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28th October 2021, London: Lime Global Ltd, the UK’s leading provider of online-only affordable and accessible digital top-ups to public healthcare, has today announced its partnership with Benefex, the company behind OneHub – the award-winning employee experience platform.

The collaboration will see Lime’s affordable healthcare top-ups offered as an option across the OneHub platform from 1st December, to 650 UK companies. The products being added to the platform include Lime’s Rapid Diagnostics and cancer cover.

The partnership follows research from both Lime and Benefex this year, which revealed that UK workers are increasingly looking to employers to better support their wellbeing, on the back of the negative impact on mental and physical health caused by the global pandemic.

Benefex’s recent white paper, Employee experience in the new world of work, reported that 96% of HR leaders believe that employee experience has become more important during the pandemic, and employee wellbeing is seen as the primary driver for this. In fact, according to Benefex’s research, published in report The New Reward Director, 99% of HR leaders rated wellbeing as a top priority over the next two years. While Lime’s report, Keeping up Appearances: How Pleasanteeism is Eroding Resilience, revealed that 42%of UK workers want their employers to do more to support their mental wellbeing – and 40% would look for a new job if they didn’t do so.

With the stress of the pandemic taking a significant toll on the nation – and the NHS under heavy strain – many organisations feel a greater duty of care towards their employees. However, it’s often not possible to offer traditional private medical insurance (PMI) or similar benefits across the entire workforce due to budget constraints.

Lime’s products are the first of their kind to be offered on the OneHub platform, enabling employers to offer every employee the option to access affordable private health cover, starting from just over £2 per month*.

With 27.1% of UK patients waiting from referral, on average, longer than six weeks for key diagnostic tests [1], Lime’s Rapid Diagnostics provides quick access to private diagnostic tests. And, with statistics showing that one in two people will develop cancer at some point in their lives [2], Lime’s cancer cover presents employees with financial peace of mind following a confirmed cancer diagnosis.

Shaun Williams, CEO & Founder, Lime Global Ltd, commented: “Low resilience levels are impacting UK businesses – causing rising absenteeism, lower productivity, and poor morale. So there has never been a better time for employers to help employees take control of their own health.

We know that resources can’t always stretch to provide traditional private medical insurance across the entire workforce. That’s why we developed Lime – to provide an alternative via super-simple, affordable top-ups to public healthcare that can be easily accessed in a digital setting.

Our partnership with Benefex will help make our services more accessible across the UK’s workforce, giving more people the chance to protect themselves and take charge of their health and wellbeing.”

Benefex’s Director of Employee Wellbeing, Gethin Nadin, said: “Our research has shown that, in the wake of the pandemic, employees are looking to their employers as trusted partners to support their physical and mental wellbeing. UK businesses are responding, now more than ever, by placing a stronger emphasis on wellbeing strategies to provide staff with access to the benefits that will help them the most.”

However, for many companies, resources are limited and it can prove difficult to offer protection benefits to the whole workforce. We believe that the introduction of Lime’s products onto our platform will provide employers with an alternative, giving employees the option of purchasing affordable protection and providing a tangible impact on employee wellbeing.”

* Exact costs dependent on age, smoking status and location, reviewed annually.

[1] https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/DWTA-Report-August-2021_CJ4KS.pdf

[2] https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/02/04/1-in-2-people-in-the-uk-will-get-cancer/

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