The Inward Period

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How to get ahead while we hurry up and wait for vaccines

This editorial marks the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic. Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry quite rightly prides itself on its resilience and agile response during the early stages of the pandemic. But one year later, like the rest of Canadian society in general, the industry appears to be hitting the proverbial wall.

Remember those heady days last March, when everyone in the industry was setting up their workspaces at home and figuring out how to communicate with their colleagues and their clients?

Stressed, furloughed, broke and besieged Canadians were calling, begging for premium relief. And insurers, who were posting losses in many business lines, found a way to free up funds for their clients and customers.

Throughout it all, brokers were on top of their game, serving customers 24/7, using all manner of digital services, and essentially ushering in a form of omnichannel service that had been previously just a seminar topic at industry conferences. The broker value proposition soared, and — thanks to the efficiencies introduced by video technology — so did brokerage sales.

All of this expended energy comes at a price, of course.

Today, online news stories about wellness, self-care, workplace stress, and burnout all seem to resonate with an industry workforce that has been dealing with a societal crisis for much longer than anticipated. Ever the social beings, P&C professionals are being called upon to dig deep and confront their personal limits while living in a state of extended isolation.

As we all endure a glacially-paced vaccine rollout in Canada, the first six months of 2021 represent what I would call “The Inward Period” for the industry. This is a time to reflect on emerging issues such as managing remote workers; ensuring workplace safety once vaccines arrive; planning what the future workplace/workforce will look like; and finding innovative ways to provide cover in an ongoing hard market. And, of course, digital upgrades.

Those who use this period of suspended animation wisely will have a competitive advantage come September, when the industry will be ready to answer the bell for the next post-COVID challenge. Until then, however, it’s a good time to pause and answer the existential question: “What are we all doing?’

david@canadianunderwriter.ca Twitter: @Cdnunderwriter Facebook: canadianunderwriter canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2021