Bupa, the international health insurance provider, today unveiled new research into the health and wellbeing of people in Egypt. It found that over half (54%) of residents don’t think they dedicate enough time to manage their health and wellbeing, despite 55% saying it was very important to them.
Furthermore, nearly two thirds (66%) of respondents said they spend only 30 minutes, or less weekly towards managing their wellbeing, with 52% stating work commitments are the main barrier to making the time. The Bupa research set out to further understand health and wellbeing trends among Egyptian residents, whilst also linking it to the human resources challenges facing SMEs in Egypt.
Speaking at the SME Beyond Borders Conference at The Nile Ritz Carlton Cairo, Shady Nawar, Head of Health & Benefits for Bupa Global Middle East said: “Our research shows that people want to dedicate more time to their health and wellbeing but there are a number of barriers to this, including work commitments. We also know that employees increasingly expect their employer to play an active role in this area. Investing in employee health & wellbeing can directly impact productivity and engagement in the workplace. Therefore more businesses need to understand that it is no different to investing in learning, development, and training.”
Shady Nawar continued: “In addition, employers are constantly looking for ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors in the market, with 65% of business leaders focusing on non-financial rewards. Therefore, health and wellbeing has also become an important way for businesses to attract and retain their people. ”
Bupa is participating in the SME Beyond Borders, Egypt 2016 conference to unveil these research findings on the health and wellbeing of people in Egypt. This event also provides a valuable opportunity to discuss with this key audience, why SMEs stand to benefit from focusing on employee health and wellbeing.
SME Beyond Borders – Egypt 2016 aims to tackle the central challenge facing Egypt’s 1.6 million SMEs. It focuses its discussions on the need to build their capacity and scale, creating the needed exponential growth that brings market opportunities to fruition. This industry expert forum builds a platform for discussion and debate between the public and private sectors on hot topics affecting the SME sector like capacity building, access to finance, regulatory framework and workplace health and wellbeing.
A crucial element of good health is insurance that focuses on all-round health with wellness services included. In Egypt, Bupa currently offers international health plans for small businesses, larger corporate groups as well as individual customers. The SME products are designed for companies with a workforce between 3 to 99 employees with a range of benefits from basic hospitalisation all the way to a full-packaged cover that includes maternity, drugs and dressings, cancer treatment, dental and optical as well as outpatient services. Our preventive wellness services not only help employers provide a healthy working environment for their employees but also offer a means of cost containment.
These research results are being used by Bupa to further tailor products that will better suit the needs of Egyptian SMEs.
