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One size no longer fits all: Creating a Flexible Future in the World of Employee Benefits
You’ll no doubt be all too aware of just how important employee benefits (EB) are to any business when attracting and retaining talent. Along with salary and pension, insured benefits like life, health and disability insurance can be the difference between keeping an employee engaged and losing them to a competitor. It can also be the deciding factor for a candidate when choosing a company to work for.
Issue 045,
January 2020
Flexible Benefits, Does One Size Fit All? – Employee Financial Worries – Myths Around Mental Illness Cause High Rates of Unemployment – Ditching Bad Habits – Using Habit Science – Is Your Holiday Drinking Becoming A Problem? – Hangovers, What Happens to Your Body
GBV Issue 45 Table of Contents, January 2020
In the January 2020 issue Flexible Benefits – Does One Size Fit All? – Ricardo Almeida Employee Financial Worries – Monica Kalia R&D – Myths Around Mental Illness Cause High Rates of Unemployment – Bandy X. Lee R&D – Ditching Bad Habits – Ian Hamilton, Sally Marlow R&D – Using Habit Science – Wendy Wood R&D – Is Your Holiday Drinking Becoming A Problem? – Sara Jo Nixon R&D –
Exclusive Interview – Dirk Hellmuth & Cyril Samson
On Allianz Global Benefits’ 5th anniversary, Dirk Hellmuth, CEO and Cyril Samson, Managing Director, take stock, review the achievements and successes and speak about where they want to be in five years’ time.
Allianz Global Benefits’ Perspective on the History of Pooling
Allianz Global Benefits is the global employee benefits network of the Allianz Group specialized in implementing local employee benefits pro-ducts, insurance solutions and services into global programs. The headquarters of the network is based in Germany and operates a strong global network of more than 110 Allianz subsidiaries and selected external insurance partners in over 90 countries. Leveraging on the geographical scale, the expertise and the customer centricity of its network partners, AGB addresses the needs of multinational companies of managing employee benefits globally. AGB is a one-stop solution provider, this means that our clients can expect the full range of corporate life, accident, disability, health, pension and asset management solutions tailored to their needs. The high quality of local employee benefits plans provided by our local insurers is the backbone of our global solutions that include Multinational Pooling, Global Underwriting, Captive Reinsurance and Global Pension. Our aim is to provide multinational companies a truly flexible and holistic set of solutions for their global employee benefits programs delivered by the world’s most trusted financial service provider.
Are ‘vaping’ and ‘e-cigarettes’ the same, and should all these products be avoided?
As concerns over vaping continue to grow, researchers and public health officials are investigating the causes of more than 40 deaths and 2,000 illnesses. It’s confusing even for experts.
The term “e-cigarette” refers to a battery-powered device used to inhale an aerosol that typically, but not always, contains nicotine, along with flavorings and other chemicals, but not tobacco. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognize e-cigarettes as a broad category that includes a variety of different products that operate similarly and contain similar components.
Exercise Before Breakfast Works Best
Exercise is recommended for people who are overweight or obese as a way to reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But people don’t always have time to exercise as much as they would like, so finding ways to increase the health benefits of exercise is important. Our latest research has found a way to do just that, and it’s to do with timing. This means you might be able to get away with doing less exercise if other commitments, such as family and work, always seem to get in the way.
Controlled Breathing for the Rest of Us
Professional sport is full of stories of elite athletes “choking” emotionally and mentally under the pressure of competition. One famous example is golfer Greg Norman, who was leading the 1994 U.S. Masters by six strokes at the beginning of the final round, but then lost by five strokes to Nick Faldo. And England football teams are well known for their struggles in penalty shoot outs.
GBV Issue 44 Table of Contents, December 2019
In the December 2019 issue History of Pooling at Allianz – François Jacquemin, Michael Scheu Vaping and e-cigarettes – Allison Kurti Hospital Price Transparency in the U.S. at Last? – Neeraj Sood To Lose Weight, Eat Less or Exercise More? – Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias Exercise Before Breakfast Works Best – Rob Edinburgh Controlled Breathing for the Rest of Us – David Shearer Allianz Global Benefits Interview – Dirk Hellmuth,
Issue 044,
December 2019
History of Pooling at Allianz – Vaping and e-cigarettes – Hospital Price Transparency in the U.S. at Last? – To Lose Weight, Eat Less or Exercise More? – Exercise Before Breakfast Works Best – Controlled Breathing for the Rest of Us – Allianz Global Benefits Interview, Dirk Hellmuth, Cyril Samson
To Lose Weight, Eat Less or Exercise More?
I tend to be overweight, and for the last few years my blood glucose levels have been putting me on the brink of Type 2 diabetes. I love my food, and it is often part of my social commitments. I’m a Spaniard, so there’s also the occasional tapas and glass of wine, or maybe a martini on Saturdays.
As a physiologist, I know I need to take steps to control my blood glucose and weight. So early every morning, I spend a considerable amount of time pedaling away on a stationary bike.
What the Trump administration gets right about hospital price transparency
New federal regulations finalized Nov. 15 require hospitals to make public all the prices they negotiate with insurers and health plans, starting in 2021. The aim is to untangle the hospital marketplace with a wave of consumer-friendly information that will promote competition that leads to lower costs.
Hospitals are not happy, but advocates of well-informed, patient-centered health care should be cheering.
Some people benefit from being naturally mentally tough, but it can be taught to those who aren’t
The saying that “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is simplistic, disingenuous, and potentially destructive. While it’s true that some who experience horrible events are stronger for surviving them, this is probably only true if they were strong to begin with. In the face of horrible events, others are more likely to be traumatised and suffer for years or decades after.
Most People Don’t Wash Their Hands Properly – Here Is How It Should Be Done
It’s something most people do everyday, often without really thinking about it, but how you wash your hands can make a real difference to your health and the wellbeing of those around you.
Mental Health in the Workplace Across the Generations
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that a record 32.54 million people are in work in the UK¹; a statistic that looks fantastic on the surface and one that many will celebrate, particularly from a political standpoint. However, mental health issues in the workplace and presenteeism because of mental health is also at an all-time high, with 22% of employees going into work in 2018 despite feeling mentally un-well – up from 18% in 2016². It is possible that there is a correlation between an increasing workforce and an increase in workplace mental health issues; but there are numerous confounding influencing variables which pose a challenge for companies.
How to Stay Fit into Your 60s and Beyond
Ageing is inevitable and is influenced by many things – but keeping active can slow ageing and increase life expectancy. Evidence shows that ageing alone is not a cause of major problems until you are in your mid-90s. And strength, power and muscle mass can be increased, even at this advanced age.
Four ways You and Your Company Can Make Flexible Work Better
The world of work is fast changing. As life expectancy lengthens and labour markets shift, our working lives have become more complicated. The old expectations about how we work have become unsustainable – not least the expectation that we religiously travel to and from a fixed location ten times a week during rush hour, with all the knock-on effects that this has for carbon emissions.
Why We Need A Better Understanding of How PTSD Affects Families
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term “post-traumatic stress disorder”? When I ask this question in public presentations, the answers are along the lines of “the military”, “soldiers” and “war”. Then, when my next slide displays military themed images, it seems as if I have ingeniously predicted the audience’s response.
Issue 043,
November 2019
Mental Health in the Workplace Across the Generations – Washing Hands Properly – Being Mentally Tough Can Be Taught – PTSD Also Affects Families – R&D: Better Flexible Work –
How to Stay Fit into Your 60s
GBV Issue 43 Table of Contents, November 2019
In the November 2019 issue Mental Health in the Workplace Across the Generations – Camilla Lewis Washing Hands Properly – Ellen W. Evans Being Mentally Tough Can Be Taught – Peter Clough PTSD Also Affects Families – Hope Christie Better Flexible Work – Jane Parry How to Stay Fit into Your 60s – Julie Broderick
GBV Issue 42 Table of Contents, October 2019
In the October 2019 issue Aon: Personalizing Health – Matthew Lawrence R&D: Processing Changes the Food We Eat – Anthony Fardet, Edmond Rock R&D: We Should Be Consuming Less Salt – Feng He History of Pooling: International Group Program IGP – Peter de Vries
Issue 042,
October 2019
Aon: Personalizing Health – R&D: Processing Changes the Food We Eat – R&D: We Should Be Consuming Less Salt – History of Pooling: International Group Program IGP
Processing Changes the Food we Eat – Here’s What That Means for our Bodies
To understand how healthy a food is, we generally look at its components – carbohydrates, fats and proteins, or the vitamins, minerals and other substances it may contain. But this purely “nutritional” vision overlooks one property that’s a key part of a food’s health potential – its structure.
For example, serving a child a breakfast cereal made up of whole wheat or rice may seem like a good idea, but research shows that processing can significantly impact its nutritive qualities. Extrusion-cooking or puffing can transform wheat and rice into primarily a source of sugars that the child’s body rapidly absorbs, and many of the nutritive values of the original grains are lost.
There is no great salt debate: we should be consuming less
The human body needs a tiny amount of sodium to function properly and this is typically found in salt (sodium chloride). But today most people consume way too much salt, increasing the burden of cardiovascular disease around the world.
Health professionals have been trying to tackle this problem for decades, but face several barriers, including research that muddies the water about what safe levels of salt intake are. This has cast unnecessary doubt on the importance of reducing intakes. But our latest research has found flaws in these studies and suggests that salt intake should be reduced even further than current recommendations.
How Companies Are Personalising Health
It isn’t surprising that employers are looking for ways to improve the health and engagement of their employees when their challenges are so evident:
Medical inflation rates continue to be high globally, with the 2019 global average being 7.8%, reported by Aon1. Indeed, in many countries, this is much higher, even exceeding the local inflation rate by double-digit percentage points.
GBV’s History of Pooling: International Group Program – IGP
1967: IGP was founded with Ford as its first Client
In the 1960s, Ford began to expand globally, and Ford of Europe was established in 1967. At the time, Ford was the largest domestic client of John Hancock’s Group Insurance Division. The concept of multinational pooling did exist at the time, though it was not widely practiced. Ford and John Hancock collaborated on the possibility of reinsuring and pooling the employee benefits plans of Ford’s overseas operations.
Issue 041,
September 2019
Global Employee Benefits at Gallagher, Interview Leslie Lemenager and LeAnne Stefl – Global Business Travel Insurance by Albatros – 2019 Transatlantic Conference Report – The History of Pooling at Generali