To help form part of a plan for tomorrow, today’s young workers need a health insurance strategy to take care of their current and future healthcare needs. That’s vital to you as a business owner so that you can:
- Manage your benefits expense
- Successfully recruit and attract key talent
- Increase talent retention and employee satisfaction
- Improve productivity and the health and well-being of your employees
Today’s smart business owners are asking themselves “How do we solve a problem like Millennials and Gen-Zs?” The ones who are really smart do so by asking the workers themselves what they want to see in workplace benefits packages as they move forward. The answers that come from the workers themselves can be surprising.
You might assume health insurance is only for your older workers
As it turns out, that’s not true. Younger workers understand the importance of ongoing healthcare just as well as their older counterparts. In fact, some of them may have already seen firsthand what it means to go without coverage as their own parents have faced the prospect of loss of benefits and underemployment.
Younger workers are most interested in benefits that empower them to make better preventative choices to maintain their own health. Popular items include access to virtual healthcare, fitness support and apps to manage claim payments. There is also a great deal of interest in Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to manage mental health issues at times of high stress.
Millennial and Gen Z Health Insurance
Meeting the changing needs of the next generation of workers may be one of the greatest challenges as an employer. Not too long ago, a traditional off-the-shelf offering of health, dental and vision care coverage was enough to satisfy workforce needs.
Your younger workforce may place less value on group health benefits than the generations before. However, you can’t afford to alienate older workers by drastically altering their approach to benefits.
There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach anymore. Younger people tend to focus on preventative measures, while older workers may be keen to hang on to benefits that allow coverage for a pre-existing health condition.
But are their needs really different? Let’s focus on each demographic.
Millennials
The oldest members of the Millennial generation are now on the cusp of age 40. They’re buying homes, finally starting families and settling into the stable jobs you can offer.
Maybe it is time to shift your thinking from ‘they are different than older workers’, because they are at a turning point and in fact facing middle age. They want all the same benefits the baby boom generation expected a decade ago.
Having health benefits for themselves, their spouse and their children is vitally important.
Gen-Z
Born in the late ‘90’s and early 2000’s, these individuals are about to take over the workforce. As the most digital generation of all time they are no longer covered under their parents’ health benefits plan.
Next to finding success in the job you can offer, mental health is the top concern for Gen-Z so a friendly benefits package should have easy-to-access behavioral and mental health coverage. They also expect their health benefits to be digital, too with features like video chatting with a doctor.
Gen Z will ask friends, family members, and even strangers online about health insurance, and with student loans and high housing costs, they consider their budget closely. It also means they are especially sensitive to the risk of unexpected healthcare costs.
Offer an innovative small group option
When you’re a small business owner, your time is valuable to implementing a sound health benefits strategy effectively is important.
To simplify the selection and reduce the cost of a traditional group benefits package, you can consider GMS Group Advantage, a health and dental plan specifically designed and attractively priced for small businesses with 3 to 10 employees.
Your coverage can be as comprehensive and affordable as you like – simply choose the health and/or dental plan that best suits your needs and calculate your monthly premium. No need to wait for a quote! Best of all, Group Advantage plans are designed with premium stability in mind, which means you won’t see a big premium hike when your plan renews.
Choose from Silver, Gold and Platinum health plans to cover health, vision and prescription drugs and add on dental care for services ranging from routine and basic, to major procedures and orthodontic services.
Every plan includes the Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP). Your employees can go online for interactive tools, health and wellness assessments, child and elder care locators and personalized content and education. For even more support, employees and their family members are offered confidential counselling when they face difficulties and lifestyle coaching to help them with day-to-day challenges. GMS wants to help you help your employees to take care of their mental and physical health.
Or shift to informing your team about individual health insurance
You can make a significant shift by offering your employees access to a variety of health insurance benefits. Many employees just starting out have never had company health insurance benefits.
Thankfully, individual health and dental insurance plans are available to help provide some cost certainty. Careful insurance planning can help provide them with a solid foundation for future costs.
Of all the challenges that lie ahead, when you are young the potential problems with your health, or the health of the family you don’t even have yet, can be a difficult concept to visualize. The reality is that accidents and illness can strike anytime, at any age, and cost hundreds or thousands of dollars in unexpected out of pocket healthcare costs.
Your Millennial and Gen Z employees see health and wellbeing as part of a larger complex of factors that includes prevention, exercise, nutrition, and mental health. They’re also more receptive to emerging services, such as virtual care, online medical appointment scheduling, referrals and prescription delivery. And, since millennials don’t have their parents’ unquestioning respect for standard medicine, they’re also more receptive to alternative therapies such as massage, acupuncture and naturopathy.
That’s where individual health insurance can help. Individual health insurance plans provide employees supplemental coverage options for everyday health needs and medical emergencies by covering a wide variety of services, such as massage and acupuncture, so they can afford treatment that helps them feel their best. Employees can add prescription drug or dental benefits to complete their coverage. Individual health insurance can be the core of their healthcare protection, or be used to enhance their group health plan with the features they want most.
Having health insurance is an important part of an overall wellness plan. At SBIS we have access to almost 50 different plans from many major insurance companies like Manulife, Greenshield Canada and GMS – so we can give your employees the best chance to find a plan that suits their needs and budget. And with many guaranteed acceptance options and no medical questions, enrolling is seamless and hassle-free.
Want to talk strategy? Give us a call.
Every savvy business person knows that the best way to protect your interests is to surround yourself with a team of qualified advisors. A doctor, a lawyer and a financial advisor are professionals who can help protect your future from a number of pitfalls. We also recommend adding us as the insurance broker to that dream team.
At SBIS we are ready to help you get a policy that works for your small business needs and budget, your staff’s individual needs and can work with you over the years to ensure that your entire team’s coverage continues to keep up as your needs and your financial circumstances change.
This is an extra service that you, as an HR representative, can offer your employees. We can help you and your employees at no cost to you.
There are no contracts to sign or administrative tasks for you to undertake. Let us find the right individual health and dental insurance for your employees’ needs and budgets…at no cost to you!
We go the extra mile so you don’t have to.
Many of our plans guarantee coverage with no medical questionnaire, giving your employees the flexibility to choose based on their budget and needs.
If you’re ready to start making a plan for the future, contact us today. We can provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision about your health and dental insurance needs.
