The importance of employee benefits cover

The last two years have really helped people come to terms with the fact that anyone can get sick at anytime, whether it's COVID, whether it's a critical illness, one does not know when it's going to come and who it's going to affect. This also highlights the importance of having critical illness cover.

We caught up with Elna van Wyk, head of group disability and underwriting at Momentum Corporate to speak to her about the rise in critical illnesses and the impact and cost, on not only the person with the illness, but also the company that may employ that person.

A few of the points discussed are:

The rise in critical illnesses, like cancer, which can lead to an increase in disability that inevitably impacts on business productivity and disrupts workspaces;
The costs associated with treatment for cancer which continue to rise and include many non-medical or lifestyle expenses;
Employers’ additional direct and indirect expenses in terms of filling the productivity gap, which includes hiring temporary staff and missing out on scarce skills and experience when employees are on disability leave due to cancer.