Tag Archives: COVID-19 small business

Emerging Risks, Insurance Industry

Insurers respond to COVID-19 with host of relief initiatives

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Insurance companies are working to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis by supporting their employees and distribution partners, donating money to global relief efforts and easing the financial burden on their customers.

Triple-I has published a fact sheet, Insurers Offer Forward-Looking Solutions for COVID-19 Recovery, which outlines how the industry is easing its customers’ financial burdens, working with government to create a COVID-19 Recovery Fund, and making sure it has the resources to pay future claims from events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires.

Here are a few examples of what individual companies are doing:

Allstate will automatically cover customers who use their personal vehicles to deliver food, medicine and other goods for a commercial purpose. Standard personal auto policies typically exclude such coverage. This change will allow customers to serve those who depend on their services and support.

Allstate also announced a special payment plan to provide customers financial relief. The plan gives auto and homeowners policyholders the choice to delay two consecutive premium payments with no penalty. In addition, Allstate is pausing policy cancellations due to nonpayment during the declared COVID-19 state of emergency. This includes Allstate Business Insurance policies. 

Ninety percent of Allstate’s global workforce is working remotely. Allstate will continue to pay employees (full or part time) who can’t work remotely and have shelter-in-place orders during their normal work hours. Well-being services like telemedicine, prescription home delivery, and emotional and financial support lines are available to Allstate’s U.S. employees.

American Family Insurance along with the American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation, announced more than $4 million in support for COVID-19 pandemic relief and other non-profit efforts. Additional support from the Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation is expected to push the total support to more than $6.8 million.

“The pandemic has left many struggling to meet basic needs while at the same time adapting to a new and unsettling normal,” said Maggie Pascaly, American Family community investment manager. “We want to help meet short-term needs of individuals, families and communities, while also addressing longer-term effects.”


The company’s employees and agency owners can support local organizations of their choice by using a 2:1 foundation match offered during a six-week time period beginning March 31. The foundation will match donations totaling up to $250,000, for a maximum additional investment of $500,000. Organizations that provide pandemic relief will be suggested for consideration.

Chubb announced that it is committing $10 million to pandemic relief efforts globally.  The support will go to people and programs providing emergency frontline services and for assistance to the most financially vulnerable members of the community who have been impacted the hardest by the pandemic. 

The company also announced that it will not conduct any layoffs of its employees while in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis, and has added employee benefits such as additional sick days.

“We are committed to supporting people, business and communities most impacted by this global crisis,” said Evan G. Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer.  “Our $10 million commitment will add to the urgent efforts required to meet the immediate health and nutrition needs of those most affected. Concerning our no-layoff pledge, we want our 33,000 employees around the globe to be assured that their jobs are secure at this difficult time.”

Travelers has initiated a distribution support plan to accelerate more than $100 million in commission payments to eligible distribution partners.

“As so many are facing a significant financial burden due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to show our agent and broker partners, many of whom are small business owners, our support at this challenging time,” said Alan Schnitzer, chairman and chief executive officer of Travelers. “Independent agents and brokers not only provide invaluable counsel and care to our customers but also play a critical role in the U.S. economy, and we are committed to standing by them.”

Bob Rusbuldt, president and chief executive officer of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, said: “Travelers has always been the premier supporter of independent agents and brokers, and the Travelers Distribution Support Plan takes that support to a whole new level. We want to thank Travelers for their continued industry leadership.”

The commissions being accelerated were accrued in the ordinary course of business during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, and accordingly, this program will not have a significant impact on the company’s results.

MAPFRE, an insurance company based in Spain, is allocating 54 million euros to support customers and suppliers. This is in addition to 5 million euros recently donated to accelerate COVID-19 research in Spain.

More than 90 percent of MAPFRE’s 34,000 employees worldwide are working remotely to reduce the risk of contagion and to guarantee service to customers, who in Spain are being offered a free advisory service to learn how they can take advantage of the support that is on offer.

Tell us how your company is contributing to the pandemic relief efforts: communications@iii.org.

Business Insurance, Business Risk

Proper decontamination before and after coronavirus exposure is crucial

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While insurance policies might not cover the mitigation or cleanup costs related to commercial facility exposure to the coronavirus, preserving a healthy and safe place of business remains a critical risk management issue.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread rapidly around the world, it’s important to know what to do if someone carrying the highly contagious virus comes in contact with any of your facilities or those of your customers. Even the potential of your business premises being exposed to COVID-19 can create a possible need to engage risk mitigation efforts. Understanding the importance of utilizing a professional, credentialed decontamination contractor both before and after facility exposure is crucial to protecting your business.

Larry Thomas

“COVID-19 has presented new challenges for businesses around the world, and it’s necessary to understand the importance of ensuring the safety of all employees and customers,” said Larry Thomas, global president of Crawford Specialty Solutions, a division of Crawford & Company that includes Contractor Connection. Contractor Connection, an industry leader in managed repair services, provides insurance carriers, brokers and consumers a global network of more than 6,000 contractors vetted and managed for performance in residential and commercial work, including specialists in technical areas like cleanup after a biological event.

“Experts have warned that we have just begun to feel the impact of the virus in the U.S., and it is expected to continue to affect lives for the foreseeable future.”

With that in mind, it’s essential you ensure you are utilizing a decontamination contractor who is rigorously vetted, held to the highest standards, and professionally equipped to restore affected sites through proper remediation and containment procedures. Here are some best practices for how to approach this critical work while reducing risk for you and your customers.

Prevention protects you, your customers and others

Prevention is the first step toward reducing exposure to the virus. Even before an incident occurs, a decontamination contractor can work with your business to provide cleaning and disinfecting services designed to reduce the opportunity for infection and keep facilities operating longer. When administered by a trusted, licensed and insured provider, preventative cleaning provides a cleaner, safer work environment and enhances employee and customer satisfaction.

Decontamination services limit business interruption

If you or your customers’ facilities are exposed to coronavirus, legitimate decontamination services using proper techniques, equipment and materials, and following CDC, state and local protocols should be employed to restore your places of business back to operation as quickly as possible, limiting business interruption. Time is critical, so you should engage with a service that provides 24/7 assignment processing and emergency response.

Lance Malcolm

“Providing access to a rapid-response decontamination service can help reduce the potential impact of contamination in the workplace and return the environment to full operational status as quickly as possible,” said Lance Malcolm, U.S. president of Contractor Connection. “The focus must be on helping companies limit business interruptions and ensure that the affected facilities are completely safe for those who use them.”

Safe biohazard waste disposal reduces future risk of exposure

As part of decontamination services, it’s also important to utilize contractors trained to handle and properly dispose of biohazard waste, safely removing any affected materials from the facility. Services that provide quality assurance review and project monitoring ensure speedy completion and provide peace of mind knowing exposure to the virus has been properly reduced or eliminated.