Korea: Healthy Workforce

Employee Choice Through One Unique App 

With Korea’s government taking on the full responsibility of Covid-related treatment and vaccination, Mercer Marsh Benefits (MMB) Korea is focusing on providing value through our one-stop group medical insurance service via our mobile claims platform, MCare, which provides employees the choice of benefits most relevant to their needs.

This is because the pandemic has resulted in an increased need for a number of services that clients are still asking for, indicating some gaps in the supply of such services that we as solution providers should seek to fill.

Rise of Covid-Related Needs

The restrictions and changes brought about by the pandemic gave rise to new needs among our clients, such as an increased awareness for employers to provide mental health assistance and addressing ergonomic concerns due to work-from-home arrangements.

This sharp increase in the variety of employees’ needs requires a greater level of employee choice for their benefits. We believe our mobile platform, MCare, which is unique in the market, is well-suited to fulfill this need. On top of being a claims application, MCare offers employees their choice of benefits, which provides much added convenience as a single location for employees to access all their group insurance coverages and benefits-related needs.

MMB also intends to align with vendors specialized in health-related services, such as Employee Assistant Program and counseling, to deliver such services online.

Rise of Flex

Flexible benefits have not been a common feature in the employee benefits of companies in Korea, but we have observed a rise in interest and uptake among MNCs here. Increasingly, employers want to leverage new work norms to provide their employees with enhanced benefits like insurance choices with better terms and conditions.

This is due to work-from-home arrangement and the widespread use of virtual communication reducing work hours (due to reduced time spent commuting), giving employees more time to utilize a wider range of benefits choices.

Hence, we see a natural alignment of our mobile application with the increased need for employee choice and flexible benefits.