1,482
Companies
284,300 >
Employees
3,378
Medical schemes
1,640
Risk schemes
This report takes a deep dive into the aforementioned emerging solutions and trends. It also provides a snapshot of the holistic employee benefits trends and offerings provided by employers in 2019, with deep-dives into the following specific components of employee benefits programs:
This report includes data from 1,482 companies, covering more than 284,300 employees across different industries. This represents a net increase of more than 566 companies (or 62%) in our sampled company size and a net coverage increase of 128,500 employees (or 82%) versus last year’s sample size.
This report comprises three main sections: Medical Benefits, Risk Benefits and Employers’ Opinions on Benefits-Related Topics and Trends. Information in the first two sections is derived from data extracted from the benefit schedule of insurance policies, and the final section is based on the results of an online HR survey.
Medical benefits
Risk benefits
Employers’ opinions on benefits-related topics and trends
Similar to last year’s report, we continue to incorporate point-of-view articles on the latest industry issues and research findings, contributed by Hong Kong’s leading employee benefits providers: AIA, AXA and Bupa.
Note: Survey results should not be used as the sole reference when introducing or making changes to employee benefits programs. We recommend employers obtain professional advice and guidance on a comprehensive review of employee benefits scheme design.
Medical Benefits:
The vast majority of companies continue to offer inpatient, outpatient, dental and medical checkup benefits. These benefits are often provided through insurance arrangements. The prevalence of dependent coverage for local and high-end medical plans has remained consistent over the past year.
Risk Benefits:
The prevalence of term life (TL), personal accident (PA), total permanent disability (TPD), accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) and critical illness (CI) coverage increased by 1%–2% in 2019.
Well-being programs and engagement
Over 90% of respondents currently provide some form of wellness program for their employees, including health talks, wellness competitions, ergonomic-related activities and traditional health screening.
Benefit cost control
The majority of clients reserved either 5% or below (or 5%–9.9% of their annual budgets) for benefit cost increases in 2020. In light of this budgeting, we expect the overall medical trend to be lower than anticipated prior to COVID-19.
Flexible/voluntary benefits programs
Companies in Hong Kong that provide choice through flexible or voluntary benefits are still in the minority (20%) compared to other countries, such as Singapore (which has a much higher rate at 49%).
Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS)
After the launch of the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) in spring 2019, many companies have not benchmarked and do not intend to benchmark their corporate plans against the public VHIS standard plan.
More key highlights available in the full report.
Africa