Zurich rolls out empathy training to staff dealing with clients and brokers

According to the insurer, it launched its new empathy training nationwide to more than 100 customer-facing employees in its retail protection business on Monday (October 2).

The training aims to help improve the consumer experience when making or enquiring about a claim, which often happens at times when the client is in vulnerable circumstances.

Zurich said the new specialist training allows staff to determine whether customers need detailed explanations or quick, high-level responses, and how emotionally engaged they need the call handler to be. 

One key element of success is acting with empathy.Pete Sanderson, Zurich

It coincides with national customer service week and comes after it trialled the programme with 70 Zurich UK employees between February and March, which resulted in a rise in its customer satisfaction scores in September.

Zurich said 92 per cent of customers who provided feedback since the training began scored the agents a nine or 10 out of 10 for helpfulness.  

The success of the programme means Zurich UK’s SME team is now training staff to handle brokers’ queries in the same way and the training will soon be extended globally to over 21,000 employees across the business.  

Pete Sanderson, head of retail protection operations at Zurich UK, said it was important staff are emphatic when dealing with customers who are making a claim because that is when they are most vulnerable.

He said: “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to helping our customers, but one key element of success is acting with empathy.

"When someone is making a claim, it’s most likely that they’re at their most vulnerable. It may have been they’ve just been diagnosed with a critical illness or even lost a loved one.

"We know this can be a stressful time, so it’s important that we’re there for them at their time of need, both emotionally and practically."

Behavioural clues

While acknowledging that customers "quite rightly" expect a high level of customer service, he said it was also good to see
other teams within Zurich UK looking to implement it to deliver first-class service to more of the customers and brokers with whom the insurer works.

The training programme also teaches employees how to better understand behavioural cues and emotional nuances enabling them to establish genuine connections with both advisers and customers.

It was developed with professional coaching experts and took more than 3,000 hours over six months to design and implement.

The training is delivered during a two-day immersive programme, which includes true life role-play scenarios that brings to life differing personality types and teaches staff how to adapt to the needs of others.

Aamina Zafar is a freelance financial journalist