Insurer TAL has expanded its wellbeing and career support services to provide further care to clients impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The support measures include access to tailored wellbeing and career advice provided by the company’s external employee assistance and external career guidance partners, in addition to online resources. The tailored support services will initially launch with eligible customers that hold a policy directly with TAL, or through a financial adviser.
“We’re all navigating uncertain times right now, but it’s heartening to see the ways in which people are going out of their way to help each other, and we want to play our part in this at TAL,” said Alex Homer (pictured), chief customer & brand officer at TAL.
“We swiftly developed and launched our additional customer financial hardship assistance when we realised that COVID-19 would impact some of our customers’ and SME partners’ financial positions.”
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Homer says these new measures are a “natural way” to support clients.
“Life insurance is generally a long-term customer proposition and… we want to support our customers throughout their relationship with us,” he continued. “We understand that some of our customers have had their personal wellbeing and their employment impacted as a result of the indirect impacts of COVID-19, so this initiative seemed a natural way for us to provide some additional support for them during this difficult time.”
The company has not yet listed an “end date” to the Wellbeing Support service. However, the Career Support service will be initially available until August 31. Homer says the company will continue to “closely” monitor the take-up of these services and the value they add to their customers to determine how long they should remain in place.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had far reaching impacts on the Australian community,” Homer continued. “TAL’s new research shows that while Australians’ confidence levels have improved since the pandemic began in March, 42% of Australians are still feeling uncertain about the current environment and 39% are concerned about whether they have enough support around them to get through the crisis.”
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Additionally, the research also revealed that 61% of Australians are concerned about their personal health and wellbeing with 51% of those employed being concerned about their job security, he noted.
“By expanding our Wellbeing and Career Support services to customers whose well-being and employment have been impacted by COVID-19, we’re hoping to provide them with meaningful resources and support during an incredibly challenging time,” he said.
The Wellbeing Support service uses positive psychology to take a holistic approach to overall wellbeing and goal setting by providing participants with tools and strategies to manage their wellbeing and set achievable goals through phone-based sessions and online tools, Homer explained.
Additionally, the Career Support service supports customers who may have had their employment impacted by providing three phone-based sessions. In the sessions, customers can gain support in areas including reviewing their current CV; reviewing their current skills, experience and expertise to identify where they will be valued in the current marketplace; and support to prepare for job interviews.
“We know that right now, our customers need our support more than ever and assurance that we’ll be there when they need us most,” Homer said. “Our top priority… during these challenging and unpredictable times is to continue to provide support and be responsive to our customers.”
