Flu season is coming, and while many employers are deploying on-site vaccination programs for their employees, uptake and impact vary across countries and business sectors. Through a review of messages from public health institutions worldwide, we discuss below the pros and cons, trends so far, and expectations for the new season.

Today more than ever, businesses are reliant on the constant flow of people, goods and ideas to drive the global economy. As organizations continue to leverage global assignments as a key component of their growth strategies, they must give careful consideration to the ways in which they manage their global mobility programs.

Global Benefits Vision: Could you please tell GBV a little about yourself, how you chose your career path and your journey to Zurich? Hanno Mijer: I am a trained actuary, but I have never actually worked in an actuarial position. For the first fourteen years of my career I worked with AEGON Insurance, where I held a number of marketing, sales and executive roles in the Netherlands, Eastern Europe and Asia.

The Health Insurance Group in September 2016 introduced a global and expatriate Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that provides help and support to people working abroad who are in crisis or need. Partnering with Morneau Shepell, the leading provider of integrated health and productivity solutions in Canada, The Health Insurance Group, located in the United Kingdom, offers a comprehensive suite of international assistance programs, including worldwide EAP, to help employees

Travel insurance and assistance services are quickly gaining favor among travel professionals who work for companies that provide them. A new study, “Assessing the Prevalence and Value of Travel Insurance and Assistance Services”, published in September 2016 by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and AIG Travel, reveals that 95 percent of travel professionals feel that providing insurance or assistance services to employees is a valuable benefit for those

HealthMine, a healthcare technology company based in Dallas, Texas, in August 2016 released the results of a study revealing that the majority (62%) believe that all health care plan participants should join a wellness program to help them lower their health care costs. 32% responded that wellness programs helped them reduce the number of sick days logged, and 33% said their wellness program helped them be more productive at

Connecture, an IT company that provides web-based solutions to the health insurance industry, in June 2016 acquired its Chicago-based competitor ConnectedHealth, a benefits technology company that offers an e-commerce platform that helps businesses control costs and ease the process of shopping for personalized insurance benefits online. ConnectedHealth is a private company and was founded in 2009. Based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Connecture is a provider of a web-based consumer shopping,

The Worldwide Broker Network (WBN) Board of Directors in June 2016 elected to name Francie Starnes as Chief Executive Officer of the world’s largest fully integrated international network of independent property & casualty insurance brokers and employee benefits consultants, effective in July 2016. Appointed WBN President and Chief Operating Officer a year ago, Starnes succeeds 40-year insurance industry veteran Bruce Basso, who becomes Chairman Emeritus. Founded in 1989 and

The Generali Employee Benefits network (GEB), as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, has launched a redesigned website that offers a new look and feel, with a bold design and many powerful graphics to guide users to available resources. The launch features dynamic content, starting with the GEB history carousel, which gives an overview of how GEB and society have evolved side by side since Generali and Aetna founded

AIG Global Benefits Network (AIG GBN) on 11 October 2016 organizes a technical-commercial information session on pooling and on its network of insurance carriers across the world, that is specifically designed for brokers and financial advisors. Intended both for commercial and technical individuals, the workshop includes live examples and an actual case study at the end to put all the theory immediately into practice. The workshop is free of

China Life in July 2016 joined the AIG Global Benefits Network (AIG GBN) pooling network. AIG GBN landed a big fish in China Life Insurance Company Ltd., headquartered in Beijing and the largest life insurance company in China. China Life has a well-known brand name, as well as of the most extensive distribution networks nationwide, with 979,000 exclusive agents, 45,000 direct sales representatives and 131,000 account managers in combination

Jayesh Patel since January 2016 has assumed the role of Head of International Risk Management Programs. In his new position he is responsible for the Captive, Pooling and Consolidated Underwriting programs of Allianz Global Benefits while also leading the global tender and implementation team and reports to François Jacquemin, Head of Products & Solutions. Jayesh Patel has been with the Allianz Group in various roles before joining Allianz Global

When it comes to shining a spotlight on the difference between male and female pay, many companies are sceptical, hesitant, and even fearful. The discourse often focuses on risk—the threat of being named and shamed.

Click here if your browser will not go into full-screen mode This content requires a subscription or a purchase. Please login below or subscribe here.

Every year in April and July, the two most important surveys for UK Group Risk Insurers come out. Swiss Re’s Group Watch shows how the Group Risk market is doing, while ORC International’s Group Risk Survey shows how the industry is performing from an adviser and customer perspective.

Today’s interconnected world and global economy means that increasing numbers of employees are required to travel extensively abroad, often for longer periods, to multiple destinations and often in very unfamiliar environments.

Engineers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) , a member of the A*STAR’s group of biomedical sciences institutes in Singapore have developed a new material that claims to kill E. coli bacteria quickly and without the adverse health effects of triclosan, a common antibacterial agent that has been restricted in the European Union. IBN Group Leader Yugen Zhang, PhD, and his team, synthesized a chemical compound made

As we mentioned in our previous article¹ on how to mitigate corruption risks, in order for businesses to grow, companies and individuals need relationships with key influencers both within and outside the company. However, building relationships with influential individuals is very tricky.

Chris Mayo – Head of Global Services & Solutions, Non-North America,Willis Towers Watson Global Benefits Vision: Tell us about your career in Global Employee Benefits. Christopher Mayo: I have been involved with international employee benefits since 1990, when I was one of four people who set up the international practice at R. Watson & Sons. In 1995 I had the opportunity to work in Milan.

Thomas Piketty, in his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, partly attributes the rise in inequality during the latter part of the 20th and early part of the 21st centuries to “the rise of the super-manager”.

CareAllies, a new subsidiary of Cigna, was established in June 2016 to help health service providers transition away from fee-for-service business models to those that encourage greater risk-sharing by establishing their own care organizations or even their own health plans. These goals – value-based reimbursement schemes – are similar to those of UnitedHealth Care’s subsidiary Optum. CareAllies will work with private and public providers to provide the technology and

A non-invasive treatment for diabetes monitoring and drug delivery has been developed by South Korean researchers at The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Center for Nanoparticle Research located in Seoul, South Korea. The device, a graphene-based patch, uses a hybrid of gold-doped graphene and a serpentine gold mesh to measure pH (blood acidity level) and temperature by measuring the amount of glucose in sweat. If abnormally high levels of

10 Actions to Promote Gender Equality — Inspiration from Australia Rob Paton and Elin Bredenberg U.K. Group Risk – a market update Paul Avis An interview of Willis Towers Watson’s Chris Mayo Multinational Employers Expand their View, and Reach, in Global Employee Benefits Lance Henderson Travel Risk Management Best Practices — to Help Keep Your Global Workforce Safe Tim Crockett Being W.O.R.L.D. Wise – Relationships (3) Natalie Richter Inequality

Expatriates and Emiratis in the United Arab Emirates have seen changes to their health insurance programs as of July 1, 2016. These changes will affect only those under the Abu Dhabi Basic Plan who seek treatment at a private hospital under the Thiqa plan for Emiratis, expatriates, and their families. Procedures at government hospitals are unaffected. Thiqa, the Arabic word for “trust,” is a UAE national insurance initiative delivered

The MAXIS Global Benefits Network on September 15, 2016 organizes a webcast, “MAXIS Global Risk Solution: Moving Beyond Traditional”. While traditional multinational pooling arrangements continue to generate value for multinationals, the employee benefits environment is also continuing to evolve. Among key drivers of change, ever more complicated regulations, especially when cross-border considerations are included; and corporate pressure to better budget and forecast benefit spending are driving employers to explore

Corporate pension plan buyouts reached $1.084 billion in the first quarter of 2016 according to a LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute sales survey. This is interpreted as a clear sign that companies are eager to limit the amount of risk in their pension plans. The US Group Annuity Risk Transfer Survey, released in May of this year, notes that this is the first time sales have topped $1 billion in

Forget the United States; Taiwan, Malta and Ecuador head the list of countries where expats most want to live this year, a new survey reports. More than 14,000 expats ranked their preferred countries in the InterNations Expat Insider 2016 survey, released in August. In addition to the best overall rating, Taiwan also won first place for personal finance and quality of life, and second place for its working conditions. More than