Insurers large and small across the health and protection industry are resuming face-to-face meetings with advisers as lockdown measures ease and more people are fully vaccinated.
And Zurich has revealed it its business development managers (BDMs) will resume face-to-face meetings next month.
The revelation followed a Health & Protection investigation into providers’ willingness to let employees meet advisers in the wake of the insurer’s own research, which showed some intermediaries had already resumed face-to-face client meetings.
Hybrid approach
“Throughout the pandemic and during lockdown, our field-based team reverted to a remote working model, making full use of technology to support advisers with meetings and webinars,” Louise Colley, director of retail protection at Zurich, told Health & Protection.
“Pre-Covid, the majority of our workforce worked remotely for at least some of the time, so the transition was seamless and enabled us carry out business as usual.
“To help shape our future plans, we’ve engaged with our partners and listened to their feedback, taking into account government guidance. For advisers who want face-to-face contact, we’ll be back out on the road from 1 September as part of a hybrid approach to balance business needs and preferred ways of working.”
Vitality is already allowing its staff to meet with advisers.
A Vitality spokesperson told Health & Protection: “Since the start of the pandemic, our advice to our employees has been aligned to government guidelines, which required people to work from home.
“As restrictions have eased, those that have expressed a wish to meet with advisers are able to do so as long as both parties are comfortable and continue to follow safety advice.”
A spokesperson for Aviva said it was also allowing face-to-face meetings in line with government advice, adding it also applied controls in order to protect staff and any visitors to its buildings.
Pre-meeting Covid tests
Antony Uttley, chief sales officer at Shepherds Friendly, revealed while the firm’s business development team conducted meetings with advisers and companies online and over the phone during the pandemic, it had resumed face-to-face meetings with a number of safety measures in place.
This includes carrying out a lateral flow test on the day of the meeting, using hand sanitiser before, during and after meetings, social distancing when attending meetings on the premises of advisers, ensuring the number of attendees in a meeting is kept to a minimum and that business development team members attend meetings on an individual basis.
A Legal & General spokesperson stressed that it had focused on protecting health and safety of all staff in line with government guidelines while ensuring customers are still served during the pandemic.
“We continue to ask colleagues to keep business travel to a minimum wherever possible but, where there is a genuine business need to travel, asking they check there are no localised restrictions in the areas they are travelling to,” the spokesperson added.
“Face-to-face interaction with colleagues and advisers is hugely important for many of us and with this in mind, we are starting to see a small number of partners express an appetite to meet in person which is permitted where appropriate and in adherence to current safety guidelines and best practice.”
Success of vaccine rollout
Natalie Summerson, sales and marketing director at British Friendly, said while the firm has adapted to a new way of working during the pandemic, it was starting to resume face-to-face meetings.
“Due to the success of the vaccine roll-out in recent months we have started to resume face-to-face meetings with advisers on an individual basis, however the welfare of our adviser partners and employees is always our primary concern.
“In line with this, we only hold face-to-face meetings if all parties are comfortable and feel their safety is not at risk.
“Our approach going forward will be a flexible one, working together with advisers to arrange meetings in a format that works best for both parties.”
Axa Health revealed its staff were once again meeting with advisers should they choose to do so.
“We are taking a sensible, cautious approach to this and following the government’s guidance for working safely during Coronavirus,” it said.
Canada Life said it was happy for staff to meet advisers face-to-face and has seen increasing demand from advisers for that to happen.
“As we head through the summer and into the autumn event and conference season we are planning to ramp up our activity as demand dictates,” the insurer said.
“Throughout the pandemic we have been mindful of not only the government guidelines but also our colleagues safety, and therefore face-to-face meetings were not permitted until restrictions lifted.
“Although we will continue with our cautious approach, we are allowing external visitors into our offices for meetings subject to capacity limits.”