How hiring will evolve after COVID-19

With times changing and the world facing a crisis like never before. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought industries to a stand-still. It has also forced the stoppage of many independent businesses, as well as introduced a new normal in employee lives - Working From Home (WFH).

However, with hardships come opportunities. There’s a belief that the insurance sector can adopt a more technology-driven approach - expanding to digital alternatives for doing business. The current crisis has proved change is necessary.

According to me, some of the major opportunities that could be presented to the insurance industry after COVID-19 are as follows –

Firstly, hiring across industries - and not just limited to the insurance industry - will undergo a revolution. Virtual hiring plans and strategies are being widely adopted. Methods such as online interviews via video communication platforms (e.g., skype, zoom, etc.), and pre-recorded interviews are helping companies evaluate candidates quicker and much more efficiently. The on-boarding and off-boarding processes will also see widespread adoption of online methods. A number of tools and techniques to smoothen these processes are being widely deployed.

Secondly, companies are expected to adopt massive WFH policies. TCS, India’s biggest IT services company by market capitalization, has revealed its plans to adopt WFH policies organization-wide. Many companies are expected to follow, investing in WFH policies, procedures, and technologies. Their unwillingness to invest in a rented commercial office space will result in massive savings on the balance sheet. A new definition of “office space” will be necessary.

Thirdly, with more employees working online, a progression to a more transparent Key Performance Indicator (KPI) based approaches will take shape. Already considered a need of the hour, WFH policies - in the insurance industry - will speed up the process of monitoring individual employees and their output. Other advantages of this include task and time management, as well as individual employee productivity improvements. Organizations will now have the opportunity to rigorously monitor employee KPIs and delivery, more so than ever before. Adoption of technology for different functions within the organization is also expected to increase rapidly.

Coverfox has already implemented cloud-based telephony systems, to enable WFH for call centre-placed advisors. This ensures our productivity remains steady. Let’s not forget, traditional call centres could also become history, with the adoption of new, vernacular-specific, virtual call centres. Coverfox is looking to pioneer these call centres, that will allow the easy purchase of insurance policies - anytime and anywhere.

With the rise in technological solutions, insurance companies will also look to migrate from a marketplace model to something more technologically evolved. This is expected to give rise to the phigital program of insurance promotion throughout India and the world.

We at Coverfox are preparing for the future and under the guidance of our CEO Sanjib Jha, we continue to build on his vision for the organization and the industry as a whole.