Up close and personal: Why service is now the key differentiator between Asia’s SME insurers
Up close and personal: Why service is now the key differentiator between Asia’s SME insurers
Ben Patrick - Casualty and Property Underwriting Manager, Underwriting, Distribution, People, Business Management
Attributes like customer support and company reputation are today more important to policy holders than conventional considerations like price — our experience and industry studies repeatedly show.
Each year, QBE conducts its annual SME surveys for Singapore and Hong Kong. It’s an intriguing exercise that unearths the views and experiences of several hundred executives from small and medium-sized businesses in both markets.
The findings of each edition typically serve up a number of noteworthy observations. Leading QBE’s employee compensation (EC) lines in Asia, I’m particularly interested in responses relating to my area of insurance. Notably, the surveys asked participants to name the most important consideration when purchasing EC coverage. This year the top factors cited included company reputation, coverage, and good experience with insurer — followed by an easy application process, claims support, and price in sixth place.
People usually assume that price will be the number-one consideration. But this has never been the case during my time at QBE. Time and again we hear from customers that cost is far from the top consideration for policy holders. Genuinely, they cherish non-financial features, like reputation in the market and customers experience, more.
Beyond coverage
A journalist recently pointed out to me that “EC coverage is EC coverage”, and that there is little distinction between insurers. While this is a valid observation, EC and its Singapore equivalent, worker compensation (WC) insurance, can actually be a very distinct proposition, depending on the insurer. Granted, both are statutory products, defined by legislation in both markets, and insurers like QBE must offer a product that meets the country’s laws in this area. However, the service that supports this product can be very different across insurers.
Take the application process, for instance. Depending on who you insure with, this can be time consuming, involving a lot of form-filling, and much toing and froing with brokers and agents. Likewise, when making a claim, this too can be a long and laborious process, involving lots of paperwork, a multitude of conversations with various parties, and an elongated payout period.
Not at QBE. Our QBE Connect philosophy, which supports all applications, claims and injury management services with the aspiration to support injured workers returning to work in the event that they experience an injury, is a marked differentiator. Not only does QBE help process claims swiftly; we provide injured individuals with the support they need — including timely consultations with third-party panels like doctors, lawyers, and rehabilitation providers — to support returning to work as soon as possible.
We also advise customers on health and safety best practices. This includes educating business leaders on how EC and WC legislation works in practice. Managing the expectations of policy holders can at times be challenging, however. Many have never made a claim, and are naturally unsure as to how this works. At QBE, we aspire to be as transparent as possible, so that customers can easily digest what is happening behind the scenes, and feel comforted that their claim is being managed.
Supporting mental health
Another interesting finding from this year’s survey is the attention now given to mental health. Some 94% of Hong Kong SMEs say the topic is important. This is a highly encouraging number, likely the result of COVID-19 lockdowns, where many were prohibited from stepping into an office, and mental health issues proliferated. Some became isolated. Others were forced to work in less-than-ideal workspaces. It was a challenging time for many employers and employees.
Mental ill health can be costly. In Singapore, anxiety and depression alone reportedly cost the local economy S$15.7 billion (almost US$12 billion) in productivity every year. And in Hong Kong, mental health issues cost the professional services sector HK$12.4 billion (US$1.6 billion) annually.
With mental health awareness on the rise, it is important to acknowledge that no one has the ability to deal with the issue themselves. Employers must rely on advice from a wide range of experts in this field.
From our perspective, mental health is not an insurance policy, but more a risk that needs to be understand and supported. QBE globally has been developing a number of initiatives supporting mental health. In the UK for instance, we recently launched the “Minds in Business” initiative, which provides mental health insights, assessments, and risk-related information for QBE customers. We hope to bring Minds in Business to Asia to support our QBE customers soon.
New risk exposures
A further topical trend for businesses in both Hong Kong and Singapore is remote working. Unquestionably, it has its pros, particularly for employees who need flexibility to manage a family for example. But it also has its cons. Remote working changes the risk profile of employees for companies. There are new needs such as lability insurance when working at a third-party locations; or a tailored policy for employees who work from home
There is also the risk of people working too long when located at home. They are also exposed to novel types of furniture and machinery that they don’t encounter in an office. It is therefore imperative that employers set clear parameters within their work from home arrangements. For example, encouraging staff to work in a specific space and between set hours; or prompting them to stretch or stroll about every 30 minutes or so. By outlining where and how employees are working, businesses can then work in partnership with their insurer to provide support and accordingly manage these risks.
For businesses allowing their employees to become digital nomads, the risk profile of such arrangements require further considerations. Not only are companies exposed to the risks associated with remote working in a different country, they are also open to the regulatory regime of another jurisdiction. There may be visa restrictions, or the employer could be subject to additional tax. Hence it is important to speak to experts in these respective areas prior to allowing digital nomad arrangements for staff.
Different, evolving, and flexible solutions
Another finding from our engagements with customers is their need for industry solutions, rather than mere policies. Typically businesses from the same sector need a collection of near-identical policies, albeit with some tweaks. We’re seeing this in the food and beverage (F&B) sector especially and have since rolled out a suite of solutions in Hong Kong and Singapore for different types of eateries, whether a local Chinese restaurant, a coffee shop or a global franchise, among others.
Our F&B proposition is in its early days, having only recently been launched. However, interest is high among current customers, as it offers them a one-stop-solution to all of their business insurance needs. In addition to insurance coverage, we are also providing industry best practices and timely updates on risks. This may be in the form of newsletters or posters, and discussions held in WhatsApp groups.
At QBE we’re constantly thinking about how we can better service our customers. In particular, we are looking at how we can blend insurance across multiple products to provide a different, evolving and flexible solution for policy holders — so that they in turn can successfully manage their changing and evolving risks.