The role oversees claims management across all of TAL’s distribution channels to ensure a high-quality customer experience at a time when our customers need us most.

TAL’s Chief Customer Service and Operations Officer Penny Coates said Mary brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to TAL at a time of record claims payments and increased efforts to help customers get back on their feet.

“TAL paid a record $843 million in claims last year and we expect this trend to continue, demonstrating the very important social role we play in helping people and families in time of need,” Penny said.

“But we do more than just pay claims – we have programs to help people return to health and work so they can get back on with their lives. And Mary will be instrumental in advancing our efforts in this area for the benefit of our customers.”

Mary has led business areas in IAG for over 20 years across product, pricing, underwriting, indirect sales, operations, claims (both personal injury and domestic lines), workers compensation, technology systems development, supply chain, injury management, legal and training.

Mary said: “Like TAL, I am passionate about helping customers when they need us most, which is at claim time.

“I am particularly looking forward to advancing TAL’s return to health and work programs across all distribution channels to help people can get back on with their lives.”

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An example of the images produced by the Imaginarium illustrators.

Professional artists illustrated the lives of over 100 people as part of a MoneySmart Week event run by TAL last week.

TAL Chief Customer and Operations Officer Penny Coates said: “The illustrations from the TAL Imaginarium were designed to help people really appreciate what is important in their lives, including the futures they imagine.”

“Participants were amazed to see their illustrations highlight so many things they value in their lives now, as well as their hopes and dreams for the future. Participants came away with a better understanding of the need to protect what’s precious to them.”

The TAL Imaginarium operated at four sites last week, as part of MoneySmart Week, to help improve financial literacy across Australia.

Over a few minutes, participants were asked about what they valued in their lives and imagined for their futures. As they did so, a hidden artist illustrated their responses, which were revealed at the end of the conversation.

Jane, 32, from Chatswood in Sydney, said the TAL Imaginarium helped clarify the dreams she has for the future, and made her realise she is determined to chase those dreams.

“It is too easy to forget the important things in life. To see the people and experiences I cherish and my imagined future come to life in an illustration was a wonderful experience and a complete revelation” she said.

TAL supports MoneySmart Week to improve financial literacy and help Australians build, grow and protect the lives they have created and the ones they imagine for the future.

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Penny Coates

Australia’s largest life insurer TAL has become a signatory to the Australasian Consensus Statement on the Health Benefits of Work.

TAL Chief Customer Service and Operations Officer Penny Coates said: “TAL believes very strongly in supporting customers to return to health so they can get back on their feet and get on with their lives.

“Our own experience shows that when people return to work sooner rather than later that it promotes recovery and helps restore self-esteem and a sense of worth after being struck down by injury or illness.”

The Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) released the Consensus Statement on the Health Benefits of Work to bring together a wide range of stakeholders to affirm the importance of work as being good for health and wellbeing.

Ms Coates said: “TAL is here for our customers and their families in times of illness and injury. We understand we can also make a difference in the wider community by supporting programs that help people live healthier and better lives.

“At those times when our customers have to claim, our priority is to work with them and assist them to return to health and work where we can. In some cases we organise rehabilitation programs for customers and even help in workplace retraining.”

Ms Coates said life insurers like TAL are working much closer with the medical profession and, in many cases, a customer’s place of employment, when managing a claim to help the recovery process and pave the way for a return to work and a normal life.

The Health Benefits of Work Statement was launched in March 2011.  It followed some work done by the Faculty which looked at the relationship between health, wellbeing and work both in Australia and internationally including the impacts of being out of work.

The Faculty found that being out of work for a period of time can in itself become one of the major barriers to returning to a normal life. If a person is off work for:

• 20 days, the chance of ever getting back to work is 70%
• 45 days, the chance of ever getting back to work is 50%
• 70 days, the chance of ever getting back to work is 35%.

The Statement says: “Realising the health benefits of work for all Australians requires a paradigm shift in thinking and practice. It necessitates cooperation between many stakeholders, including government, employers, unions, insurance companies, legal practitioners, advocacy groups, and the medical, nursing and allied health professions.”

Background on the benefits of return to health and work and role TAL is playing to help its customers get back on their feet can be found on TAL’s A Voice for Life consumer information portal. Below are three case studies in relation to TAL’s return to health and work program:

Case study 1

Mr H, 54 years old, was a General Practitioner Doctor and had been on income protection claim for many months having suffered from diabetic-related symptoms on his leg. TAL arranged and paid for rehabilitation over an extended period, supporting both Mr H and the rehab provider during this time. He returned to work full-time as a result.

Case study 2

Mr G, a courier driver, had been on income claim for an extended period due to Hodgkin lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy and while it was accepted he would be on claim long term, he revealed he was determined to get better and return to work one day. TAL actively supported Mr G during this time with a rehabilitation program which included participating in a job seeking service. Mr G returned to work full time.

Case study 3

A 28 year old office worker was suffering from chronic pain due to a broken wrist and nerve damage. She was unable to carry out her job due to the inability to type for long periods of time. TAL arranged rehabilitation services and a graduated return to work plan. TAL purchased voice activated software to assist and the customer eventually returned to full employment.

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The second annual TAL Australian Financial Protection Index has revealed a big jump in the protection levels of Australians, particularly Generation X.

The national Index score leaped 38% from 24.2 out of 100 last year to 33.5 this year, revealing Australians over the past year have taken a keener interest in their life insurance in its various forms: life, illness, disability and income protection.

TAL Chief Customer Service and Operations Officer Penny Coates said although she was pleased the Australian Financial Protection Index has risen over the past year, the overall score was still low indicating there was much work yet to be done to improve financial protection levels.

“While underinsurance is still is big problem in Australia, the  TAL Australian Financial Protection Index scores have increased in their second year indicating progress is being made to improve financial protection and close the nation’s big underinsurance gap,” Ms Coates said.

“Why has the Index score gone up nationally and across all the demographic groups? I think awareness has been improving, consumers are being more active, and in particular younger generations are taking matters into their own hands empowered by the digital world.

“We know that the life insurance industry has been paying more claims in recent times, and for TAL record claims, demonstrating the high value and need of life insurance in protecting customers and their families when they most need it in life.” 

Voice for Life

The 2014 Index results are being released as part of a new initiative developed by TAL, called Voice for Life. This initiative will better inform and educate customers and the broader community about the crucial societal role of financial protection. There has been a lot of commentary around the state of the life insurance industry recently. We believe that life insurance has a sustainable future and key to this is championing better outcomes for consumers.

Of all the demographic groups researched, Generation X (aged 35-49), higher income earners, those with children at home, those with mortgages and those who declare themselves as risk takers scored the highest index results at around 40 out of 100.

The number of people with a score of between 70 and 100 almost doubled to 14% of the population, while the number with a score of zero dropped a third from 30% to 20%.

Australia’s largest life insurer, TAL developed the Australian Financial Protection Index  last year in conjunction with Galaxy Research to track and analyse perceptions of underinsurance across the four major forms of personal life insurance*.

More than 1200 Australians were surveyed on the types of life insurance they held, as well as if they felt they had enough cover if they or their partner could no longer work. The results were modelled to calculate a score from 0 to 100 where 100 indicates that people have each form of life insurance and that they believe they have adequate coverage.

Protection gap is slowly closing

The results of the study suggest that while the majority of Australians still do not believe they have enough financial protection, the gap is slowly closing.

Ms Coates said: “Take-up of life insurance has continued to increase, particularly through superannuation, but the low scores reflect that on the whole there is still a substantial gap between the level of cover that people think they need and the level of cover they actually have.

“The challenge for the industry is to convert awareness of the problem into action to address the issue, and the TAL Australian Financial Protection Index is a tool to help us do that.”

Ms Coates added: “Twenty per cent of people still have no life insurance and acknowledge this is not an adequate situation which is very worrying. Even more concerning is the fact that lower income earners make up a large percentage of those who are most underinsured, yet these are the very people who can least afford the financial pressure which comes with the death, illness or injury of a member of the household.”

Table 1: Age comparisons

The survey found that the Financial Protection Index score peaks in the Gen X age group with scores lowest among those aged under 25 years.

Ms Coates expanded: “We see the highest Index scores among households with dependent children, those with a mortgage and those with higher incomes. The Index scores for all of the various age groups and generations tend to reflect these factors.”

Table 2: Summary of other key demographic findings

In other findings, the Index revealed that for the second year in a row, take up and awareness of life insurance was greatest among those with a mortgage. In addition, mortgagees were significantly more likely to perceive themselves as having adequate protection.

Highest protection characteristics

Ms Coates said it is not surprising that Australians with mortgaged homes see a greater need for financial protection via life insurance products*.

“Life insurance is an important way of protecting assets, like the family home, as well as ensuring that financial commitments will be met in the event that an earning member of the household is no longer able to contribute,” she explained.

The results of the Index also shed light on how attitudes to risk can impact take up and awareness of the need for life insurance.   The Index found that those who claim to take the most risks actually record a higher Index score.

Ms Coates concluded by saying that in positive news for all Australians, the 2014 Index score for every demographic group looked at has increased year-on-year.

“Clearly, awareness of the need for life insurance is improving. Claims have risen over the past 12 months, highlighting the very real benefits of life insurance, and greater consumer activism has also helped reinforce an understanding of the financial protection that life insurance can offer.

“We hope that an increasing awareness and understanding of the benefits of life insurance will continue to help close the financial protection gap in Australia.

Notes

1. This survey was undertaken online by Galaxy Research with 1,266 Australians, from the ages of 18–69 years old. Age, gender and region quotas were applied to the same and the dataset was weighted to national proportions.
2. The model didn’t require stay at home parents, the retired and those over 65 to have income protection.
3. *Definition of the four main forms of life insurance: Life – lump sum upon death; Illness – lump sum for defined illnesses; Disability – lump sum upon permanent and total disability; and Income Protection – regular income payment upon defined illness/disability.

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Current TAL executive Penny Coates has been appointed as the head of the new operating unit in the role of Chief Customer Service and Operations Officer.

Moving from the role of Chief People and Culture Officer, Ms Coates has a strong background in organisational change, business transformation and customer alignment.

TAL Group CEO and Managing Director Jim Minto said the new business unit will be crucial in helping the company continue its success in the face of changing consumer behaviours and a continuing uncertain economic climate both nationally and globally.

“Transforming our operating model to realign our business systems, processes and culture around our customers will allow TAL to continue to meet the emerging challenges of today and the future,” Mr Minto said.

Ms Coates said the TAL strategy centres around moving away from a transactional approach to building meaningful relationships with customers based on a deep understanding of their needs throughout their life stages.

“We are consolidating our service platforms and operations from across existing business divisions,” she said. “This will bring focus, efficiency and greater responsiveness to all parts of our business so we can deliver the services business partners and customers want, when and how they want it.”

Mr Minto said: “This is an exciting time for our business as we become truly customer focussed. We have grown to be Australia’s second biggest life insurer over recent years, but we must transform in order to meet changing consumer behaviour, market developments and to be truly customer centric.”

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