The Imerys UK HR team initiated a review and subsequent update of the health benefits package provided to their UK colleagues. This proactive approach aimed to ensure the offerings remained competitive, relevant, and supportive of employee well-being, reflecting the company's commitment to its workforce. Brokers Mercer Marsh Benefits introduced them to Equipsme, as a more cost-effective alternative to traditional PMI.
Benefits Specialist Jon Tann explained: “Imerys in the UK has a comprehensive range of benefits, including a fantastic pension scheme, life insurance, income protection and more. Health-wise, we offer an EAP and well-being service, as well as cancer screening through Check 4 Cancer and Menopause support with BUPA. While senior staff had access to an existing PMI scheme, a noticeable gap in physical healthcare support existed for all other employees.
“Everyone at Imerys is part of its success, everyone is struggling with NHS waiting lists and times, and it felt like the right time to implement an inclusive healthcare scheme to support everyone.
“When we looked at what the market was offering, Equipsme was the only solution that would give us health insurance at a realistic price point for every employee. Transitioning from PMI for a limited number to Equipsme for the broader employee base was a very easy choice.”
UK-wide workforce
Imerys employs around 1,000 people across the UK, including at world-class open-pit mine sites in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, with production sites in Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Essex. Those sites produce kaolin, ball clay, calcium carbonate and calcium aluminates, for a broad spectrum of industries.
The majority of members have access to Equipsme’s Level 2 plan, which is paid for by Imerys, and includes 24/7 virtual GP services, physiotherapy support, private diagnosis and treatment through AXA Health.
Jon continues: “A significant portion of our workforce, approximately two-thirds, operates on-site in and around open mines. These roles are physically demanding and can impact the body over time. Our industry is largely male-dominated, with a high percentage of employees over 55 years old.
“I can tell you from personal experience that as you get older things stop working quite as well as they used to, and inevitably we see an increase in people unable to work for the medium to long term with ailments like musculoskeletal issues, where they’re waiting on physiotherapy or surgery. That isn’t doing them any good, and it’s not doing us as a business any good either.
“So we wanted to make sure all of our employees could get the tests, scans and treatment they needed to get better faster and improve their health for the future. With the Equipsme plans, physiotherapy is wrapped into the cover, and people can see the virtual GP or their own NHS GP for a referral for specialist care.
“We know the results aren’t going to be immediate, but over the long term, we think we will start to see a difference in our sickness absence rates, the speed we can get people back to work, and hopefully in how we can support them to get early interventions rather than waiting for their conditions to worsen.”
Sustainability and support
Having a long-term perspective was essential for Imerys. Jon adds: “We liked the fact that Equipsme had an easy-to-understand plan structure, pricing and implementation model. And, we particularly liked the fact that it is community-rated. No one can see into the future, but by spreading the risk across all Equipsme members and companies, we think it’s a scheme that’s going to be more stable in terms of pricing than that of traditional PMI schemes.
“Equipsme has also been fantastic to work with - really gone above and beyond for us. There were some elements of the scheme that didn’t quite work for us, and the team at Equipsme worked with us on a bespoke solution so that our people could choose to upgrade or add family without paying over the odds in P11D tax.
“Every step of the way, we’ve found the support and communications from the team at Equipsme to be brilliant. A significant challenge we face is effectively communicating with all employees across our various sites. This is particularly difficult for those who do not have regular computer access or a smartphone. This meant that they did not have access to open emails or engage with communications via the intranet.
“Instead of the usual marketing campaigns, we arranged roadshows to introduce Equipsme to our employees during many face-to-face site visits. Equipsme has been there with literature, leaflets and videos - participating in lunch and learns, and attending internal events to help us spread the word – not just at the start of our plan but throughout the year. We don’t want our colleagues to ‘only have the health plan’, we want them to ‘use it’, so the ongoing support from Equipsme has been key to maintaining engagement.
“I would definitely recommend Equipsme to other businesses that want to make a positive change that impacts more people across their organisation in terms of health support. If valuing all your people is important to your culture, Equipsme is one way to actually put that into action.”
