In South Africa, providing adequate healthcare benefits for employees is crucial for small businesses to attract and retain talent. With numerous medical aid options available, selecting the right one can be overwhelming. However, by considering key factors and understanding the needs of your employees, you can make an informed decision that benefits both your business and your staff. How Medical Aid Affects Employee Satisfaction: Employee satisfaction often hinges on the benefits extended by an employer, with medical aid typically ranking among the most crucial offerings. A robust medical aid package not only demonstrates the employer's commitment to their staff's well-being but also fosters a sense of value and support, thereby enhancing job satisfaction. Moreover, such comprehensive medical aid plans provide employees with a sense of security, knowing that they and their families are safeguarded in times of illness or emergencies. This assurance alleviates concerns about healthcare expenses, allowing employees to concentrate fully on their work. Consequently, a workforce free from the burden of healthcare costs tends to be more focused, productive, and engaged, ultimately contributing to a motivated and high-performing team. The Role of Medical Aid in Employee Retention: Research indicates that employees are more inclined to stay with employers that provide comprehensive healthcare benefits. Retaining experienced staff not only mitigates the need for frequent recruitment, thus saving on associated costs, but also fosters a more stable and productive work environment. Here is a comprehensive guide to help you navigate the process of choosing medical aid for your small business in South Africa.
If you need advice and guidance and choosing an option for your workforce, please contact Lebogang in our Health department, email Service@daberistic.com, Tel 011-658 1333, option 2 for Medical Aid.
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The FIA Intermediary Experience Awards is the most prestigious and well-known annual recognition event in the South Africa financial services industry for more than 20 years. The Awards recognises product providers (insurers) for the products, solutions and services they offer to the end-consumer through our member intermediaries or financial advisers.
This year's winners are: Sanlam won long-term insurer of the year (risk). The non-life insurance awards were split by sector. Santam won for personal lines; Western National for commercial; and Hollard for corporate. Allan Gray won two awards for investment products: lump sum and savings. Discovery Health won for healthcare Momentum Corporate for employee benefits. We congratulate these product providers for winning this prestigious award. We as Daberistic have had long-term relationship with these product providers, and we will continue to offer the best insurance and investment solutions to our clients. During 2017 the Minister of Finance issued the final retirement fund default regulations (commonly referred to as “Default Regulations”) made in terms of section 36 of the Pension Funds Act, 1956. These Default Regulations, published in Notice 863 of Government Gazette No. 41064, were the outcome of an extensive consultative process between Treasury and the FSCA (the first draft was published back in July 2015) and intend to improve the outcomes for members of retirement funds by ensuring that they get good value for their savings and retire comfortably. Default Regulations The final default regulations amended existing regulations published back in 1962 and, in essence, introduce three sets of requirements: 1. They require the board of trustees of retirement funds to offer a default investment portfolio to contributing members who do not exercise any choice regarding how their savings should be invested (Regulation 37); 2. They also require the fund to offer a default in-fund preservation arrangement to members who leave the services of the participating employer before retirement (Regulation 38); and 3. for retiring members, a fund must have an annuity strategy with annuity options, either in-fund or out-of-fund, and can only “default” retiring members into a particular annuity product after a member has made a choice. The above listed defaults must be relatively simple, cost-effective and transparent and require the board of trustees to assist members during the accumulationand retirement phases. 1. Default Regulations Regulation 37: Default investment portfolios All retirement funds with a defined contribution category are required to have a default investment portfolio(s). The investment portfolio(s) that members are defaulted into should be appropriate, reasonably priced, well communicated to members, and offer good value for money. Trustees are required to monitor investment portfolios regularly to ensure continued compliance with these principles and rules. Performance fees will be allowed but subject to a standard to be issued by the FSCA and a regulatory or policy review. Loyalty bonuses are not permitted. For now, Regulation 37 does not apply to retirement annuity and preservation funds. 2. Regulation 38: Default Preservation and Portability Funds that have members enrolled into them as a condition of employment (i.e. pension and provident funds), will have to change their rules to allow for default preservation, as some of them currently do not allow resigning workers to leave their accumulated retirement savings in the fund. The employee, however, will have the right and option to withdraw, upon request, the accumulated savings or to transfer them to any other fund, thereby achieving portability. Employees will also be required to first seek retirement benefits counselling before they make a decision. Regulation 38 does not apply to retirement annuity and preservation funds. 3. Regulation 39: Annuity Strategy The boards of all pension, pension preservation and retirement annuity funds must establish an “annuity strategy”. Provident funds and provident preservation funds must only establish an annuity strategy if the fund enables the member to elect an annuity. The regulations define an “annuity strategy” as follows: “annuity strategy” means a strategy, as determined by a board, setting out the manner in which a member’s retirement savings may be applied, with the member’s consent, to provide an annuity or annuities by the fund or to purchase an annuity on behalf of the member from an external provider, which annuity or annuities may either be in the name of the member or in the name of the fund and which complies with the requirements of regulation 39 and any conditions that may be prescribed from time to time”; (my emphasis) In determining the fund’s annuity strategy, the board must consider (as far as it can reasonably ascertain): · the level of income that will be payable to retiring members; · the investment, inflation and other risks inherent in the income received by retiring members; and · the level of income protection granted to beneficiaries in the event of death of a member enrolled into the proposed annuity. The proposed annuity or annuities – which can be a life annuity or a living annuity (and can be either member owned or in-fund) - must be appropriate and suitable for the specific class of members who will be enrolled into them, must be well communicated and offer good value for money. Members will be entitled to opt into this annuity strategy by selecting the annuity product in which they wish to enrol (i.e. the member must indicate which annuity product he/she would prefer by opting in instead of opting-out). Members should also be given access to retirement benefit counselling to assist them in understanding and giving effect to the annuity strategy. With respect to a living annuity, the fund must communicate to members (on a regular basis) the asset class composition of investments, their performance and changes in the income in respect of the annuity. In addition, funds will need to ensure that all fees charged in respect of the proposed annuity are reasonable and competitive considering the benefits provided to members. The fund must review its annuity strategy at least annually to ensure that the proposed annuity continues to comply with the regulations and is appropriate for members. The new concept of “retirement benefits counselling”: what does it entail? The concept of “retirement benefits counselling” is defined in the regulations as “the disclosure and explanation, in a clear and understandable language, including risks, costs and charges…”. Regulation 39 states that members must be given access to retirement benefit counselling not less than three months prior to their normal retirement age as determined in the rules of the fund (and as may be prescribed). It however offers little guidance as to what exactly this service must entail. The FSCA subsequently published a guidance note providing more clarity on (inter alia) the concept of retirement benefit counselling. PFA Guidance Note No.8 of 2018 states that retirement benefit counselling may be provided either in person or in writing. In either event, the fund must retain a record thereof. The person providing counselling (as appointed by the fund) does not need to be a registered FSP or financial advisor in terms of FAIS, but the board must be satisfied that the person who provides the retirement benefit counselling is suitably qualified and experienced and able to properly manage any conflicts of interest. Retirement benefit counselling does not include advice, even on tax matters, and members should be expressly informed of this fact. If advice is also provided, then the person providing the advice must be a registered financial adviser or tax practitioner, as the case may be. It is recommended that retirement benefits counselling should be provided no longer than 6 months prior to a member’s retirement from the fund and the board should make every effort to ensure that the information provided is still relevant and appropriate at retirement age. When members are given access to retirement benefit counselling, a disclosure and explanation must be provided in clear and understandable language, including fees, risks, costs and charges of the available investment portfolios, the fund’s annuity strategy and any other options made available to members. As of 01 March 2019 all default arrangements in respect of a fund must be fully compliant. Funds must therefore ensure that their rules and investment policy statements are properly aligned to ensure compliance with the new default regulations. Source: Personal Finance, Lize de la Harpe a legal adviser at Glacier by Sanlam. As an employer, you're faced with many challenges. Perhaps the biggest is keeping your employees inspired and motivated every day. Employee wellbeing is key to running of any sustainable business, and when maintained, can help to significantly reduce staff turnover, minimise absenteeism and increase productivity.
This could be a costly exercise, but with Discovery Life as your partner, both your employees and your bottom line can benefit. The Discovery Corporate Integrator, is a powerful employee wellness incentive structure designed to improve the health and wellbeing of your employees, while boosting the health and productivity of your business at the same time. What is the Discovery Corporate Integrator? For years Discovery has partnered with employers to meet various needs of their employees. From the healthcare benefits of Discovery Health Medical Scheme, to the protection benefits of Discovery Life and finally to the wellness rewards of Vitality. Now the Discovery Corporate Integrator is taking our employee wellness offering one step further - linking the individual benefits offered through Discovery Health, Discovery Life and Vitality to provide employees with significant financial rewards for being healthy. How does the Discovery Corporate Integrator work? The Discovery Corporate Integrator rewards employees for living healthy lifestyles and achieving healthy outcomes with up to 40% of their Discovery Life Group Risk premiums back. The Discovery Corporate Integrator is more than simply another benefit scheme – it is a unique incentive structure that recognises the importance of an employee's wellness, and encourages ongoing healthy choices with tangible financial rewards in the form of PayBacks:
Offering unique value to small and medium-sized enterprises, the Discovery Corporate Integrator is available to employers with between 20 and 500 employees. To qualify, employees must:
To get sign up your organisation Discovery Corporate Integrator contact, please contact Ray or Kevin in our Employee Benefits department email eb@daberistic.com , tel (011)658-1333 Source: Discovery Allan Gray launched an umbrella retirement fund in March, adding another player to the increasingly competitive retirement market space. Umbrella retirement funds are funds that serve multiple employers, unlike traditional stand-alone employer-sponsored funds. More and more employers are going the umbrella route, largely because of the increasing burden of administering a retirement fund and having to comply with burgeoning regulation. Saleem Sonday, the head of group savings and investments at Allan Gray, says the South African retirement industry today (excluding the government pension fund) manages assets of around R1.8 trillion. Of this, around 49 percent is in non-commercial funds, 17 percent in commercial umbrella funds and about 34 percent in individual retirement annuity accounts and preservation funds. Over the last four years, the market share of commercial umbrella funds has increased by 70 percent, according to Credit Suisse, at the expense of stand-alone employer funds. “This should be a good thing. Since an umbrella fund clubs together multiple employers and its employees in a single fund with standardised rules and a single board of trustees, it is more efficient to govern and administer than a stand-alone employer fund,” Sonday says. The commercial umbrella fund market is dominated by the large life companies, which make up 85% of the market. “Although there are some funds that offer super-efficient administration and simple products that sell themselves, mostly umbrella funds today have a reputation for high costs, poor transparency and complexity. “We think this is an industry that could do with more competition. A new entrant using technology to provide better service than the incumbents at a competitive and more transparent price could win over clients,” Sonday says“The recently-launched Allan Gray Umbrella Retirement Fund aims to give employers and members a transparent and easy-to-understand retirement saving solution. It has a simple product and fee structure, which means that employers and their employees have clear sight of contributions, returns and charges. “Members benefit from superior service, competitive administration and investment management fees and there are no hidden costs,” he says. “The product makes things simple for employers and puts member needs at the centre by offering an unbiased, limited range of high-quality investment managers, fair and transparent pricing and great service.” If you would like to get a quote for an Umbrella Fund, please contact Kevin or Thato, email: invest@daberistic.com tel no: (011 658-1333) Source: Allan Gray Employees' health, financial security and safety is important to any Employer. By introducing Assistere which covers Accidental Death Temporary Total Disability (TTD) /Income Replacement (accident), Serious Illness and Accidental Permanent Disability you can protect your employees against the costs associated with unexpected injuries and serious illnesses. Premium starts from as little as R33 per month, per employee depending on the option you take it. To get a quote done please contact Jan in our Short-Term Department email shortterm@daberistic.com, tel (011)658 -1333 Source: Guardrisk |
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