Off the shelf or made to measure? Insurance for employees to suit you

Tailoring corporate insurance for employees to your business

Of all the industries in all the sectors, insurance must be one of the least substantive to grasp yet almost universal in its presence.

What is essentially pay today to protect against something which may happen tomorrow is a vast global enterprise, expected to be worth some £5 trillion this year.

So embedded is it in our daily lives that buying cover is almost a reflex action. Putting aside the optimism bias which tends to affect most of us (it’ll never happen to me), we do so anyway for cars, belongings, houses, income, illness and the more esoteric contracts such as a wine taster’s sense of smell or a supermodel’s legs. If it exists, you can insure it.

Obviously, if we were in the business of broking the right deal for Gisele Bundchen or specific parts of her anatomy, it’s unlikely you’d be reading this.

That’s because what we do is decidedly more grounded than that but all the better for it. 

But if, as I’ve just written, it’s a transaction we barely think about, why am I asking you to even consider it? Isn’t it just a case of picking up a policy off the shelf? An Ikea for insurance, with an aisle number and letter for all you need, all by yourself?

If you’re feeling a touch uneasy at that analogy, you’re right to because putting in place life assurance, private medical cover and other protection in the shape of insurance for employees is not without complications.

I could launch into a monologue on how we spend the time making sure clients really understand what they need (and we certainly do) but can probably better sum it up with an illustration from a colleague.

He went shopping with his about-to-graduate son to suit and boot him for interviews. Both knew it wouldn’t be cheap – especially as the family matriarch was in attendance.

And, no doubt, they could have spent less but they walked out with something just right largely because the chap looking after them, which is what he did, knew what he was doing and spent an hour or so carefully listening and then recommending, comparing, explaining and adjusting (the cuffs needed taking up a smidgen). Without selling. Whatever the outcome of those job applications, it won’t be for lack of looking and feeling the part.

It may seem like I’m straying into the territory of one of Billy Connolly’s famous routines when he lethally lampoons the clunking attempts of a beleaguered parish priest to relate the everyday to the Almighty in order to enthuse – and infuse – his recalcitrant flock with the Holy Spirit (“and do you know, that left winger breaking free of the defence reminded me of… *salty Scottish-accented expletive here*…”)

But I genuinely believe in our personal, yes, boutique approach, leaning on our experience and market knowledge to ensure our clients are fitted with the right cover. Put more simply, insurance for employees against the worst that can happen.

It pains me to admit that I’m no Big Yin, but over the coming weeks and months, my colleagues and I will be sharing more about how we can do the same for your company.