Work is where the heart is
As CEO of Cigna Europe, Arjan Toor is well aware of his responsibilities to staff – and the importance of providing the best possible workplace environment
Workplace wellbeing offerings have moved on from a ‘nice to have’ employee benefit, to a business imperative, bringing significant change to the role of the international private medical insurance (IPMI) provider. Customers are placing greater importance on enhanced health insurance cover, helping them face the demands of modern life and maintain the balance between work and home. A deep understanding of global health issues and trends is crucial for IPMI providers, enabling them to offer customers access to quality care and solutions.
Our approach to global healthcare with individual needs in mind – coupled with a suite of products to suit any budget – means customers can access high-quality services as priorities and circumstances change, no matter where they are in the world.
Talent development reaps rewards
The ‘Great Resignation’ has affected us all, so it’s hugely important that we evolve and invest in a way that attracts and retains talent. This is even more important following unprecedented levels of stress over the past couple of years as a result of the pandemic.
At Cigna, we provide tools, training and resources for every employee, tailored to their specific role and the impact that their work has on customers. Our online learning platform and career development tools offer a broad range of training, education and development resources to all employees. We provide eligible full- and part-time employees with financial support towards the costs of external learning pursuits through our Educational Development Program.
Cigna also offers additional professional skills training and career development programs called People Leader Forums, to executive, high-potential and new manager audiences to develop and expand leadership pipelines and capabilities. These forums are focused on meaningful career development, with a greater focus on inclusive leadership.
Specifically for our sales team, the end-to-end Coaching for Excellence employee programme is a dedicated training solution backed by research, findings and industry practice, providing first-rate vocational tuition to upskill and develop our workforce. It starts with a rigorous six-week classroom-based onboarding program, with employees moving into an Academy Team – where they receive ‘on the job’ training and dedicated mentoring, as well as a sustainable volume of coaching that lasts five months.
The Academy Team allows for a variety of mechanisms that provide employees with actionable feedback, measured through the whole process. Moreover, the Coaching for Excellence program highlights our commitment to the sector as a whole, demonstrating that it is a viable and aspirational career path.
Talent development processes contribute to employee engagement and retention, in addition to the growth and development of our workforce. This, in turn, ensures better engagement with customers in protection conversations. If employees can communicate effectively with customers right from the start, with pride in products and services, they make a positive difference in guiding customers towards the best healthcare outcome.
We are calling for CEOs and business leaders to make a public commitment to changing organisational cultures
Change comes from the top
By encouraging career growth, developing talent and creating inspiring leaders, this helps to build a company culture that emphasises ethical behaviours, diversity and inclusion, while exhibiting good governance and integrity. This drives a workplace culture based on openness, compassion and support. This bolsters productivity, ensuring staff are not only effective in their roles, but feel safe and supported to thrive and develop.
Driven by this purpose, we recently launched an initiative, the 5% Pledge. This challenges CEOs and business leaders to commit to an open culture of mental health and dedicate five per cent of their annual working hours towards improving mental health support in the workplace. This follows global research of nearly 8,000 employees that revealed 88 per cent are suffering from burnout, particularly young adults, with 18- to 24-year-olds suffering the most (96 per cent feel burnout, with 91 per cent stressed).
With these worrying results front of mind, we are calling for CEOs and business leaders to make a public commitment to changing organisational cultures, while addressing the issue of staff wellbeing in an action-oriented manner. Essentially, change needs to come from the top, to break the stigma of mental health in the workplace – business leaders must be active agents and use their voice and stature to help all departments feel comfortable embracing the change, building a supportive workplace, where it’s sometimes OK not to be OK.
Here at Cigna, we are nothing without our people, committed to building our own supportive workplace and creating a community of like-minded leaders to work together to drive positive change. By committing five per cent of my time, and our senior leadership team’s time, we want to shape the future of mental wellbeing and drive behavioural change in an inclusive and comprehensive way.
This will ensure our staff are equipped with everything they need to look after their own Whole Health and are, in turn, empowered to helping our customers’ Whole Health. Cigna plays a critical role in the IPMI industry, and improving the peace of mind of everyone we serve sits at the heart of our purpose. I’m very proud of the inspiring work the team do on a daily basis.