We are back with another week of Big I Buzz. In this week's Big I Buzz, we are discussing OSHA's new COVID-19 emergency temporary guidance for all workplaces, the future of passwords and the results from a new J.D. Power study on auto insurance customer satisfaction.

OSHA Issues COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard for Health Care Workers and Guidance for All Workplaces

On June 10, 2021, OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard relating to COVID-19. According to Godfrey & Kahn, "Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, OSHA has exclusively relied on existing safety standards to regulate employer conduct during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, all of OSHA's previous employer directives, to date, have taken the form of non-binding informal guidance and recommendations." President Biden issued an Executive order on January 21, 2021, directed towards OSHA to consider implementing "any emergency temporary standards on COVID-19 and that these standards should be released by March 15, 2021.

OSHA updated their existing COVID-19 guidance for all workplaces on June 10, 2021. The new guidance says: 

• Encourages employers to grant paid time off for employees to get vaccinated

• Suggests that employers provide unvaccinated and at-risk workers with face coverings or surgical mask at no cost

• States that workers should continue to wear face coverings while working indoors

• Recommends that employers, especially public-facing workplaces such as retail environments, "suggest" that unvaccinated customers, visitors or guests wear face coverings when entering the workplace. 

Read more about the new guidance here. 

Forgotten Your Passwords? They Soon May Be Lost Altogether - with Insurers' Help

 Scary enough, the most popular password used in 2020 was "123456". Passwords like this were easily cracked almost 24 million times throughout the past year. According to Insurance Journal, "This data perfectly encapsulates the flaws inherent in passwords, and why it is easy to predict that it won't be too long until passwords are phased out altogether." A 2017 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 80 percent of cyber breaches were the direct result of stolen or hacked passwords. 

Biometric data which is used for unlocking our phones, paying for groceries, speaking to our bank and entering the country has caused a push for app developers to incorporate biometrics to enable users to bypass passwords altogether when accessing online accounts. According to Insurance Journal, "The phasing away from passwords to biometric data represents a shift away from "something you have" to "something you are", and this shift is welcome. Thanks to biology, our biometric data is nearly impossible to phish, guess or hack. While biometrics aren't infallible, attempts to hack biometrics are largely only attempted by some of the more sophisticated criminals, meaning the prevalence of this threat is minimal when compared to the threat facing our passwords."

Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Stalls Despite $18 Billion in Premium Relief, J.D. Power Finds

The auto insurance industry returned more than $18 billion in auto insurance premiums to customers in 2020 to address the sharp decline in miles driven during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this relief, the 2021 J.D. Power U.S. Auto Insurance Study found that customer satisfaction with auto insurers is flat, following four consecutive years of improvement. 

Here are the key findings of the study, according to Business Wire: 

•Overall satisfaction is stagnant: This is the first time since 2017 that auto insurance customer satisfaction has not improved year over year. 

• Insurers miss the mark in communication: There were significant declines in satisfaction with customer interaction. Satisfaction with the assisted online channel, is comprised of chat and e-mail functions, declines 12 points from a year ago, with decreases also seen in contact center, website and local agent.

•Customer awareness of COVID-19 relief efforts boosts brand perception: Overall brand impressions are significantly higher among customers who were aware of these relief efforts, which was also reflected in their intent to renew their policy. 

• Pandemic as catalyst to telematics growth: More than 1/3 of auto insurance customers say they are willing to try usage-based insurance which uses telematics technology to track customer driving patterns and includes discounts based on safe driving and fewer miles driven. 

• Ready to switch at hint of premium: Nearly half of auto insurance customers say they would switch if they could receive a saving of $200 or less. 

Read the more about the study here. 

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