By: WAHVE (Work at Home Vintage Experts)

It’s no secret that today’s job candidate is looking for a different work-life balance. The pandemic and the subsequent onset of the Great Resignation has pushed employees to re-evaluate everything. Amid the pandemic fatigue and feelings of being overwhelmed and stuck, one thing emerged: employees want more.

And organizations should be paying attention. As about 4 million workers quit their jobs monthly (US Bureau of Labor Statistics), employers need to find ways to not only attract new hires but also keep the employees they have.

That’s created a virtual feeding frenzy among companies across the country. In many cases, it’s an unfair fight – smaller organizations are left with finding ways to compete with big-city salaries and perks while still trying to operate on very local budgets.

Yet while salary is the main reason employees are leaving for greener pastures, employees want more. According to Jobvite data, remote work flexibility ranks right up there with flexible work days and company culture as the things most important to job seekers.

That means your company, no matter what size, can easily compete for the best candidates. By offering remote work and a flexible workday (allowing employees to work during the hours when they’re most productive), your organization can keep the valued talent you have and attract talent from anywhere in the country to your operations.

But there are other reasons for wanting to offer remote work. Researchers in Houston analyzed the data from 264 employees to understand the impact of remote work on the business. The company was closed due to hurricane flooding. Researchers found that during a seven-month period of remote work, employees work behaviors matched the pre-hurricane production levels, even though they were not logged on to their computers as often. The study also revealed that both company and employee resiliency improved as a result of remote work.

As many of us discovered when forced to scale back (or close) operations amid the worst of the pandemic lockdowns, remote management can work. Our own company, WAHVE, has been fully remote since its inception. It takes reimagining your operations – and your approach – for remote operations to be successful.

We suggest restructuring the workday to fit the employee’s best hours, not the standard eight-hour, nine-to-five drill. Measure by outcomes achieved, not hours put in. Set goals and expectations with employees, and trust them to deliver.

Above all, provide open channels of communication. Your employee should be able to reach you and feel able to discuss issues, struggles, and receive performance feedback as well as any training or mentoring support.

As your organization looks to compete in a tight labor market, you can attract candidates and even retain key employees by offering remote work and flexible work arrangements. Organizations everywhere have discovered that remote work is possible. Giving job candidates and your talent the option to work remotely gives them an important component of a healthy work-life balance, and allows you to find top talent no matter where they are located.

By: Nancy Germond, Executive Director of Risk Management & Education, Big "I"

Are your clients, both commercial and personal, at a greater flood risk than they know? If your clients rely solely on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps, your clients' property may be at much higher risk than predicted by FEMA maps. According to the New York Times, FEMA maps do not account for intense rainfall-created flooding.

Climate challenges change flood risks throughout the US and abroad

Until recently, reinsurers considered flood risks “secondary perils." Primary perils are events that generate large losses and are routinely “modeled," such as earthquakes and tropical cyclones. Many carriers had considered flooding a “secondary peril," a smaller or mid-sized event. However, those days are gone, according to one expert in a recent Burns & Wilcox online seminar on flooding risks. Flood risk is a major concern to today's insurers and reinsurers.

In the U.S. according to CBS news, over 700,000 commercial real estate buildings, apartments, malls and office complexes face flooding risk in 2022 that could reduce business access and incur economic losses approaching $50 billion yearly. Homeowners, too, face significant flooding risks from rising inland waters, coastal storms, increased rainfall, and other water-related deluges.

Add increased urban infill and greater population growth along coastlines to the mix and your insureds may not recognize the risks facing them.

A New Tool to Measure Flood and Wildfire Risks

A non-profit, First Street Foundation, formed by academics and climate experts, offers a free, online tool that analyzes current flood data to predict a property's flood risk. The tool categorizes flood risk from minor to extreme. After entering an address, you will receive a “Risk Factor™" analysis, with flood-risk categories ranging from minor to extreme. The analysis includes flooding that can occur from swollen rivers, rainfall, tidal flooding, and storm surge. Enter the property location to determine its risk of flooding and wildfire.

An article in the New York Times stated that Risk Factor showed a “vast increase in [flood] risk compared with official estimates." Even updated flood maps are “decades old," according to the Times article, and Risk Factor includes areas not yet mapped in some instances. The article went on to say that even though Risk Factor may “overestimate some risks," FEMA welcomed the additional input provided by Risk Factor.

Relying Solely on FEMA Flood Maps Can Be Problematic

First Street Foundation evaluated the City of Chicago's flood risks. While FEMA maps showed that 0.3% of properties in Chicago were within the 100-year flood zone, First Street found about 13% of the Chicago properties were in danger of flooding. This was more than 75,000 properties than FEMA maps predicted.

Put your own property address in at this link to see both flood risk and wildfire risk. For example, I put in our vacation property address located in Skull Valley, Arizona (it's prettier than it sounds), population 350. While our property address did not appear, the 86338-zip code did, and I received this result.

As you can see, we're more at risk from wildfire, but flood risks could also be problematic. But wait, there's more. The model also predicts the impact of flooding on roads, commercial buildings, and critical infrastructure in that zip code.

Risk Factor is a new tool you can use to help your insureds decide on their need for flood insurance, and to evaluate their wildfire risk.

Reminding your insureds about their flood risks and coverage options

It is always prudent to remind your insureds that their property coverages do not include the risk of flooding (where applicable). Simply because their lenders do not require flood insurance does not mean their property is not at significant risk of flooding. With the summer monsoon season and hurricane season ahead, reminding your insureds of flood coverage limitations can help protect your agency in the event of a claim involving surface water.

Additionally, National Flood Insurance policies may not provide adequate coverage for your clients' property values, especially considering recent greatly increased construction costs.

Risks of flooding and wildfire are two great reasons to reach out to your insureds

With the increase in flooding risks, you can protect yourself and your agency by recommending flood insurance with every property policy you place, even if the lender does not require flood insurance. Reminding your clients at policy inception and at policy renewal that no flood coverage applies under the homeowners policy, or the commercial property policy, can help guard you against a professional liability claim.

This article was originally published on independentagent.com in May.

By: Richard F. Lund, JD, Vice President and Senior Underwriter, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions

With yet more apologies to William Shakespeare.

As time changes, you may find yourself in the position where either you decide it is time to sell your agency, or you are on the other side and considering the purchase of an agency. In either case, something that must be considered by both the seller and the buyer is whether an ERP (extended reporting period), sometimes called “tail coverage,” should be purchased. Regardless of what you call it, the purpose is to provide coverage for errors and omissions that happen before, but the claim is made during a specified period of time period after, the date of sale/purchase.

Most, if not all, insurance agents errors and omissions professional liability policies are either “claims made” or “claims made and reported,” meaning that the claim must be made and/or reported WHILE the policy is in place. This is different than most liability policies that you are probably more familiar with, where claims are covered on an “occurrence” basis, in which case the insurance policy in place on the date of the underlying occurrence provides coverage.

The purpose of the ERP is to provide more time to report claims that could be made after the policy has expired, but still provide coverage for claims for wrongful acts that occurred during the original policy period. Let’s provide a few examples to illustrate different situations that could happen.

1. An insurance agent sells her agency effective on January 1. Their E&O policy expired on December 31 in the previous year. The agent purchased an ERP that will allow her to report claims for a three-year period after December 31. The agreement provides that all policies will transfer to the buyer on January 1. On January 20, the seller receives a demand letter (or a lawsuit) from a former customer’s attorney for alleged wrongful acts that occurred in November of the prior year. Because the seller had the three-year ERP, she can report the claim/demand/lawsuit to her E&O carrier, and it would be covered subject to the terms of the policy. She would be able to report the claim and any other claim during the three-year ERP period, but only if the error or omission occurred during the policy period before the effective date of the ERP.

2. An insurance agent sells his agency effective on January 1. His E&O policy expired on December 31 in the previous year. The agency did not purchase an ERP on his E&O policy. On January 20, the seller receives a demand letter (or a lawsuit) from a former customer’s attorney for alleged wrongful acts that occurred in November of the prior year. Since their policy expired on December 31 and no ERP was purchased, there would be no coverage for the claim. Note: If the claim was actually made during the original policy period, e.g., on December 31, it typically can be reported during a brief period specified in the policy – typically two to three months.

3. An insurance agent sells her agency effective on January 1. Their E&O policy expired on December 31 in the previous year. The purchase agreement provides that the book of business will roll to the purchaser at renewal. There is the potential for the book to have policies that will roll over for 12 months after the purchase. During this period, the seller may still be servicing the policies that have not renewed. In this case, the selling agency needs to maintain their E&O policy until such time as all policies have rolled to the purchaser and no further servicing will be done by the seller. Once all business has moved and all of the seller’s servicing responsibilities have rolled to the buyer, the seller should purchase an ERP that becomes effective concurrent with termination of the policy. If any claims occur after the date of sale, but before all policies roll over and their E&O policy remains in place, the claims would be covered under the terms of the policy as usual. Subsequent claims for errors/omissions that occurred during the policy period would be covered pursuant to the terms of the ERP.

4. Here’s the tricky one. The facts are just as in No. 1 above, but for some unknown reason, the selling agent is contacted by a former customer on February 20 (after the sale and transfer to the buyer) to take some action on behalf of the customer, which may be as simple as answering a question about coverages/limits. The selling agent takes the action requested by the customer, e.g., answers the question, but commits an error. At some later date, the customer makes a claim against the seller for the error. Because the policy expired on December 31, there would be no coverage for the claim. Why? The E&O policy itself expired on December 31. But what about the ERP? Why won’t that cover the claim? Because the policy only provides coverage for claims for wrongful acts while the policy was in place and active, and the acts occurred after the policy expired, there is no coverage for activities after that time, even though an ERP has been purchased. The ERP only provides the ability to report claims for wrongful acts while the policy was in place and active, NOT for acts after the policy has expired. Every inquiry, no matter how small or seemingly innocuous, needs to be referred to the buying agency that is now responsible for servicing that account.

Those are just a few of the potential ERP examples. Another frequent scenario is when the buyer and seller put their heads together and decide, “Hey, we can save a bunch of money if we skip the ERP and have [the buying agency] cover any claims!” Have you ever heard the phrase “penny wise and pound foolish”? That’s exactly what this is. Unless the buying agency’s E&O policy expressly accepts coverage for the selling agency’s errors and omissions, they probably will not be covered, regardless of any agreements made by them. E&O insurance carriers are not necessarily going to agree to accept those conditions. More importantly for both the seller and the buyer, that ERP cost represents the risk presented by years of possible errors & omissions that won’t come to light until after the sale. The selling agency doesn’t want to be “naked” with respect to coverage for E&O claims made after the sale, and the buying agency doesn’t want to bear the reputational and financial cost of its predecessor’s mistakes. The best bet for both parties is for the seller to purchase an ERP, the cost of which is considered in negotiations between buyer and seller.

So, back to the title: “To ERP or Not ERP, That is the Question”. The answer is:

1. As long as you are actively in the insurance business, even if it is only to provide servicing of a sold book of business, you need to keep your E&O policy in place.

2. When you are no longer actively in the insurance business, you should terminate your E&O policy and purchase an extended reporting period.

3. What time period should the ERP cover? Ask your attorney what the applicable statute of limitations is in the state(s) where you do business, and go with the longest applicable time period.

4. And after the effective date of the ERP, you should no longer provide any services to your former customers. Instead, refer them to the firm that purchased their business. That agency has E&O coverage in place for current errors and omissions. You do not.

If you do these things, then you can take time to enjoy fond memories of your former profession.

For more information about buying, selling and merging agencies, there is a great webinar on the E&O Happens website called ” Agency Risk Management Essentials: Navigating the Hazards of Buying, Selling and Merging an Agency” available to IIABA members who are also Swiss Re Corporate Solutions insureds. It provides a more in-depth discussion, more examples and additional information from industry professionals who have helped agency owners navigate these waters.

This article is intended to be used for general informational purposes only and is not to be relied upon or used for any particular purpose. Swiss Re shall not be held responsible in any way for, and specifically disclaims any liability arising out of or in any way connected to, reliance on or use of any of the information contained or referenced in this article. The information contained or referenced in this article is not intended to constitute and should not be considered legal, accounting or professional advice, nor shall it serve as a substitute for the recipient obtaining such advice. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of the Swiss Re Group (“Swiss Re”) and/or its subsidiaries and/or management and/or shareholders.

*Richard F. Lund, JD, is a Vice President and Senior Underwriter of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, underwriting insurance agents errors and omissions coverage. He has also been an insurance agents E&O claims counsel and has written and presented numerous E&O risk management/ loss control seminars, mock trials and articles nationwide since 1992.

This article was originally published on eoguardian.com.

By: Diana Banaszynski, IIAW Events & Education Coordinator and HR Advisor

This article was originally published in the May 2022 Wisconsin Independent Agent. 

Recruiting has been a hot topic, especially with a record high of 4.5 million Americans quitting their jobs in November 2021 alone. With organizations on a hiring spree, they may want to also think about ways to retain their current workforce. As retention efforts rise, you might hear the phrase “stay interview” more often.

What is a stay interview?

Think of it as the opposite of an exit interview. Rather than asking what went well and what could you as an employer have done to keep that employee from leaving. This is an opportunity for employers to learn what motivates that employee and areas of improvement before it’s too late. There are many benefits to conducting stay interviews. Not only do they give employers the opportunity to resolve a situation before losing an employee, but it allows that employee to feel valued.

Conducting Stay interviews establish trust between the employee and their manager, identifies issues that can be addressed before that employee plans on leaving, also gives the company insight into their strengths and areas to improve upon. Stay interviews are not new. But they are becoming an important tool in preventing employees to leave for greener pastures.

How often should stay interviews happen?

Stay interviews should be conducted annually for all employees and anytime an employee appears to be disengaged for a prolong period of time.  As for new employees, stay interviews should be conducted after 90 days of employment. This gives the employee time to get settled into their new role. Stay interview with a new hire will give employers better insight into their onboarding process, training, and any opportunities they may want to consider.

Ideally, these one-on-one conversations benefit from occurring in-person. That may not always be the case with limited staff and resources. Perhaps starting with some sort of survey tool to capture the employees’ thoughts and feedback is just as effective. Work with managers to target their high-performing or at-risk employees then overtime meeting with all employees. Whether it’s in-person or not, these conversations are still important as ever.

Let’s start the conversation

Employers should strive to create a relaxed and safe environment that will hopefully allow for a meaningful conversation. The key is for employers to listen. Employees need to feel comfortable enough to share positive and negative feedback and know it will be heard without consequence.

In an effective stay interview, managers ask predetermined and structured questions in a casual and communicative manner. The conversation should be simple and a two-way conversation. Employers should review feedback, identify any issues, look for opportunities for improvement and provide feedback to employees. Be transparent on your plan for improvement - employees want to know that steps are being taken to address any concerns.

In an effort to retain top talent, stay interviews should become a priority. This feedback allows organizations to see where they are doing well and how they can do better.

By: Angela Oroian, Vice President & Executive Managing Director, Society of Environmental Insurance Professionals 

Angela Oroian is vice president & executive managing director of the Society of Environmental Insurance Professionals (SEIP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association dedicated to helping its members utilize environmental insurance products to provide more valuable services to their customers.

SEIP enhances the professional capabilities of its members through focused educational forums, technology-enhanced knowledge management and access to specialized multi-disciplined resources in fields related to environmental risk management. 

This article was originally published here from iamagazine.com on April 4, 2022.

The insurance industry has faced the most significant digital revolution in the recent decade, completely changing how real estate portfolios are underwritten, bought and sold. In a hardening market, with narrowing carrier appetites, this puts pressure on real estate transactions to be adaptive, competitive and meaningful with terms and conditions provided.

The most significant barrier to meaningful terms and conditions is the quality control of submission data between parties. A quality submission, or lack thereof, could make or break a business relationship or a sale between parties.

How does the quality control of submission data play such a pivotal role? "It starts and ends with a good submission," says Joe Quarantello, senior vice president, Risk Strategies. Submission quality for a risk sets the foundation for a win, whether it's for a broker to an insured, an underwriter to a broker, custom-designed technology systems for underwriters and brokers, legal team to brokers, and so forth.

The revolution of technology, constant quality control of submission data, and the heart of insurance— utmost good faith—are fundamental to creating favorable outcomes among partners in real estate transactions. A group of experts answered the burning questions on submission quality in real estate portfolios.

Disorganized Data

In an airing of grievances at an underwriter's Festivus—see “Seinfeld," season 9, episode 10—the most pronounced undoubtedly has to be: Why does the schedule of values (SOV) never match the environmental site assessments?

The amount of time and energy that all parties spend reviewing and analyzing data in submissions is highly inefficient. “I really think that people in the real estate portfolio world for environmental insurance spend half their time battling organization of the submission," says Michael Gill, Partner, Synapse Services LLC. “This has been an ongoing issue in this space for as long as I have been in environmental insurance."

The disorganization of data is one of the biggest barriers to thoughtful terms and conditions. How can the most crucial part of the submission be given the least amount of time in a portfolio presentation?

We have all heard the term “time is money," and when accessing a deal or opportunity, presentation is everything. Thoughtful presentation of data by default shows receiving parties the seriousness and professionalism of the presented portfolio. In transactions like real estate portfolios, there will always be teams of experts on the opportunity.

An organized presentation of data is the equivalent to dressing for success. Equally, the result of an unorganized submission with a lack of data can portray a lack of seriousness or indicate a lack of controls in place to receive the necessary data to offer the best terms and conditions for that risk. A great rule of thumb is to lead with your best submission foot forward.

Industry Experience

This isn't to say that meaningful terms and conditions are not given ample consideration by underwriters, even if some submissions resemble Swiss cheese rather than a real estate portfolio.

Industry knowledge and experience play a crucial part. “In the past, underwriters understood these real estate portfolios' risk historically and industrial usages were underwritten to that historical knowledge. But with emerging contaminants, you are also going to get more questions," says Hiral Shah, senior vice president, Environmental Sompo Global Risk Solutions. For example, different kinds of industrial use indicate potential exposures that need to be underwritten.

“Many emerging contaminants are changing in the marketplace now, not just the usual ones we hear about," Shah says. “Today, there's more of a renewed focus around the tenant uses, what kind of tenants are being brought on, [whether] they have environmental insurance in place—that data is even more pertinent now to the underwriting review."

In bridging data gaps in submissions, “the most effective broker knows their client and obtains the information needed, whether that be from a principal of the insured, the risk management department, the legal department or the operations department," says Marcel Ricciardelli, senior vice president, Allied World Environmental and Design Professional Divisions.

Established relationships and knowledge of risks can eliminate a substantial amount of rework between the broker and the underwriter. If brokers can collect the information to the underwriting questions that would impact the terms and conditions, it results in the best terms and conditions.

Equally important is that the portfolio presentation recap all information collected—and information not presented—that the client provides. Setting expectations and timelines on data collection also shows the professionalism and seriousness of the broker toward the proposed risk or portfolio.

Timing and Tech

A silver lining to data and submission presentation is that “a perfect submission does not need to be onerous to put together," Shah says. “It's just the timing of the work as to when you're going to do it. Either before the submission, after the submission or after binding."

Environmental insurance industry leaders unanimously agree that underwriters must include certain criteria in a submission. Accurate and organized information should include:

• SOVs.

• Loss runs.

• Environmental site assessments and current reports.

• Ensuring the number of sites on SOV correspond

   with assessments.

Specialized technology also helps improve submission quality in real estate portfolios and can play a considerable role in handling an organization's "grunt work." Most organizations have a digital ecosystem of software they use to harness, sort and exploit data to maximum capacity and efficiency. But with any run-of-the-mill technology, there are also barriers to the degree to which the best results from software can yield the best results.

The history of insurance industry technology shows that the information needed has remained the same, but the way the information is collected has been revolutionized. In the 1990s, businesses upgraded from yellow pads and dusty physical data rooms to passing around Excel spreadsheets for property lists and electronic Word or PDF documents. Today, data transmission is primarily via email and file transfer protocol (FTP) sites. However, file size limits and "bucket-of-docs" architecture make downloading laborious.

From a brokerage standpoint, “previous technologies never solved the unanimous issue of inconsistent file naming and the constant fear of carriers not receiving information, which could result in losing a deal from a brokerage standpoint," Quarantello says. “The amount of time and energy spent on handmade Excel spreadsheets leaves far too much room for human error, especially if the real estate portfolios are consisting of 20, even 30 or more sites."

In utmost good faith, insurance brokers should never make the underwriter make assumptions on the risk. This is when things can be misunderstood to the detriment of terms and conditions and, ultimately, your insureds.

"There is value to communication around what are must-haves or the priority of the information needed," Shah says. “This goes hand in hand with the submission quality."

Quality Characteristics

So what are the characteristics of a quality submission? A master property list with good addresses is fundamental, as is a complete list of engineering documents. But there are plenty of portfolios underwritten on mismatched spreadsheets with missing documents.

According to David Oldow, principal at Griptiller LLC, there are two important steps to sharing solid submission data between transaction partners:

1) Data gathering. Brokers sort and reconcile data provided by their clients to get an understanding of the risk as well as the quality and completeness of the supporting data. Miscellaneous docs are culled, a master property list is confirmed, and the age and quality of reports are noted. This is a great opportunity to work with the client to perfect the data.

2) Data presentation. The data is presented to the market to ensure a quick understanding of the risk, including making it easy to download. Underwriters with a good picture of the portfolio can quickly calculate their underwriting workload and get into the documents. Speed, accuracy, communication and efficiency improve when manual processes are digitized.

Have crucial conversations with all transaction partners to yield the best terms and conditions. Presenting the Swiss cheese equivalent of a submission may result in the Swiss cheese equivalent of terms and conditions.

If you are providing a quality submission through organized data, using custom-designed technology for real estate portfolio transactions and maintaining utmost good faith, it only results in "better business relationships that work together innovatively with trust and credibility for all partners," Quarantello says.