Responsibility

To ensure that its policyholders were also able to take advantage of more stable health costs in 2019, Groupe Mutuel redistributed 101 million Swiss francs to more than 780,000 AOS/OKP policyholders last year.

Many policyholders were quick to send us their warm, touching and spontaneous “thank you” notes. Whether a card, a handwritten letter, an email, a drawing or a photo, formats and subjects were many and varied. They included colourful flowers, beautiful landscapes, autumnal prints, natural or animal designs, and snowy atmospheres.

The messages received were encouraging:

“It’s Christmas in November”, “I am and will remain a loyal customer”, “I was able to repair my car”, “Thank you for this unexpected support”, “I have the best insurance”,

and also:

“Thank you so much. We would like to take this opportunity to tell you how pleasant your staff is on the phone and how they take the time to explain things clearly.”

These messages were heart-warming and reminded our employees that a satisfied customer is the best and most motivating reward.

While health insurers are required to meet high legal standards and be able to pay their financial commitments whatever happens, Groupe Mutuel also believes that any excess financial reserves should benefit policyholders and families, whose financial burden increases each year.

Groupe mutuel repays chf 101 million to its policyholders

Groupe mutuel safeguards its employees’ health and makes sure to stay in touch with customers

In 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges faced by Groupe Mutuel were unprecedented – whether health-related, logistical, technical or organisational. Whether it was about protecting employees, ensuring the company’s security or keeping operations running, there was no lack of priorities.

The purpose being to ensure that our customer relationships continue to run as smoothly as possible.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020, a crisis unit has monitored and assessed the situation on a daily basis and taken the appropriate measures, always in line with the rules issued by the cantonal and federal authorities. The hygiene measures recommended by the FOPH were implemented from the very beginning of the pandemic, whether relating to the provision of hydro-alcoholic hand gel and masks throughout the company, the installation of Plexiglas and protective screens in our agencies, or compliance with strict protective measures (hand washing, social distancing, etc.).

All staff eligible for home office were also quickly provided with computer equipment to be able to connect to their workplace from home. Thanks to these measures, Groupe Mutuel has been able to maintain its operations and interactions with its customers. At the same time, it has shown itself to be an attractive and responsible employer.

Ensuring customer satisfaction remains the first and foremost concern of Groupe Mutuel. In order to support and serve our policyholders in the best possible way, and to be useful as simply, quickly and efficiently as possible. There is only one way to do this: to continually listen to customer needs and to constantly improve our services.

Significant resources were allocated in 2020, in particular to the Contact Center, in order to respond even better to customer expectations and ensure policyholders were able to access Groupe Mutuel through all channels of customer interaction, including during COVID-19 and when employees are working from home. At the same time, a major focus was placed on

STUDIES TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH SYSTEM

The publication in 2020 of a study of Groupe Mutuel on the use of benzodiazepine sleeping pills by the elderly in Switzerland received wide and positive media coverage. According to this study, 20% of people aged 65 and over made use of benzodiazepines in 2017, and overconsumption may affect 16% of seniors. Carried out in partnership with the General Medicine and Public Health University Centre in Lausanne, this survey is part of Groupe Mutuel’s overall commitment to take part in scientific studies aimed at improving the healthcare system. In November 2020, a second Groupe Mutuel study was published, this time on the minimum number of cases in hospitals. The minimum number of cases defines the frequency with which an operation should be performed in a hospital in order to guarantee high quality standards. The study showed that there is a true potential for improvement in this respect, as in 2018, 46% of hospitals had not reached the minimum number of cases. Therefore, it would be appropriate to review hospital planning, which falls under the responsibility of cantons in Switzerland.

OUR PRIORITY: TO ENSURE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

EMPLOYEE HEALTH ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS

Groupe Mutuel is committed to its employees’ health and well-being. As from the spring of 2020, when most employees started working from home, it’s priority is to maintain strong ties between employees and the company.

To this end, tutorials were posted on the company intranet to provide advice and support on good home office practices. A little later, in the autumn, as part of the “Attractive working environment” initiative, Groupe Mutuel launched the BOOST programme to promote work-life balance and the quality of working life for its employees, both on a physical and mental level, an approach that is all the more important during this tricky period of pandemic.

Sports (fitness, yoga, tai chi, Pilates, muscle strengthening, etc.), nutritional advice, cooking classes, webinars and web capsules on health topics and good practices: BOOST aims to improve our employees’ well-being and health. Similarly, free consultations were offered on the newly launched applications mynd and MyDiabCheck, as well as free access, in December 2020, to the application MyHealthCheck.

Finally, monthly surveys were conducted among employees by an external company to guarantee that answers remain anonymous. These surveys make it possible to monitor changes in employee mindsets as closely as possible and to identify areas for improvement.

BALANCING WORK AND PRIVATE LIFE

Balancing work and private life is a priority for Groupe Mutuel, especially when employees work from home.

Groupe Mutuel has also developed an innovative paid leave policy. Following the introduction of the new law granting two weeks’ paid paternity leave to working fathers, Groupe Mutuel confirmed its desire to strengthen its position as an attractive employer by offering a total of three weeks’ fully-paid leave from 1 January 2021.

Originally planned on 3 September in Pully (VD), Forum Prévoyance, proposed by Groupe Mutuel in collaboration with Le Temps and PME Magazine, did not take place in the end because of the pandemic. However, live-chats and online forums were held between 3 and 17 September and were widely attended. For the occasion, Groupe Mutuel and Le Temps commissioned a survey on retirement savings’ plans, the results of which were widely reported in the media.

According to the survey, Swiss people want to have more freedom in choosing their pension plan. At the same time, 74% of citizens are opposed to raising the retirement age and a majority are also against lowering the conversion rate.

FORUM PREVOYANCE SURVEY

enhancing our employees’ skills, including by introducing a development plan focused on training, skills and customer retention. Systematic surveys were also carried out to measure customer satisfaction. Thanks to these surveys, we were able to detect potential areas for improvement rapidly.

Finally, in July 2020, the strategic project GM360° was launched with the aim to implement a new customer engagement platform (CRM). This tool is designed to generate transparency in customer records, facilitate the daily work of employees and improve services to policyholders. As for the monitoring of quality, it obviously also plays a role in the digitisation of customer experience.

Colombus Consulting conducted a study on a panel of some 20 major insurance companies, and Groupe Mutuel’s GMapp application came out top of its category. Third in the overall result (and first health insurer in this ranking), Groupe Mutuel also took second place in terms of social networks. It should be noted that the GMapp application had more than 300,000 users at the end of December 2020.