By Katharine Moxham 10 January 2022.

Despite employers’ hopes that 2022 would be more stable than 2021, the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant might mean that we’re in for another bumpy ride. So as we head towards more uncertainty, here are three ideas for change that employers might consider.

Think the unthinkable

The pandemic has fundamentally changed the “it won’t happen to me” attitude, as most people have had to face up to the fact that it could. We are thinking the unthinkable – that we could die or be very ill (possibly for a long time). This mindset brings new questions with it – such as “How will my family manage without my salary if I die?”, “Will I still get paid if I’m really ill for a long time?” and “What other help will the business give to me and my family at the worst of times?”.

For a business, the unthinkable questions could be “What will happen to the business if we lose a key person?”, “Can the business afford to pay out for a death or for long-term sick leave?” and “What sort of help should the business provide?”.

These are questions that employers need to answer, both for their business and their people. If the response to any of these questions is “don’t know” or “nothing” then maybe some alarm bells should ring and it could be time to make some relatively inexpensive changes to the benefits package and/or to the insurance in place to protect the business against financial loss.

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