Generali UK Employee Benefits evolves its early intervention proposition with a crucial new appointment at a pivotal time
Generali UK has appointed Kay Needle to the new position of Early Intervention (EI) & Rehabilitation Case Manager, in a move that reflects the company’s already considerable investment in EI and the increased appetite amongst clients to utilise these services. Now more than ever.
This appointment comes at a time when the market faces even more challenges ahead as restrictions ease. Firstly, a lot of organisations have allowed employees to roll over annual leave and could soon find themselves considerably under-resourced. In other words, the issue of work-related stress could be about to get even worse. Secondly, one of the big advantages of hybrid working, one that hasn’t been discussed much as yet, is that people with disabilities or newly diagnosed health conditions will, in theory, have more opportunities to work than before. The question is, are employers set up to provide the support required?
Kay Needle, Early Intervention (EI) & Rehabilitation Case Manager.
360º experience & expertise
In short, Kay has joined the team at a pivotal time. She enjoys almost a decade of experience as a specialist in employee wellbeing, EI and Disability Claims, having worked in such a capacity at Punter Southall Health and Protection, Aston Lark and, most recently, Buck.
At Generali, Kay will be responsible for working with clients and intermediary partners to help improve utilisation of EI services, in turn raising and demonstrating Return on Investment for clients. She will also work closely with Generali’s ecosystem of specialist wellbeing providers to ensure optimal service delivery and outcomes.
Starting early: Wellbeing Total Reward
In her short time since joining Generali, Kay has already helped finalise the design and launch of a new, personalised, Wellbeing Total Reward Statement, to help clients assess Group Income Protection (GIP) benefit and service usage and value; from at-a-glance policy details, claims analysis, trend data and benchmarking, to notional value added in terms of all the preventative, early intervention and rehabilitation services included in the programme. It also includes pooling status information, where applicable.
Commenting on her appointment, Kay said: “Working on the intermediary side of things for the last 10 years, I already knew the Generali proposition well and, in my opinion, it was always the most comprehensive EI proposition out there, but its full potential wasn’t necessarily being realised as it didn’t have the dedicated point of contact behind it; someone there to help empower overwhelmed managers to make important decisions about the most appropriate resources. And someone to help communicate the Generali difference to the outside world.
The really great thing about Generali is that early genuinely means early; ideally before absence even occurs. This is about illness and injury prevention. It’s also about treating people to help them recover – and not only for MSK and MH issues – but also for serious conditions such as cancer, from the point of diagnosis, not just at the point when they’re ready to return. We can still positively influence an individual’s journey even if it’s expected to be a long way off. We can give hope, set goals together and make a huge difference."
“I’m excited to have joined Generali. Everyone is really passionate about what they do and I’m keen to support the team as best I can.”
Simon Thomas, Director at Generali UK Employee Benefits, said: “We’re delighted to officially welcome Kay to the team. We enjoy an enviable reputation amongst our clients – many of whom are amongst the biggest multinationals in the world – for our proactive EI focus; it’s an incredibly comprehensive ‘nothing’s off the table’ approach, which starts – ideally at day zero - with the individual’s personal needs and is about treating people to help them recover, not just nudging them back to work. But there’s so much more that we can do to help organisations navigate our wealth of EI support services, including our innovative Wellbeing Investment Matching initiative, where we help clients fund specific services not already included in the programme, where a need is identified.
Kay will be available as a point of contact to discuss all potential referrals, giving the reassurance of appropriate triage, and empowering HR and Line Managers to guide employees into our pathways. We hope that by driving up awareness of EI, and offering gentle education, this will support further increases to utilisation, which will correlate with improved employee wellbeing and reduced claim incidences.”