Who are the P&C industry’s heroes during the pandemic?

Extraordinary leadership and acts of compassion during the current global COVID-19 pandemic have spanned far and wide, both within the Canadian property and casualty insurance industry and beyond, Canadian Underwriter discovered in a recent survey.

More than 200 P&C industry professionals shared “acts of leadership or compassion” they have witnessed while Canadians adjust to social distancing and working from home to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease.

Some survey respondents pointed out that because they are social distancing, they haven’t had a lot of opportunity to go outside and witness the acts for themselves. Still, many provided us with hundreds of stories of “the cream rising to the top” during these unsettling times.

First and foremost, the industry recognized the efforts of healthcare workers, both in senior roles and in the front lines, who are dealing with 10,132 COVID-19 infections across Canada as of Apr. 2.

A RE/MAX realtor signs show support for health care workers outside the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ont., on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

“All medical staff need to be recognized for their efforts right now,” said one survey respondent. “All of our lives are disrupted right now, but they are also going into work each day, where they might be infected with COVID-19, so that they can administer critical healthcare services to those most in need.”

Industry professionals also called out random acts of kindness by strangers. “A stranger paid for $600 car repairs recently because, ‘No Mama should have to worry about taking their sick kid to the hospital in a sick car,’” one respondent wrote. “Good on that stranger.”

Even Canadian political leaders, frequently reviled and ridiculed, garnered kudos from the Canadian P&C industry for their leadership in handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

And then, of course, there are the heroes within the P&C industry itself. Hundreds of acts of leadership and compassion in the survey applied to industry professionals who were going above and beyond the call of duty.

Overall, members of the industry gave each other a pat on the back for making it through a very quick transition to working remotely from home, thereby keeping their work colleagues safe. And many noted how insurance professionals supported people in their communities above and beyond what’s written in the job requirements.

“Our industry does not do a good job of self-promoting,” one respondent said. “Insurance professionals/industry ambassadors care about people and customers—we’re human as well.”

In one instance, a respondent recalled a co-worker going beyond the simple delivery of an insurance cheque.

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“One of our staff went to a 91-year-old ladies’ home to get her cheque for her insurance,” one survey participant wrote. “She expressed that she had called a seniors help line as she had no groceries. She gave our staff member money and her list, and he went out and bought groceries for her.”

This is obviously not the only example of such a simple act of generosity. “Many in the community here in Thunder Bay [Ont.] have been seen out shopping,” said another respondent. “The catch is, they are out shopping for others who fall into the ‘high risk’ category.”

Many applauded the extra effort and hours that their work colleagues have put in to help their clients in need. “We prepared risk management best practices for businesses, and our team has spent the last two weeks with each client walking them through what they need to do to protect their business,” one respondent wrote. “As difficult as this is, our clients are really seeing the value we bring at the moment.”

The heroism extended to the efforts of individual employees as well. One gave a shout out to “my daughter who is still actively working for our brokerage remotely while having to stay at home and care for her family while all of them, including her, struggle with a severe virus.”

In some instances, brokerages were commended for their commitment to pay out benefits to those who may have been laid off, or vowed to keep their staff complement at the same level even though business shutdowns in other industry segments have reduced premium volume.

Insurance companies were also rising to the occasion, as several noted. “All the insurance companies have been willing to work with clients that are facing financial difficulties and the underwriters are reasonable,” said one. Another lauded “the fact that most insurers are not cancelling for missed payments at this time.”