“At the end of the day, having Equipsme makes us a more attractive workplace. To be competitive and to retain and attract top talent our benefits package has got to be up to scratch. Now it is.”
Cheltenham based firm TBS Engineering, a global engineering company that designs, develops and manufactures leading edge solutions for the energy storage industry, has extended its benefits to provide business health insurance from Equipsme for all its staff.
It means more than 120 people throughout the business have access to a 24/7 GP service, health advice line, physio sessions, and private diagnosis and treatment.
Jon Curtis, Group Finance Director at TBS Engineering, explains: “When we were reviewing our benefits package, health insurance was top of the list. We’ve always had benefits like an excellent pension plan and generous death-in-service coverage, but those don’t offer much day-to-day value while you’re alive and working.
“With the NHS in the state it is, demand for health benefits is going up, and we wanted to respond to that. If we could re-jig the budget and put it into an affordable health insurance plan that could benefit everyone – what would that look like?”
The middle ground
Ian Atkinson, Health & Risk Employee Benefits Senior Consultant at Aon, TBS’s benefits adviser, introduced the firm to Equipsme. He explains: “Equipsme is unique in the market, because it’s the middle ground between conventional PMI and cash plans. We’re finding it to be a great solution for businesses like TBS Engineering who want to be able to cover the entire workforce. We were delighted to be able to introduce them, work together on a roll-out plan to get the right cover in place - and support people to understand the policy and how to use it.”
“Basically, I describe Equipsme as PMI without cancer treatment,” Jon adds. “That’s why it’s so cost effective. We know, unfortunately from experience, that the NHS is still very good at dealing with cancer once someone gets a diagnosis. And Equipsme helps them get to that point. So we were really happy with it as a happy medium – because the price point has allowed us to open up real, practical and usable health benefits to everyone.”
Amongst its other features, Equipsme also allows members to upgrade their cover, or add a partner and children.
Jon continues: “It’s great to have been that conduit to let people pick and pay for their own cover, and cover their families for a really low cost – hundreds of pounds less than if they bought an individual or family policy themselves.
“So far everyone’s been really happy with the benefits and with the service they’ve received - and from an employer perspective we’ve been really happy, too. It’s been incredibly easy to set up, literally just providing a list of employees with no medical questionnaires or forms. The Equipsme team came out to deliver lunch and learn sessions with staff, supported us with all the communications - and are on the other end of the phone as and when we need them.”
A more attractive workplace
TBS Engineering is part of multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and has one of the most experienced teams in the sector worldwide.
Jon continues: “We’re a really small big company but we punch above our weight, and we have to be able to compete on a global market with competitors who are much bigger than us on paper. At the end of the day, having Equipsme makes us a more attractive workplace. To be competitive and to retain and attract top talent our benefits package has got to be up to scratch. Now it is.
“Of course it’s also in our best interests to look after our people, because helping people get better faster means they’re getting back to work faster - and we’ll be tracking the impact of Equipsme on things like sickness absence rates and staff engagement as we move forwards.
“For our part, we’re confident there isn’t anything else like Equipsme out there, in terms of price levels, cover levels and service levels. It’s the perfect blend, and we’d definitely back Aon up in recommending it to other businesses.”
