Symbian is a software licensing company, owned by wireless industry leaders, that is the creator and trusted supplier of the advanced, open stan

dard operating system – Symbian OS – for data-enabled mobile phones. Symbian develops systems for the world’s biggest mobile phone companies, who are dotted all around the globe. This means that whether a Symbian employee is in Korea working with Samsung, or in Finland with Nokia, they need to know their health is not being gambled on.

IHC, experts in the provision of private healthcare for businesses both at home and abroad, were contacted in 2000 to find the best deal for Symbian and its 500 employees which has subsequently grown to 1,300 global employees in 2006. There is a multitude of healthcare options available, and Symbian needed a knowledgeable guide to seek out the best, most suitable deal for them.

Symbian wanted its workers, who could be on international placements of between three months and five years, to not have to worry if they were covered by medical insurance if something was to happen while abroad.

Wayne Coomey, Head of HR at Symbian, said: “We felt that when our employees went on International Assignment, we wanted them to focus purely on the job in hand, and not worry whether they were covered health-wise, should anything go wrong.”

This has meant that Symbian has maintained the productivity levels of their workers, wherever they are in the world. Just as importantly, the level of care that Symbian is able to provide with IHC’s help has made employees feel more valued by their employer, something that is integral to staff morale and engagement.

Symbian found that working with IHC was a very simple process. All the legwork was done by IHC, who rapidly presented a deal tailored to them after researching and negotiating in the market.

“Everything flows, from our domestic health plan to our international cover, without much input from us,” Mr Coomey said. “IHC does all the hard work, and they’re really proactive about it.”

Symbian found they were rarely getting the same product year-on-year because IHC are always on the lookout for a more cost effective or a more comprehensive deal to offer them, come the yearly tender. It is this personalised, thoughtful service that appeals to a hard-working, busy HR manager.

“I know I can focus on my other responsibilities, such as Resourcing, strategy design  and learning and development, and not have to worry about the finer details of our health policy, because it is effortlessly taken care of,” Mr Coomey said.

IHC’s team of experts are always on hand to look after Symbian’s needs, and their workers often receive personal consultations with Rod McKenzie, a partner at IHC.

“Rod and the team are fantastic,” Mr Coomey said. “Employees have contacted Rod in the past with queries about how much cover they are eligible for, and he has happily taken time out to deal personally with these queries, which is above and beyond.”

The relationship between Symbian and IHC has been a fruitful one. In fact, when Symbian changed brokers for a number of their benefits, including pensions, five years ago, their new broker told them to stick with IHC for their medical plan, as they could not match the deal.

Mr Coomey said: “IHC are the best negotiators I have dealt with, as well as the friendliest, with Rod visiting our office at least three times a year for an update. Even though I think we’re probably only a small ticket client to them, we are treated like an A star one.”