Zurich launches FlexiCare Group Medical Insurance Plan to help Companies Retain Talents

Aug 05, 2015 10:59 JST

Source: Zurich Insurance Group

HONG KONG, Aug 05, 2015 - (ACN Newswire) - Zurich, one of the world's leading insurance companies, announced the launch of Zurich FlexiCare Group Medical Insurance Plan ("FlexiCare"), the first of its kind that employees can choose their own medical coverage and redeem different wellness items. It is a competitively priced group medical plan designed specifically to help employers, especially SMEs with limited resources toretain talents, which can be managed by using "Zurich HK" App at the fingertips.

In December 2014, Zurich appointed an independent research agency, GFK, to conduct a research surveying a total of 813 SME employers and employees (501 employees and 312 employers) with the following objectives:
- To understand how to enhance enterprise profitability
- To undestand mutual expectation between Employers & Employees

The survey revealed the below findings:

Key findings

- 64% of employers and 71% of employees consider loyal employees the key driver of business growth.

- The market research shows that 62% of employer are "satisfactory" to "very satisfactory" towards their employee, which means the satisfaction level of employers towards employees scores 62, while the 55% of employees either "have sense of belonging" to "have very strong sense of belonging" towards their employer, which means sense of belonging of employees towards the company scores 55. The rapport index calculated from the gap is 7, which reveals that the satisfaction level between Hong Kong employers and employees towards each other has certain degree of disparity, with space for improvement for relationships between both sides. (The lower the index, the smaller the difference between the satisfaction level of employee and employer towards each other, hence more favourable)

- Group insurance (61%) is the most widely-adopted employee benefit other than any monetary rewards (95%), especially the group medical insurance, which can protect employees' health and boost their productivity as well as loyalty level.

- The significance of group medical insurance can be explained by the high incidence of diseases, and employees are inclined to deferring their medical treatment due to the lack of group medical insurance;
-- In the past one year, 85% of employees have got some kind of disease,78% of them have communicable diseases (e.g. Cold, Flu, Pink Eye, etc.), 53% of them have deferred treatment and 73% of them expected on-going illness;
-- In past 12 months, there was an average number of 4.7 illnesses with 3.2 out-patient visits and 2.33 days of sick leaves taken per employee.
-- The expected increase in outpaitent medical expenses (17%) exceeds the expected salary increment (5%).

- Compared with those without group medical insurance, employees with group medical benefit have higher sense of belonging (63% vs. 43%) and generally stay 1.6 years longer (7 years vs. 5.4 years) and are less likely to defer treatment (46% vs. 65%). Eventually a more favourable rapport index is resulted as well (1 vs 19), which can in turn brings improvement in company's productivity.

The research shows out that 53% of employees are not satisfied with existing group medical insurance and 86% of employees expect to have group insurance with more flexibility to accommodate their personal medical needs. The existing group insurance in the market cannot fully meet their needs.

Nowadays, employers are faced with three major challenges, namely heavy administrative burdens, difficulty in recruiting and retaining talent and budget constraint.

Responding to the results of the survey, Zurich's FlexiCare offers a scheme which is budget-friendly with multiple and flexible choices of benefits and extra bonus.

"Companies are challenged with high staff turnover rate that may jeopardize business growth. FlexiCare is tailor-made to help companies to increase the staff loyalty and ultimately to increase profitability and overcome challenges," said Ms. Elaine Chan, Senior Head of Medical Division of Zurich's General Insurance business in Hong Kong.

The distinct features of Zurich's FlexiCare include:
Six flexible benefit options:
- Hospitalization and day care treatment benefit
- Critical illness benefit
- Hospital cash benefit
- Outpatient benefit
- Dental benefit
- Personal accident benefit.

A wide range of wellness options:
- Medical check-up
- Vaccinations
- *Employees can even share their wellness credit points with their family members under dependent coverage.

Three simple steps for employers to join FlexiCare:
- First, decide a budget.
- Second, choose a la carte or set menu mode.
- Third, set a default plan for employees.

Extra bonus:
- Preferential offers: Generous special discounts on selected general insurance products and discounts on a range of items offered by different merchants.
- Conversion privilege: FlexiCare member can convert the benefit chosen under the existing plan to Zurich's designated insurance plan after leaving or retiring from the company before the age of 65, without undergoing further underwriting process.
- Zurich Campus: Exclusive summer internships opportunities are offered to children of FlexiCare members during their undergraduate studies.
- Health Garden: Health Garden events are held by Zurich annually for clients with more than 300 employees, which include informative health seminars and preferential merchant offers.

"ZurichHK" App made simple!

FlexiCare members can manage their insurance at their fingertip simply by using "ZurichHK" App, including selecting benefits, checking benefit schedule, making claim enquiries and doctors search.

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With more than 55,000 employees, it provides a wide range of general insurance and life insurance products and services. Zurich's customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, including multinational corporations, in more than 170 countries. The Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872. The holding company, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information about Zurich is available at www.zurich.com.

Zurich's presence in Hong Kong dates back to 1961. In Hong Kong, Zurich offers a full range of flexible general insurance and life insurance products and solutions for individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized companies, as well as large corporate customers, catering to their insurance, protection and investment needs. Zurich was also awarded the 10 Year Plus Caring Company Logo for 2013/2014 by the Hong Kong Council of Social to acknowledge its commitment in "Caring for our Community", "Caring for our Employees" and "Caring for our Environment" over the past years.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Jovian Communications
Miss Angel Yeung
Direct: (852) 2581 0168
Fax: (852) 2854 2012
Email: zurich@joviancomm.com

Zurich Employer ? Employee Rapport Index Survey Fact sheet
In December 2014, Zurich appointed an independent research agency, GFK, to conduct a research surveying a total of 813 SME employers and employees (501 employees and 312 employers) with the following objectives:
- To understand how to enhance enterprise profitability
- To undestand mutual expectation between Employers & Employees

1. Employers and employees agree having loyal employees is the key driver of business growth.

SME Profit Driver	        Total (%)  Employer (%)	Employee (%)
Loyal employees	                68.51	   63.78	71.46
Favorable economic environment	59.41	   58.01	60.28
Considerate customer services	47.85	   48.40	47.50
Effective marketing	        46.13	   42.31	48.50
Unique product	                42.44	   46.47	39.92
High price competitiveness	35.67	   41.03	32.34

2. Group medical insurance can significantly improve employee loyalty. Employees with group medical insurance are more willing to stay in the company longer. A more favourable rapport index is resulted as well.

Expected years to 
stay in company          Total	  With Group Medical	Without Group Medical
Mean (number of years)	 6.40	  7.00	                5.40
Difference (years)		                    1.6

Employer-employee 
rapport index	       Total (%)  With Group Medical	Without Group Medical
Employees' loyalty 
towards employers	55	  63	                43
Employer satisfaction 
towards employees	62	  62	                62
Rapport Index	        7	  1	                19
Difference in 
rapport index	        /	                    18

(Rapport index is the gap between the satisfaction level of employee and employer towards each other. The lower the index, the smaller the discrepancy between their satisfaction level towards each other and hence more favourable)

3. Significance of group medical insurance can be explained by the high incidence of diseases. Employees are inclined to deferring their medical treatment

Employee Health Condition	Incidence (%)	Has deferred treatment (%)
Any diseases	                85.43	        53.00
Communicable diseases	        78.04	        75.00
Common diseases	                34.73	        55.00
Injuries and strains	        12.77	        75.00
Period pain	                3.79
Any organ diseases	        2.59
Mental and psychological 
disorders	                0.80
None	                        14.57

4. In past 12 months, the average number of illnesses per employee is 4.70, the average number of out-patient visit per employee is 3.20 and the average number of sick leave taken per employees is 2.33.

Past 12 months	                Average number 
Illnesses per employee	        4.70
Out-patient visit	        3.20 
Sick leave taken (no. of day)	2.33

5. Group medical can help enhance business performance by lowering employees' tendency of deferring treatment, which means to avoid their productivity loss and improve their sense of belonging.

                Have any    Deferred   Sense of    Expected     Wish for self-
                illnesses   Treatment  belonging   years to stay  decided  
                in P12M      (%)        (%)        in company     company 
                 (%)                               (years)        medical plan
                                                                  (%)
With Group      85.95	    46.00	63.40	    7.00	  89.54
Medical

Without Group   84.62	    65.00	42.56	    5.40	  80.00
Medical	 
Difference	1.33	   -19.00	20.84	    1.60	  9.54

Useful Links: Downloading Press Kit: http://www.zurich.com.hk/product_preview/presskit.zip Watching Research Video: http://bcove.me/kurlmsya

Source: Zurich Insurance Group
Sectors: Daily Finance