Group Insurance Schemes for SMEs
Small and medium scale enterprises may have a small work setup, but when it comes to keeping the employees happy, they can achieve wonders. Often experts in their respective fields, SMEs may find loopholes at the administrative end that can be resolved by taking different types of group insurance policies. Such policies are beneficial for the employers and the employees both, as the coverage increases while the amount paid for them gets shared.
India had around 63 million SMEs by the year 2019, employing 40 percent of the country’s workforce approximately. With so many informal workers employed in this sector, it is even more important to make them an important and valued part of the system by providing them exclusive coverage under group insurance plans.
An SME with even as small as 5 employees can go for different group insurance schemes that can make the workforce feel safe and secure in the work environment.
Group medical insurance
The group medical insurance policy provides many benefits that employees cannot avail on an individual basis, such as inclusion of pre-existing diseases. Under group medical insurance schemes, there is no waiting period for certain diseases to be covered, and the coverage for maternity is also provided on an immediate basis. A customized insurance coverage can be enjoyed only with the group medical insurance scheme, making the employees of SMEs feel more secure when it comes to health. Further, the cost of such corporate medical insurance plans is quite low for any SME, and can be faced without any stress.
Group term life insurance
SMEs can retain their key employees by providing them with coverage under group term life insurance that also includes the wellbeing of their family members. Small companies may have a limited budget but can do extensive market research to figure out a group term life insurance that can best serve the responsibilities of their employees even if they die due to an accident during their course of employment. The employee term life insurance cover can also play a major role in creating a pool of funds to meet the expenses for gratuity and superannuation plans. Such plans are valuable for long-term retention of key employees, and can be easily formalized with group insurance.
Group personal accident insurance
Many group personal accident insurance policies cover not only accidental death, but also the medical expenses along with partial and total disabilities. This group insurance policy helps employees and their families by sharing a major part of the financial burden in case of any accident during the course of employment. In the cases of such accidents in which the employees are hospitalized, only a group personal accident insurance can help in meeting the expenses, such as ambulance expenses, doctor’s fee and treatment charges.
Workers compensation insurance
SMEs where employees more prone to accidents and physical injuries, need to have workman compensation insurance under the Workman Compensation Act 1923. In manufacturing and construction units where even as few as 20 workers are employed, the worker’s compensation insurance is mandatory to cover occupational diseases, accidents and injuries during the course of employment. Partial and complete disablement along with death at the workplace is also covered under this group insurance plan.
Public liability insurance
Accidents and injuries come without warning in many cases, and this may force an SME to pay a hefty amount as compensation. Public liability insurance is one of those insurance plans that are beneficial for the employers, especially in the case of SMEs. As small and medium enterprises work with budget constraints, they need public liability insurance to face the challenges of liability claims. Claims can be made by clients or public against financial loss, property damage or physical injury because of any product or service.
With SMEs becoming more employee-centric, the need for group insurance policies is felt even more. Such policies play a major role in attracting new talents, while retaining the existing ones for long. A preferred solution for the high attrition rate of employees is group insurance plans, which make employees enjoy default benefits of being a part of an enterprise.
