Ellipse has welcomed Dame Carol Black's pledge to press government for the removal of tax hurdles that prevent companies taking out employee health and absence management services.
It noted the importance of such measures to help reduce sickness absence for businesses and urged government to prioritise smaller firms with any assistance.
The group risk provider also confirmed it expects to launch its own income protection and absence management product shortly.
Earlier this week, Dame Black revealed that the sickness absence review she is currently co-leading would again call on Treasury to "remove tax disincentives for employers" wishing to introduce health and wellbeing schemes.
In his response, John Ritchie, chief executive of Ellipse, said he was happy to see Dame Black renew her push to remove the tax barriers.
"It is important the government does as much as it can to support businesses, particularly smaller ones, in their efforts to reduce sickness absence and subsequent benefits claims, particularly in this tough economic climate.
"Having a robust and active absence management programme, supplemented by the necessary income and disability support, allows companies to minimise both the incidence and impact of illness in the workplace and ultimately improve the wellbeing of staff in the long term.
"That has to be worth investing in - the challenge is to convince employers that this is an investment they can and should make," he added.
And Ritchie confirmed the provider is planning to launch the third of its group risk products shortly while also giving Dame Black's work his full support.
"We hope to soon join the market with our own integrated income protection and absence management service, but without the right incentives and support in place the risk remains that employers persist in viewing these sorts of processes as more of a burden than a benefit.
"But formalising absence management processes is absolutely not a luxury, it's a must - and we wholeheartedly support Dame Black's efforts in demonstrating this and making it as easy as possible for employers to implement," he concluded.
