AXA's WeCare: Reaching the goal together

October 2022

Whether preventive measures for better employee health or rapid assistance in an emergency: With AXA Switzerland's WeCare, the health management program for companies, you know that your employees’ wellbeing is always in good hands.

Employees who have fallen sick or had an accident, find themselves in an extremely complex situation – with medical, professional, and social implications.

WeCare, a Corporate Health Management (CHM) program developed by AXA, offers personal support in all matters concerning the health of employees: from occupational health advice to the introduction of prevention measures and support for absent employees.

A corporate health management program can increase your employee's satisfaction levels and reduce the expense of health-related absences.

AXA Switzerland’s corporate health management program can save on costs related to absenteeism through its preventive measures and support programs and provides a systematic approach that also saves time.

Through targeted measures, employees’ motivation, and some medical absences can be reduced.  This means that a corporate health management program can have a positive impact on about half of all illness-related absences. 

WeCare provides an employer with access to a large selection of preventive services and programs in place with a wide range of partners in the healthcare sector.  This gives companies access to a broad range of solutions for any situation and that are best suited to the needs of the company and its employees.  

With WeCare, employers can access the support of Care Management and Case Management for potential long-term absences. 

Companies with more than 50 employees will also be assigned a dedicated contact person to personally support them with questions about their employees’ health. 

Care Management focuses on the care of the patient, while Case Management focuses on rehabilitation and recovery as a whole. However, they cannot be clearly separated from one another.  With both Care and Case Management, companies and employees receive professional support with reintegration at work, after either an illness or accident.

Every case is decided upon on an individual basis as to whether it will be dealt with by Care Management or Case Management.

• If an absence is likely to occur:  If it is likely that an employee will be absent for a lengthy period,  case or care managers contact the employee early to help clarify the situation. The aim is to find a common solution that can shorten or even avoid absences. 
• If there is an existing case of incapacity for work: If an employee is already unable to work, the specialists provide support with reintegration at work. They support employees through the entire recovery and reintegration process by providing expert advice and coordinating the activities of all parties involved by reaching across professional or institutional boundaries.

If a company is dealing with any of the following situations, it's worth involving care and case managers: 

• Growing evidence of lengthy periods of incapacity for work
• Absences related to terminations and conflicts
• A history of repeated short absences
• Unjustified and/or unexplained absences from the workplace
• Evidence an employee may be having personal issues
• Impending disability
• Need for reintegration measures
• Good prospect of a successful rehabilitation and reintegration process

Absenteeism is a challenge for all those involved.  In addition to their own recovery process, the affected employee must carry on with a new life situation and administrative work. In addition to looking for a replacement, there are also issues for the company concerning employment law and insurance.  

AXA's specialists offer professional support in these exceptional situations, taking the burden from all affected functions and helping to speed up the return to work.  It is a beneficial process, for both the employee and employer: 

• Employees feel appreciated and supported by their employer.  This strengthens workplace happiness.
• The reintegration of employees secures valuable know-how in the company and reduces the cost of staff recruitment.
• The number of long-term absences and disablements is reduced.  This relieves the financial burden on the pension fund and prevents the high cost of absences.

Care Management is part of AXA Switzerland's daily sickness benefits insurance. There are no additional costs for customers with a corresponding policy.

If the chances of successful rehabilitation and reintegration process are met, the Case Management offer is part of the obligatory accident insurance and/or of the occupational benefits solution from AXA Switzerland. This means that there will no additional costs.

To ensure the highest levels of data security, only the case managers are allowed to access the case data.  AXA complies with the exacting professional standards of the Case Management Network Switzerland (Netzwerk Case Management Schweiz).

With WeCare, AXA has developed a program that is dedicated entirely to the health of employees. Prevention is a key part of this.

Together with selected partners, AXA Switzerland helps employers design a daily work schedule for their company that promotes health. 

• Developing an action plan
  Through the corporate health management program, an employer can determine the state of their employees' health and put together an action plan to implement preventive health measures.

• An important tool of WeCare is the Working Atmosphere Compass, a quick and effective tool that analyzes problems in the workplace and reinforces employee health in a targeted fashion.
  This tool was developed by AXA's partner, DearEmployee, and provides an insight into the health, motivation and company loyalty of employees using scientifically based surveys, reviewing the results and suggesting appropriate actions and measures to improve health in the workplace.

• Health App
  With the health app of AXA's partner, kinastic, employees can access programs for exercise, nutrition and mental health.

• With the Health Keeper platform, employers can offer a wide range of health-related services:; Employees can easily calculate their individual "health age" and then choose specific measures to help them improve their health. The app offers a variety of tips and tutorials on topics such as exercise, nutrition, and relaxation to actively promote healthy living.

Stress and burnout prevention is a component of AXA’s Corporate Health Management program. As the first step, trained experts identify potential for reducing stress in a company. 

Measures are then developed to build up stress reduction expertise and anchor this in the company in the long term. Employees receive helpful tips in workshops and training to learn how to deal with stressful situations.

Chronic stress disorders, such as burnout, can’t be pinpointed based on a single symptom. Instead, they manifest differently for every person affected.

Musculoskeletal disorders are among the most frequent complaints experienced by employees in Switzerland.

As part of corporate health management, the goal of ergonomics in the workplace is to reduce illness-related absences and promote the performance of employees. This is achieved through the optimal design of workplaces, which account for the individual needs of employees, in addition to subject-specific training.

Usually, this work is completed in two steps:

• Workplace Assessment:  AXA's occupational safety experts check out the workplaces and work sequences of a company on site.  As a result, health hazards can be identified and replaced with more ergonomic alternatives. 
• Workshops: AXA's workshops last from half a day to several days and help to raise employees' awareness about the enormous long-term value of movement.  Measures are devised so that each individual can reach specified goals, and a practical implementation plan is drawn up based on the measurement results.

• Health promotion measures indicate to staff that the employer cares about their health, thus promoting a productive working environment; This can help to boost the happiness of the employees.
• Healthy and motivated employees are demonstrably more productive, are less prone to absenteeism and are loyal to their employer for longer.  This can help to reduce absenteeism due to illness, lost production and staff turnover. 
• Lower absenteeism reduces direct and indirect absence costs and also saves on administrative work. This can help to strengthens a company's profitability and makes it more competitive.

Around two million customers trust in AXA’s expertise in personal, property, liability, legal protection and life insurance, as well as healthcare and occupational benefits insurance. With innovative products and services in areas such as mobility, healthcare, pensions and business, together with simple, digital processes, AXA is a supportive partner for its customers. 

With more than 340 branch offices, AXA has Switzerland’s largest distribution network in the insurance industry.  AXA Switzerland is part of the AXA Group and generated business volume of CHF 5.5 billion (USD 5.75 billion) in 2021.

• Leader in the Swiss Insurance Market
  • Number 1 in the Swiss insurance market, mainly SMEs
  • Insures 40% of all companies in Switzerland
  • Serves 1.9 million customers
  • Offers 91 products providing comprehensive financial security 
  • The only Swiss insurance company with its own accident research center
• Broad range of products for corporate & private clients: Personal, property and liability insurance solutions, health insurance, as well as customized life, pension and investment products.
• Occupational employee benefits: One of the top providers of occupational benefits schemes for small, medium and large companies. The leading market provider of semi-autonomous occupational benefits schemes.
• Online client service via:  www.AXA.ch/bvg: Web-based administration tool for corporate employee benefits clients.  On-line access to forms, information on contracts and insured persons, and the ability to transmit changes to the data directly.
• Online insured person service (pension portal) via www.AXA.ch/meine-pensionskasse: Best in class regarding online services for insured persons. On-line access to forms and information, as well as the ability to do retirement calculations and make online purchases regarding occupational benefits.