We often cite the arguments for group health insurance – but a finance director rightly asks: „and at our company, in numbers?" The return is measurable if you fix the baseline BEFORE launch and then consistently measure the same things.
The six metrics
- Sick days per employee per year – the most direct impact area (baseline: the previous 1-2 closed years).
- Attrition rate and replacement cost – according to some HR-profession estimates, one replacement can cost 5-6 months of salary; 1-2 avoided resignations can cover the whole annual programme cost.
- Sick-pay administration and cover-staffing costs – the secondary cost line of sick days.
- Utilisation rate – aggregate data available from the care coordinator: not direct forints, but the precondition of the other metrics.
- Recruiting indicators: application volumes before/after communicating the benefit, offer-acceptance rate.
- Employee satisfaction/eNPS – two benefit-specific questions in one annual survey.
The baseline-year method
The measurement order is simple: the last closed year before launch is the baseline; the first programme year is ramp-up (do not judge yet); from year two, look at year-on-year. Read sick-day data seasonally too – one strong flu year can wash out the effect, so the 2-3-year trend is the honest reading.
The typical measurement mistakes
- Attributing every change to the insurance – if a pay rise or reorganisation happened meanwhile, note it in the report.
- Judging on year one – utilisation ramps up over 6-12 months (utilisation article).
- Touching individual health data – measurement may only work from aggregates (GDPR).
Who to report it to?
Numbers work when they regularly reach leadership – the report format has its own article: HR report. For the CFO’s business frame: the 7 CFO questions.
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