By Kyle Fredericks Rand Mutual Assurance Life: Head of Strategy & Business Integration
Small businesses in South Africa often lose out to the corporate sector on attracting and retaining the best talent as they are unable to offer workers benefits and incentives like life insurance, funeral, disability, and injury cover.
Employees, who in many cases are family breadwinners want the guarantee and peace of mind that if tragedy strikes, their dependents will not be left destitute. Therefore, companies offering insurance cover become more appealing to employers.
There is a misconception among the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) sector that these insurance products are expensive and beyond their reach. At the same time, small business owners are faced with the reality that should anything happen to their workers they may be left with a moral responsibility towards their staff’s families.
At Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA), we have spent considerable time in understanding the SMME sector which is still underserviced by traditional insurers, and we are now able to offer a one-stop solution for small businesses.
Built on the strong foundations of RMA’s Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases (COID) business, RMA Life (RML) is a younger subsidiary with a robust growth strategy focused on delivering COID gap cover and competitively priced life insurance solutions for small employer groups.
In the last nine months of 2021, we ran a proof of concept on our solutions for small businesses in the steel sector and the results exceeded our targets by 17% providing further evidence that this sector needs affordable insurance cover for its workers. We have no doubt of the potential demand for cover in the formal SMME sector made up of 600 000 plus businesses according to the Small Enterprise Development Agency’s (SEDA) SMME Quarterly Update for the first quarter of 2021.
With over 128 years insuring and administering workmen’s compensation benefits, RMA understands that one size does not fit all when it comes to insurance products hence our SME products are tailor made for each individual business. Our Group Life Cover for small businesses includes any combination of cover to suit the needs of your employees and your budget. Group cover is cheaper than individual cover as the risk is spread among more people allowing for lower premiums.
Simple, quick, and easy to buy, RMA’s digital first enabled solution allows entrepreneurs to get a quote to cover their employees within ten minutes online. The RMA Group Life Cover can offer up to R2 million cover for each employee upon death or R500,000 guaranteed cover for five employees or more. Total premiums start from R111 per month per employee. The amount of cover you select will be paid as a lump sum to your employees’ beneficiaries should they pass way.
The Occupational Disability Cover can provide up to the maximum of R2 million depending on the amount of cover selected. The amount is paid if the insured person is permanently occupationally disabled meaning they would have suffered from a bodily injury, illness, disease, or surgical operation which results in them being, in our opinion, totally unable to perform their current occupation’s duties, or the duties of another suitable occupation. Claims and disablement are adjudicated in accordance with the COID Act.
For the Funeral Cover, the amount of cover you select (between R5,000 and R50,000) will be paid upon the death of your employee or any of their family members covered under the policy. You can cover them, their spouse, and any number of children under the age of 21. You can also add any number of new children provided they are under 21.
The benefit will be paid out within 24 hours of receiving all the claim information. The policy does not terminate immediately on the death of your employee. Their spouse and children will continue to be covered for a further six months at no cost.
RMA remains committed to ensuring that workers, who are the most important stakeholder for businesses, are covered against risk of accident, death, or disease in the execution of their duties. For more information on Group Life Cover products for small businesses visit insure.randmutual.co.za