Aetna’s new report, The Business of health 2020 – Tackling polarised perceptions of corporate health and wellness, looks at how technology can positively impact employee mental ill health and lifestyle-related health conditions in an increasingly blurred work-life balance in the workplace. The report was published in January 2020. With wellbeing now being broader in scope than previously understood, it has come to include physical and emotional health, financial security, social

Giovanni di Meo in January 2020 has been appointed Regional Sales Director Asia Pacific, taking responsibility for client management and sales activities in the Asia Pacific region. Giovanni is based in Munich and reports to Cyril Samson, Head of Sales. Prior to this, Giovanni worked as Head of Business Development at Generali Employee Benefits. With over 10 years of international experience in corporate and retail insurance, he has also

Even though mental illness affects one in five adults – and depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide – secrecy and stigma around the issue continue. The problem is especially acute in the workplace. While individuals with mental illness often wish to work and are able to, their unemployment rates remain three to four times those of individuals without mental illness.

Having a few drinks at Christmas is, for some people, as much a part of the festive tradition as presents, decorations or carols. So if you find yourself nursing a hangover on Boxing Day, you might be interested to know what’s actually going on inside your body and why you feel so bad.

When we started Neyber, we set out to help employees be better with their money and knew that companies would benefit from the knock-on effect. Now, five years on, we know that we and our clients completely underestimated the impact a financial wellbeing programme would have.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when holiday parties collide with collegiate and professional athletics events. What do they all have in common? Booze, lots of it, and often free. It’s no wonder the lead reindeer has a red nose. Of course, drinking isn’t limited to a single season, but it holds a prominent place during the holidays. Across a few short weeks, consumption of spiked cider, boozy nog, wine, beer, cocktails and variations thereof may be higher than at any other point in the year. One industry study suggested that drinking doubles at this time of year. During this party time, we see up close the drinking habits of our partners, co-workers, relatives and, of course, ourselves.

More than 80% of people who make New Year’s resolutions have already given up on their goals by February. While there’s a lot of resolution advice on the internet, much of it fails to highlight the crux of behavioral change.

It’s a new year and many people are in the mood for making a fresh start. And that often means giving something up (cigarettes, alcohol, junk food). Unfortunately, the odds of sticking with new year resolutions are not good. Come February, 80% of people will have given up giving up. So what can we learn from the 20% who make it?

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.

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

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 –

Early Registration for the 2020 IBIS Academy is open! Join Global Benefits Vision for the 50th edition of the IBIS Academy presented by Gallagher on 11-15 May, 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland. Gain insights, knowledge, and the skills you need to keep your organization among the ranks of the top global employers. Early registration savings are available. Learn more at ajg.com/ibisacademy or register today at http://www.cvent.com/d/ghqnp4 #IBISAcademy2020 #gallagherbetterworks #gallagher

Annette Decker in December 2019 has been made Senior International Benefit Consultant at Siemens, where she has been in various positions since 2011, including with Siemens Financial Services as Senior Pension Manager, M&A. Prior to her time at Siemens, she has held positions as Head of Company Pensions HypoVereinsbank, Account Manager at Aon Hewitt Consulting Deutschland. She started her career as a consultant for KPMG in 1992. Annette is

Tim Davis in December 2019 joined Aon in London as Human Capital Project Manager Aon M&A Transaction Solutions from EY where he worked for over 2 years as Advisor, People Advisory Services – Global Benefits. Tim has 16 years’ experience in financial services, including over 6 years in various positions at Punter Southall Aspire where he was Associate Director, International before leaving to join EY. Before joining Punter Southall,

Nick Skipper in December 2019 has been made Director of Employee Benefits at Clear Insurance Management of the UK. He was previously an Account Director. Before joining Clearance, Nick was with Willis Towers Watson (WTW) for 4 years where he oversaw major accounts as Account Director, Head Major accounts; and an Employee Benefits Consultant at Marsh before joining WTW. Nick attended The Oratory school in Oxford. He has appeared

Airmic’s report, Managing Risk−The Human Factor, sheds light on the “unprecedented volatility with regards to people risk” and stresses the importance of HR, benefits, and risk professionals working together more closely. The report published in December 2019 in association with Arthur D. Little, Willis Towers Watson and Zurich, positions people risk around the people themselves instead of creating newer categories. This allows a view where risks which may have

Danske Bank subsidiary Danica Pension’s Jens Runing in December 2019 has been made Member of the Board and Executive Committee at Insurope SCRL/CVBA in Brussels alongside his role as head of the International area within Danica Pension since 2016 in Copenhagen, having been working at Danica for over 8 years. Prior to his current role, he was also Senior International Consultant for EB, Nordic Sales, Bancassurance, and Multinational Risk

Smart pensions, the tech platform offering savings and investments globally with investors such as Legal and General Investment Management and JP Morgan, in December 2019 teamed up with Revolut for Business, a part of Revolut, the digital services firm set up in 2015, to offer business clients a retirement savings platform for UK employees. Revolut’s business customers will now be able to sign up for their business account and

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) of the U.S. in December 2019 approved changes to the Credit for Reinsurance Model Law and Regulation to bring models in line with provisions of covered agreements with the European Union and the UK in the treatment of qualifying jurisdictions such as Bermuda, Japan, and Switzerland. This covers reinsurers domiciled in the European Union, Bermuda, Japan, and Switzerland, who will soon receive

The OECD in December 2019 published updated versions of the 2019 series of its E.U. Country Health Profiles. The profiles provide a concise overview of health and health systems in the EU/European Economic area, emphasizing the particular characteristics and challenges in each country against a backdrop of cross-country comparisons. Each Country Health Profile provides a short summary of: Health status Risk factors The organization of the health system Its

American International Group (AIG) in December 2019 announced that Peter S. Zaffino has been named President of AIG. He will continue to serve as Global Chief Operating Officer (COO) of AIG and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of General Insurance. Mr. Zaffino joined AIG as Executive Vice President and Global COO in July 2017 and assumed the additional role of CEO of AIG’s General Insurance business in November 2017. He

Carolyn Kennedy in December 2019 was promoted to Senior Vice President Global Employee Benefits and Administration at Chubb where she was previously Vice President Global Benefits from 2014-2019. Carolyn brings over 20 years’ global employee benefits experience to her new role, with a focus on design, management, and governance of global risk insurance programs. Prior to joining Chubb, she was Assistant VP Product Development, Global Employee Benefits at MetLife

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 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.

Published in December 2019, Neyber’s report, the DNA of Financial Wellbeing, which has surveyed over 42,000 people since 2016 suggests that absence, productivity and turnover of staff costs UK employers over £15.2 billion per annum. The report shows that employees’ financial woes are indeed a burden on employers as their spending habits (and results thereof) are a direct contributor to lost revenue at firms. With this report looking at

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 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.