'Too easy to say no': brokers flag remote working negatives

Technology’s ability to enable home working has been hailed as one of the positives of the covid pandemic – but brokers have concerns too.

Relationships between brokers and underwriters have deteriorated, leading sometimes to less than optimal outcomes for clients in a tough market.

And there are also worries about training the next generation of industry professionals, as learning from observing others going about their jobs is far less common than it used to be.

“Feedback from brokers is that one of the negatives of working from home is the lack of experience sharing, where decisions are being made independently rather than being discussed with senior colleagues, resulting in a sense that it seems easier to just say no,” CEO of the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) Phil Kewin says.

Other industry leaders, responding to an Insurance News survey about what 2022 holds, agree.

“I feel service standards from insurers have started to wane a little the longer the pandemic has gone on,” Insurance Advisernet MD Shaun Standfield says.

“This is due to fatigue and in some part lack of training or declining organisational culture in terms of service and responsiveness.”

WTW Head of Australasia Simon Weaver says all industry players have seen the value of technology during the pandemic, including the successful move to remote working.

“We expect this will continue but the key, longer term question is whether this will start to erode the ability to train our new generations of talent, and how insurers and brokers mitigate that risk,” he says.

MGA MD Paul George says the increased flexibility of home working “has been a great change for some” but that “we can lose the personal touch”.

“Remote working in the longer term is difficult and it shows just how important working in the same environment is.”

Lloyd’s General Representative in Australia Chris Mackinnon can see both sides.

“On one hand the transition to a digital way of working has provided employees with greater flexibility and a better work life balance while businesses have, in many cases, enjoyed reduced operational costs and improved efficiency,” he said.

“On the other hand, this shift away from face-to-face working has, in many cases, seen a loss of team culture, reduced learning and development opportunities through ‘osmosis’ and less collaboration.”

The issue was also discussed at the NIBA convention.

NIBA President Dianne Phelan told delegates in Adelaide last week that an inability to get in touch with people in order to complete tasks within set timeframes at claims time has contributed to code of practice breaches during the pandemic.

Ms Phelan says at her own firm there has been “huge frustration” as problems contacting underwriters, funders, assessors, surveyors, or the clients themselves has delayed processes.

“Trying to get claims handled, to get questions answered has been incredibly difficult,” she said.

A recent Insurance Brokers Code Compliance Committee report identified a significant level of breaches from simple errors across the industry, which Ms Phelan says may also reflect challenges training staff in a remote working environment.

“We did a lot of workshops via Zoom last year and I would be the first to admit that, whilst they work, you don’t get the same engagement from your team as if you can sit down and thrash around [an issue] through a workshop around a table in the same room,” she said.

Ms Phelan says the industry has shown great resilience over the past two years in handling the stresses of covid and impacts on businesses and maintaining services to clients.

The latest wave of the virus had also brought fresh challenges and affected hopes toward the end of last year that 2022 would bring everyone together again.

“I am not sure we are quite there yet, but hopefully we are not too far away,” she said.