and wherever they need it
    • Motivational programs to help them focus and achieve their health goals, including digital therapy
    • Access to recent articles on finding care, managing their health, and preventing illness
    • Easy-to-use search tools to help them find a doctor, health facility, or community support group in their area
    • Provincial health resource information
    • Trusted information on conditions and prescription drugs

Put health insurance to work to tackle your absenteeism problem

You can help employees access health benefits they need to better manage their physical and mental health hurdles by working to remove the barrier they may face of unplanned out-of-pocket health care costs.

But how do you choose the right health insurance for your team? That’s where SBIS can help. We offer you

  • Experience and proven expertise to provide the best health and dental insurance products for your needs
  • A process of choosing health insurance that is quick and easy; our representatives will work closely with you to identify the most appropriate product for your unique situation (because time is money)
  • Affordable health insurance programs that can work within your budget and specifications, including
    • Manulife health insurance plans including Flexcare®, FollowMe™ and Manulife Association program
    • Our exclusive Prism programs including Prism Continuum®, Prism Spectra® and Prism Precision® by Green Shield Canada
    • GMS health insurance plans, including Group Advantage health and dental plans specifically designed and attractively priced for small businesses with 3 to 10 employees, or GMS Personal Health Insurance and Replacement Health Insurance plans for individuals, if your company only has one or two employees who need coverage, or if you prefer to offer individual plans
  • Lifetime renewable coverage for every type of employee aged 18 and over, no matter what their occupation is.

Has your business grown beyond small group insurance? Our SBIS support will always grow with you. We have aligned up with multiple group insurance partners to provide competitive quotes for small, medium, and large employee groups.

Take control of absenteeism with health insurance now

At SBIS, we specialize in helping small business owners make the best possible decisions on what individual or group health insurance plan will work for best your employees. We’re ready to answer your questions. Just give us a call at 1-800-667-0429 Monday to Friday, 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. ET or go online to discover small business health insurance options for yourself.