Representatives of over 60 corporate clients and intermediaries met in London in April at the Swiss Life Network and Unum Employee Benefits Conference 2010. With the focus on how employee benefits can foster employers’ business leadership, the event also showcased solutions and Network Partners from the UK, Brazil and Denmark.
The main theme of the event was to demonstrate how quality employee benefits can be used as a leadership instrument by corporations to position themselves as attractive high-performing employers. By implementing competitive employee benefits, companies gain trust and loyalty from their staff, leading in turn to improved company performance and higher cost-efficiency.
Employee benefits are actually employer benefits
Keynote speaker Margrit Schmid, CEO Corporate Solutions, Swiss Life, and Colin Fitzgerald, Director of National Accounts, Unum, noted that employee benefits play an ever more important role, and employers and employees alike are increasingly paying attention to benefits-related issues. They highlighted the challenges companies face in the current demographic and economic climate, and the heightened value that employees place on their benefits. It is therefore crucial for any employer with leadership ambitions to have an attractive benefit programme as part of its compensation package, since well-designed and efficiently sourced employee benefit plans result in a more motivated and productive workforce, and could therefore even be referred to as employer benefits.
New expatriate solution – faster service, superior product
Swiss Life’s new modular solution for expatriates, Swiss Life Expat Select, was also a key topic. This unique one-stop-shop solution offers life, disability, pension and health coverages for expatriates working for multinational companies. The real added value comes through simplified and coordinated sales, underwriting and administration processes for these multiple coverages, which avoid unnecessary duplication of information and help to deliver a faster service and superior product to both employers and expatriates.
Unum and Swiss Life – a close added-value relationship
Describing the solid relationship between Unum and Swiss Life, Unum Customer Solutions Director Glenn Thompson commented "By partnering with Swiss Life and taking advantage of its extensive global network, we have the opportunity to extend our financial protection products to cover employees working outside the UK." Further sessions covered Unum product improvements, the value proposition for pooling clients, and why non-pooled schemes can still benefit from being part of a wider pooling relationship.
Scandinavia and Brazil in focus
‘Think Nordic’ presentations by Peter Mørch of Danica Pension showed the advantages of a one-stop-shop solution for clients with operations in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, while a session on Latin American countries by Marcelo Asunçao of Brazilian Network Partner Icatu Hartford, focused on the key financial and demographic metrics driving change and benefit provision, and highlighting the opportunities these present.
Employee benefits are actually employer benefits
Keynote speaker Margrit Schmid, CEO Corporate Solutions, Swiss Life, and Colin Fitzgerald, Director of National Accounts, Unum, noted that employee benefits play an ever more important role, and employers and employees alike are increasingly paying attention to benefits-related issues. They highlighted the challenges companies face in the current demographic and economic climate, and the heightened value that employees place on their benefits. It is therefore crucial for any employer with leadership ambitions to have an attractive benefit programme as part of its compensation package, since well-designed and efficiently sourced employee benefit plans result in a more motivated and productive workforce, and could therefore even be referred to as employer benefits.
New expatriate solution – faster service, superior product
Swiss Life’s new modular solution for expatriates, Swiss Life Expat Select, was also a key topic. This unique one-stop-shop solution offers life, disability, pension and health coverages for expatriates working for multinational companies. The real added value comes through simplified and coordinated sales, underwriting and administration processes for these multiple coverages, which avoid unnecessary duplication of information and help to deliver a faster service and superior product to both employers and expatriates.
Unum and Swiss Life – a close added-value relationship
Describing the solid relationship between Unum and Swiss Life, Unum Customer Solutions Director Glenn Thompson commented "By partnering with Swiss Life and taking advantage of its extensive global network, we have the opportunity to extend our financial protection products to cover employees working outside the UK." Further sessions covered Unum product improvements, the value proposition for pooling clients, and why non-pooled schemes can still benefit from being part of a wider pooling relationship.
Scandinavia and Brazil in focus
‘Think Nordic’ presentations by Peter Mørch of Danica Pension showed the advantages of a one-stop-shop solution for clients with operations in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, while a session on Latin American countries by Marcelo Asunçao of Brazilian Network Partner Icatu Hartford, focused on the key financial and demographic metrics driving change and benefit provision, and highlighting the opportunities these present.