Clare Dodd knows full well why employees will always remember that moment when their employer went the extra mile to offer effective support in the immediate aftermath of losing a loved one.
Dodd, the UK general manager at Empathy (pictured), spoke to Health & Protection about why her experience when two of her own grandparents passed has fuelled her passion for spearheading the company’s expansion into the UK in what is such an “untouched” space.
She also discusses why after a successful roll out in North America, the company’s plans are for “slow and intentional” progress creating a properly localised offering that truly resonates with insurers and their customers.
Sharing the loss
“Some people need to share their loss,” Dodd tells Health & Protection. “Some people need to compartmentalise their loss and focus on the very practical steps, then they try and think about dealing with the loss later. And that manifests itself in lots of different ways for employers.”
Dodd adds that fundamentally she does not think any employer actively intends not to support their employees.
“It’s just ignorance and being unsure of where to start,” she continues. “‘Sorry for your loss. Take a few days. We’ll see you back when you’re ready’ – that type of thing.
“When actually our data shows that people are often silent quitting, three, six, nine months down the line because they haven’t dealt with it.
“They’ve put it under a blanket and not thought about it and actually processing those emotions later on is much harder.”
Remembering the moment
In terms of the difference effective employer support can make when someone suffers a bereavement, Dodd explains that affected employees will always remember the moment.
“Much like the relationship between an employer, an insurer and a beneficiary, if an employer steps up and supports an employee more than they expected, they’ll remember,” she continues.
“They’ll feel vulnerable and open and have the ability to share what they’re feeling and what they need.
“Therefore, the chances of getting that support is much higher and their staying is much higher.”
Risk of getting it wrong
Touching on the risks of not getting it right, Dodd says there is a lot of data indicating how younger generations expect more or different from both the financial institutions they do business with, but also their employers.
“There’s a lot of stereotypes out there about Gen Z speaking their truth and sharing their feelings,” she continues.
“There’s good data behind this, but in my opinion an employer does have to have a response.
“Consequently, the dangers of getting this wrong are ultimately about being left behind with the next generation of talent as they enter the workforce,” Dodd adds.
“They do have different expectations and they do have more expectations about the personal, digital experiences that they are offered when they need it,” she continues.
“People talk about the war on talent and things like that, different opinions on things like that, ultimately it’s about relevancy and it’s about changing expectations about what good looks like in these really hard moments. And employers that don’t step up will get left behind.”
Trying to solve this space
Asked about whether she has any experience of losing anyone close, Dodd reveals she has not met anyone working at Empathy that hasn’t experienced a close loss.
“It means that all of us feel an energy and passion to try and solve this space,” she continues.
“I had two grandparents who had very long end-of-life experiences before passing and not having something like a power of attorney in place or not knowing if there was a will, it just exacerbated the pain that we were dealing with as a family.
“And so I feel very passionate about what we’re doing.”
An untouched space
Dodd maintains that with around 650,000 Brits dying every year, most people have experienced a close loss, adding it is fascinating that this is such an untouched space.
“Obviously there is a lot out there in terms of wellness offerings and grief counselling and things like that,” she continues. “But in terms of an actual consolidated view where you’re going to get the practical, the financial, the legal, the administrative steps that you need to take, that’s where my family felt the pain and that’s where most people experience the pain.
“And then obviously the grief makes everything harder still. The grief makes the admin harder. The admin makes the grief harder and it’s just this vicious cycle.”
Overwhelmingly positive reception
All of this means that the reception from the UK insurers she has met has been overwhelmingly positive.
One of these insurers has been Zurich, who this month revealed it is providing its life protection customers access to the bereavement support service at no extra cost – meaning its retail protection customers and employees of corporate risk clients, including all life insurance beneficiaries at the point of claim, will have access to the service.
Explaining and educating
“There’s definitely been an element of explaining and educating in terms of our approach,” Dodd continues.
“I think we’re quite different in terms of how we think about this in the sense that it would be easy to put us in a bucket of a value-added service or a nice to have, but when you think about the data, there’s many different data including our own in terms of changing expectations of younger generations when it comes to the institutions they choose to do business with, the authentic personalised tech-first relationships they want to have with those companies.”
Consumer Duty
But there are also aspects from the vulnerability requirements from the FCA’s Consumer Duty at play here, Dodd points out.
“When you look at the Consumer Duty regulations and what people need to do to step up and help vulnerable people during vulnerable moments, the opportunity really is that it’s 360 at the moment in the sense that at the moment, the typical claims experience is we’re so sorry for your loss, we’ll process your claim, your cheque is in the mail,” she adds.
“What we try to do is we’re so sorry for your loss. We’re processing your claim and while we do that here’s a personalised platform that’s going to help you through all the practical, emotional and financial steps that you’ve got to get through over the next few days and then here’s your claim.
“So the idea is trying to step in and build the relationship from one that is very transactional right now into something that is meaningful and because it’s meaningful, it’s more long term.
“When Zurich steps up and supports the family of someone who’s just passed, that person will remember and they will remember that Zurich was there for them at that moment of need.
“That’s the model and the impact that we’ve seen time and again with our partners in America that we know will also be true here.”
Growth across North America
Empathy launched in the US six years ago and started in Canada at the beginning of last year.
In the years since, the technology company has gone on to serve tens of millions of policyholders across North America and the UK and partners with eight of the top 10 US life insurance carriers and handles one in five life insurance claims in the US beyond the payout. Empathy also partners with hundreds of financial institutions and employers and boasts $162m in funding from top-tier venture firms including Index Ventures, General Catalyst and Adams Street Partners.
Significant coverage
Elaborating on the company’s progress in North America, Dodd adds: “Through the course of those partnerships we’re offered over 35 million covered lives through partnerships with over 50 different financial institutions – predominantly insurers – eight out of the top 10 biggest life insurers in the US are customers of Empathy.
“So pretty significant coverage across all major protection providers in the US.
“And the thing that is really fascinating is what we are known for is our loss-support product, so stepping up, providing an initial layer of support during the claims process to the families of policy holders who have passed.”
Supporting life’s hardest moments
Dodd sums up the company’s purpose as technology and humans to support people through life’s hardest moments.
“There are many other hard moments where an insurer typically steps in and has quite an in-depth relationship with an individual going through something really difficult, whether that’s a natural disaster, whether that’s somebody that’s had a diagnosis of something that they are going to have to get through,” she continues.
“Maybe that diagnosis is terminal. Through our partnerships in the US where we’ve started with loss, we’ve now expanded to different types of support and that’s very much the depth of relationship we’re hoping to have in the UK.”
UK expansion
When asked about the company’s expansion plans in the UK, Dodd reveals while Zurich is Empathy’s first strategic financial partner, it will not be its last as “lots and lots of conversations are happening at the moment”.
And the company is already exploring the prospect of a City of London-based office.
“Part of the reason I was telling you we’re looking for an office in this space is because we’re spending a lot of time over here,” Dodd continues.
“So hopefully it will be a reasonably fast follow up with more news to come soon on the front.
“This is our very first year in the UK and so really it’s less about volume and more about quality and depth.
“We’d rather move slower and more intentionally to make sure we have a product that’s properly localised for the UK market, that we truly understand what insurers and their customers need for us instead of setting a volume target and gunning for it.
“I’d say this year we’re being slow and intentional and the focus is really on quality over quantity, but we expect to grow pretty quickly as we have in the US and Canada.”