Jacklyn Tan Mun Yee, director of regional employee benefits, Asia, for Howden in Singapore, speaks to Health & Protection about how she entered the profession by accident, the future of IPMI, her ability to do yoga stunts, her slow and steady mantra and her determination that ‘It’s My Life’.
How long have you been in the international health advice industry and why did you start working in it?
I accidentally began working as a client executive in a small broking firm 19 years ago after graduating.
As a junior, my job was to help all the seniors with their paperwork across all lines (including general classes of insurance), and every so often I got to go along to meetings.
As a result of this exposure, I decided to specialise in employee benefits, which is a path I enjoy taking.
I recalled that at the time, I had jokingly told my boss that I preferred dealing with “human”-related business over dealing with real estate or maritime lines.
International health benefits are just one of the benefits I cover in my portfolio.
How long have you been with Howden and which markets does your company do business in?
I joined the Howden Malaysia office on 1 April 2015 (April Fool’s Day) as the head of employee benefits (EB) for Howden Malaysia.
I managed the whole EB portfolio, covering business development, client management, claims, operations, and product development. This means that, together with the team, we covered all related products and services for Malaysia.
And now that I am in the regional role, based in the regional office of Howden Singapore, I manage and coordinate all clients and projects together with the rest of Howden Asia’s offices from various countries.
I also work closely with the global benefits management (GBM), based in the Howden HQ London office, for projects, coordination, and global client management work as well.
What is the biggest factor affecting the international health and benefits space for you and your firm?
Firstly, there are only a handful of IPMI players in the Asia market, and most are only in Singapore and Hong Kong.
There is almost non-existence in some of the Southeast Asian countries. This has restricted us as brokers from placing the product according to client needs.
Secondly, unlike most of the local medical programmes, the IPMI product is inflexible and not customisable. Most of them are off-the-shelf with minor options where clients can opt in or out.
Thirdly, the premium for IPMI is high, with a common year-on-year inflation loading up between 7% and 9%, regardless of good claim experience for the said risk, steering clients away from continuing the programme.
What’s more, with only a few players dominating the market, the service for the premium charge isn’t that great. As brokers, we often hear such feedback from the employees. This has also led to some of the corporate market starting to seek local medical coverage.
Where do you see the future of IPMI in Singapore?
The future of IPMI would definitely depend on expatriate or employee mobility trends in the employment market and outlook.
The main standout of an IPMI programme vs a local programme, other than the benefits of comprehensiveness which came with a higher premium, would be the flexibility of coverage, where employees can seek medical treatment in a wider territory, such as Asia or worldwide.
Who has been your most important mentor throughout your career?
All my superiors at every stage of my career have been super good and supportive. I am indeed quite blessed.
Of all, it is tough to only get to mention one mentor, but I would like to thank Kim from Howden Malaysia. It was also then that my career was gearing up and I was leading quite a big team.
She is someone who really trusts you, and she listens. What I mean is that she takes your feedback, opinions, suggestions. There is always two-way communication, and I’m glad our partnership works really well.
She’s very generous, selfless, takes care, and fights for her teams. I say that because she managed seven departments back then.
She’s a mentor and also a close friend of mine now. I know I made her sound like an angel, but no, she doesn’t have patience.
What advice would you give people thinking about working in the employee benefits sector?
Insurance overall, on its own, is not an attractive industry like any tech or law firm that people may apply to. Even those that consider the finance industry (insurance is a category under finance industry), one may apply for banking or an investment firm.
Many of us, including myself, joined the insurance industry by accident or by chance – rarely by choice.
And because of this, the insurance industry is certainly in need of new blood and talent. As time changes, we have seen the insurance industry changing from a luxury to a necessity.
The industry has also begun greater specialisation – we now have specialised marine, cyber, employee benefits, etc, to meet market needs.
I am proud and definitely encourage people to consider employee benefits specialisation. We are now in demand. Who can now live without medical insurance?
What makes me more happy is that we are able to help our clients and their employees when they are in need the most – medical, life, accident, travel, etc, claims. A job with good deeds.
What has been your greatest success at work?
I built a team from zero to 14 of us in the department over the span of six years in my last role at Howden Malaysia.
I wouldn’t have made it this far without the team’s assistance. I remember that I was constantly learning from each and every one of them as well.
What are your top three priorities for the next year?
It is now only the beginning for Howden Asia EB (my portfolio), and I have identified and completed the short-, mid-, and long-term plans to bring the Asia portfolio to the next level for the next 10 years.
Together with all the Asia EB practice leaders, we have aligned; narrowing/filing in the gap and strengthening our position would be our top priorities.
At the same time, I’ve started working on our Plan B to get to our mid- and long-term plans.
While all countries have roll out succession planning, I am also involved in the transformation team to work on beyond 10 years.
What is one personal skill that most people do not know about?
I don’t have much talent. But I enjoy doing yoga, so there are quite a few yoga stunts that I could do.
What mantra do you live by?
Slowly but surely. It doesn’t matter how long it takes for you to reach a certain goal, so long as you are disciplined, consistent, and persistent.
If you could work in any location in the world, what would it be?
I have already just moved to Singapore, and what’s more, during pandemic lock-down time!
What song would you regard as your theme tune?
It’s My Life by Bon Jovi – I super love it and I can sing it loudly especially the chorus.
‘It’s my life
It’s now or never
But I ain’t gonna live forever
I just want to live while I’m alive
(It’s my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, “I did it my way”
I just want to live while I’m alive
It’s my life’