If an employee is satisfied in their working environment, they're ‘much more likely to not go absent in the first place', according to Legal & General employer service director Glenn Laming.
"As someone who is involved in products and services I think you can sometimes lose sight of just how important employee satisfaction in the workplace is," said Laming speaking at the Pensions and Benefits Show 2013.
"If people like going to work, if they've got a good manager, if they've got a flexible working environment, they're much more likely not to go absent in the first place."
Laming explained how group income protection products to help manage sickness absence had often been traditionally viewed as a benefit for more senior staff and a more expensive product that was offered to more senior staff.
"I think people still view income protection still as something that does nothing more than provide an income to those who are unable to work for a period of time. That view I believe is extremely outdated, there is much more now that income protection offers to employers and indeed the employees covered by the schemes," Laming commented.
With early intervention and notification periods, Laming said he had witnessed a significant drop in how long employees were off absent. Here he said vocational rehabilitation should go arm in arm in terms of looking at the benefits provided.
"Very clearly we can identify that where notification is received early, the average duration of absence is much shorter, so if you currently manage an IP scheme, there is a challenge, to be saying, could you be getting more from your policy?" he asked.
"If we look at anxiety and depression, work-related stress element, three quarters referred early to us are returning to work long before that income protection kicks in. So the view of income protection as a strong absence intervention tool is one that we can say with pride."
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