I have had the privilege to act as government ambassador for disability and access for the insurance industry for a year now, and I want to provide some insight into some of the actions, achievements and ambitions that so many in the insurance world are collaborating on to deliver, much of which resonates strongly with a growing search for purpose.
Doing things on purpose
Nearly two thirds of US-based employees said in a recent McKinsey survey that Covid-19 caused them to reflect on their purpose in life, and nearly half said they are reconsidering the kind of work they do.
It has been called 'The Great Resignation' – people quitting at record rates, disrupting businesses all over the world. Pay, feeling valued and relationships with managers and colleagues all play a part, but when asked in a recent study by Cornell University on ‘what made the grass greener’, 75 per cent said ‘more meaningful work’. People want to work for companies that make a difference, and the insurance industry collectively has the opportunity to make that difference.
Issues such as sustainability, diversity, access and inclusion have often in the past been seen as a side issue, the responsibility of a small team somewhere. Today it is a regular boardroom issue, part of who the company is.
We have a generation now that is passionate about sustainability, and who have high standards when it comes to ethics and transparency.
Companies who can authentically point to how they are building a sustainable future and workforce, through the support and benefits they provide to their employees, will have a head start attracting new talent, including those who see that economic growth has limitations as a measure of societal success
Here I want to focus specifically on disability inclusion. I listened recently to a podcast featuring Mike Adams OBE, founder of Purple. He is doing amazing work, and he talks of the importance of reframing the conversation on disability to focus on value, contribution, community and opportunity. It is a great listen and you can find a recording here.
He makes the point powerfully that people increasingly will apply different criteria to who they work for and who they buy from. “In this decade, organisations that get disability, inclusion and diversity will absolutely thrive. Those that don't will struggle to survive. I really believe that.”
Purple pounds
In the UK, it is thought that some 7mn people of working age have a disability. They, together with their families, have a spending power, known as the 'purple pound', worth around £274bn, and they want to spend on products and services that work for them.
Recent Business Disability Forum research looking at banking and insurance products found that 70 per cent of respondents said that finding specific information about these types of services was either a little or a lot more challenging given their disability or access needs.
Only 26 per cent of respondents said that their first instinct when choosing a provider is to use one they have used before – 74 per cent of disabled consumers will shop around when looking for these services.
Over the past year, I have learnt a huge amount from so many – disabled people, representative groups, advisers, consultants, competitors and more, and it has struck me how reassuring it is that we work in an industry where people are prepared to compete appropriately, but also to collaborate for the greater good.
There are three key themes to the work we have been doing this year:
- Signposting
- Access to insurance as a career
- Underwriting and data
I would like to provide a brief update and reflections on each.
Signposting
The continued and growing willingness to ‘signpost' customers to specialist advisers is an example of collaboration in action, and has meant many more individuals getting cover who might otherwise be left without it.
The more insurance conversations we collectively have, the better. There will be many thousands of advisers who are confident in having that conversation but for those whose focus and specialism lies elsewhere, there are more options than ever.
They can effect mutually beneficial partnerships with specialist firms or refer the client to the British Insurance Brokers' Association ‘Find a Broker’ service. Biba has a well-established call centre and there is a new and improved website due to be unveiled this year.
The Biba Find Insurance Service is available on 0370 950 1790 or you can find it at www.biba.org.uk The Financial Conduct Authority's consumer duty does not formally mandate signposting, but it gets a strongly positive message. If you cannot write it, signpost it.
Access to insurance as a career
The aim here is simply to make insurance a career where disabled people can thrive. One of the challenges is ensuring the conversation is being had at senior levels within organisations, and one way is to highlight the benefits the Disability Confident status provides.
There is an obligation under the Equality Act 2010 that employers must make reasonable adjustments to support disabled job applicants and employees, but of course we need to go beyond simple compliance to reflect on the social and business imperatives.
The government’s Disability Confident scheme is designed to encourage employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people.
In recent months both Lifesearch and Openwork have taken the first steps and reached level one accreditation. In the words of Setul Mehta, head of business development and adviser services at Openwork: "The Openwork Partnership has made diversity, wellbeing and inclusion one of its key strategic priorities.
"Joining the Disability Confident Employer scheme was an obvious choice for the partnership, and we hope that our involvement will contribute to meaningful and tangible changes across the financial services industry, helping to positively change attitudes, behaviours, and cultures with regards to disability."
These words were echoed by Andrew Parker, head of people and culture at Lifesearch: “We have always been committed to giving everyone opportunities; whatever their walk of life and whatever their life experience.
"Becoming a Disability Confident employer felt like a natural next step to give us a measurable programme to hold ourselves accountable against. The opportunity to learn from other organisations and share our own successes feels like a great way to grow the work and reach of Disability Confident”.
Of course, not all disabilities are visible (in fact most are not) – and the renewed focus on mental health and willingness to talk about it will be a positive benefit from the past two years.
Another positive to be found in the tough environment of the past 12 months was the founding of the Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodivesity. It is an organisation designed to explore and promote the opportunities and benefits from employing a neurodiverse workforce within the insurance, investment and related financial services industry.
Underwriting and data
This is the third key strand of work on access to insurance, and perhaps the most challenging.
Data represents one of the biggest opportunities companies have to serve their customers and grow their business, and this clearly includes protection insurance. The question is whether we can do so in a way that offers tangible consumer benefits without creating attendant harms, including limitations on access to insurance.
In a life-protection context, there are plenty of areas where algorithms can help. Customers, advisers and insurers waste time and money in NPWs – the cases that are Not Proceeded With. Analytics should help.
For those online journeys, where do customers drop out, how can we intervene at just the right time and help them out? Can we reduce questions that are not adding value? What are the events that matter to customers and how can we better communicate at the right time throughout the life of their policy?
Even more positively, data can be used to understand someone's health, and create proactive and preventative interventions.
One of the dangers we face, with more data on more people being available and clever algorithms being used to manipulate that data, is whether we end up effectively excluding more and more.
Solutions here are not quick or easy, but more immediately it is encouraging to see the work that the Association of British Insurers is doing in looking to accelerate access to medical records.
Pre-pandemic, the take up of electronic health reports would have been under 25 per cent, now it is nearer 50 per cent – so, strong progress.
We need to grow this number while working in parallel with appropriate authorities to allow consumers to give informed consent to sharing their own records, as these become digitised by the NHS. This has the potential to transform underwriting and claims processes.
Peter Hamilton is head of market engagement at Zurich
