What is Duty of Care and Why is it Important?

Duty of care is the obligation to ensure the safety or well-being of others. To provide duty of care, employers need to take all steps reasonably possible to ensure the health, wellbeing and safety of their employees.

Duty of care may be a legal and moral obligation. But it’s also a good business practice. If employees know an organization is concerned about their health, safety and well-being, it builds trust and engagement, and can support productivity and long-term commitment.

Globally employed feel unprotected.

The 2017 Cigna Global Mobility Trends Survey reports:

•  50% of globally mobile individuals feel their employers don’t offer adequate duty of care.

•  74% believe they don’t have sufficient funds to support their family’s healthcare needs and expenses.

Organisations with employees working and traveling overseas have an increased obligation.

Globally mobile employees can find themselves in unfamiliar environments and situations, which they may be less able to handle than they would at home. For many globally mobile employees, their contract includes support for the accompanying family so the duty of care extends to the entire family throughout the assignment.

Building a sense of security by ensuring duty of care.

‘Fulfilling their duty of care requires employers to research their employees’ needs, plan properly according to the destination and to prepare for every eventuality.’

Cigna provides a wide range of tools available before, during and post assignment to protect the health and wellbeing of employees, such as:

•  Cigna Envoy®- Dedicated online portal and app for access to Cigna benefits anytime and anywhere in the world

•  Health and targeted risk assessments

•  Clinical programmes

•  International Employee Assistance Programme (IEAP)

At Cigna we encourage employers to embrace a duty of care mind-set – to go beyond the legal minimum and promote ‘duty of care’ as a core value, aiming to protect employees wherever they work. In turn, employee retention, loyalty and productivity are increased.

If you would like us to help you create a duty of care strategy for your organisation, contact us (infosingapore@cigna.com)