A health insurance expert says there is a significant number of companies looking to offer cover to staff as a result of the pandemic.
It's claimed firms with fewer than 20 employees are increasingly looking to provide health benefits to employees, possibly due to long waiting lists in the public health system.
Founder of totalhealthcover.ie, Dermot Goode, says he has noticed a sizeable shift in employers attitudes to providing health cover:
"We've been seeing companies that we wouldn't normally associate with company paid healthcare benefits, so certain manufacturing companies, law firms. Really what seems to be happening is that a lot of employers want to lock in key staff. They're obviously aware of the difficulty it can be sourcing experienced staff, and they don't want to just give them extra salary."
