Unum has announced the launch of a free ‘Assistance Programme' called Unum LifeWorks for all new and existing holders of its individual income protection (IP) policies.
The move is designed to differentiate Unum's product from other providers of standalone income protection and assist advisers in promoting the benefits of IP to their clients.
The service is available as of 1st September and, as with the Employee Assistance Programme that comes with its Group IP schemes, will be provided by Ceridian, one of the largest providers of human resource services in the world.
Customers and their immediate family members will gain access to a free 24 hour assistance service, available online and via the telephone. The service includes telephone and face-to-face counselling1, matched referrals for child and elder care and even advice on buying a new home or tips on how to cope with different stages of family life.
Unum's individual policyholders can also access downloadable pdfs and audio files providing advice on issues ranging from health and wellbeing childcare and self-development to budgeting, and career management.
Linton Penman, Unum's Head of Retail Sales and Marketing says:
"This support service for Unum income protection clients offers invaluable support by providing the information they need, whenever they need it, helping to save them time and unnecessary anxiety on a range of everyday issues."
The development follows research2 from Unum last year where over half (51%) of all UK workers believed that their work had been impacted over the previous two years due to stresses and worries.
The most common stresses cited by workers were worrying about personal health issues (38% of respondents) or other personal issues (37%), followed by stress due to the cost of living or not being able to pay off debts (32% and 25% respectively).
The research also revealed that work issues and personal issues are likely to have the greatest impact on an employee's work performance; 72% and 71%, respectively of respondents who admitted that their work had been greatly affected by stresses and worries in the past two years cited these problems. These are followed by stress due to personal health issues (66%) and the cost of living (57%).
