As an Employer, How Can You Protect Your Team?

The Benefit Nobody Wants to Use, But Families Never Forget

Death in Service is one of the simplest employee benefits to understand, and one of the hardest to talk about.

Nobody starts a new job expecting their family to need it, and employers naturally hope it will never be claimed. But if an employee dies while covered, the support it provides can arrive at a time when their family is already dealing with more than enough.

What Death in Service is

Death in Service pays a lump sum if an eligible employee dies while covered by the scheme. The benefit is often set as a multiple of salary, commonly two to four times, though the amount and the rules depend on how the scheme is set up. So it’s important to know who’s included, how the benefit is calculated and what conditions apply.

Getting those details right matters, because this is a benefit for a time when there’s no room for confusion.

What it can mean for a family

The money can’t replace the person they’ve lost. What it can do is take some of the immediate financial pressure off. The mortgage still needs paying. Household bills carry on. Childcare may change. And a surviving partner may need time away from work, or just some breathing space, while the family adjusts to a completely different life.

What it says about your business

For an employer, arranging Death in Service is about more than an insurance payment. It recognises that an employee’s life doesn’t stop at the workplace door. Behind the colleague in the meeting, serving customers or keeping the business moving, there may be a partner, children or others who rely on them.

Employees notice when their employer takes their security seriously. A policy can’t create loyalty or make up for good management, fair pay and a healthy culture, but meaningful benefits can be part of a workplace where people feel their families have been thought of too.

It should be designed, not just bought

As with any group protection benefit, a scheme works best when it’s been thought through. That means considering:

• Who is eligible, and from when

• What level of benefit makes sense for your business

• How it’s set up, including whether it’s written under a trust so the payout can go where the employee wished

• How it fits with the rest of your benefits package

And make sure your people know it’s there. A benefit nobody has heard of can’t reassure anyone, and employees should be able to understand how it works and keep their nominations up to date.

Review it as the business grows

Businesses rarely stand still. New people join, salaries change and teams grow quickly. A scheme that suited you when it started may need adjusting later, and a regular review helps stop it drifting away from what you meant to provide.

The Waddle takeaway

Nobody wants to imagine the empty desk. But responsible protection is about thinking of the family behind it, and making sure real support can be there if the unimaginable happens.