Beyond Occupational Accident: Designing healthcare options for gig workers
People and WorkPodcastJune 9, 2023
As part of Zurich’s series examining ways to help Americans access affordable health and wellness solutions, Brandon Hovsepian, Gig Economy Segment Leader for Zurich North America, recently joined Justin Smulison, host of the RIMScast podcast for a conversation about what’s new and next in injury and supplemental health solutions for the growing population of gig workers.
This third conversation follows Q&As with Zurich North America’s David Fike, Head of Life, Accident and Health; and Chris Howard, Head of Market Management for Life, Accident and Health.
Zurich currently offers several different types of coverages specifically for gig workers today.
Listen to Hovespian’s podcast conversation or read the transcript blow.
Podcast transcript
JUSTIN SMULISON:
Welcome to this special episode of RIMScast, sponsored by Zurich North America. I am Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager here at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society, and your proud RIMScast host. We are here to discuss affordable healthcare for the gig economy. The gig economy is growing. It is one of the fastest ways for individuals to find work, providing freedom and flexibility for those who do not necessarily want to work the traditional 9-5. With the advent of COVID and other macroeconomic changes, there has been a surge of individuals who now rely on the gig economy to either supplement or act as their sole means of income. In contrast to a traditional employment relationship, independent contractors are not provided workers’ compensation. They can access work injury protection via an Occupational Accident policy. This is a product and segment that Zurich North America and our guest, Brandon Hovsepian, have been continually developing and researching to better understand this growing segment of workers in America. The question on the minds of many within the insurance industry and beyond is how to access and afford quality healthcare. Here to explore these questions with me is Brandon Hovsepian, Zurich North America's Gig Economy Segment Leader, and his very title conveys a sense of focus on this growing segment of the population, the gig worker. So, let's get to it. Brandon Hovsepian. Welcome to RIMScast.
Brandon, it's great to meet you. Before we get to the big questions, I want to learn more about your role as the Gig Economy Segment Leader, which Zurich created a little over two years ago. That is a standout title from others that I've seen. Tell us a little bit about yourself first and why you took the role or why it spoke to you.
BRANDON HOVSEPIAN:
Thanks, Justin. Yeah, so I guess a little background on myself: I've been with Zurich for 10 years. For the last seven or so years I've worked with our Occupational Accident team. Occupational Accident has been a work injury solution for independent contractors in the trucking space for over 25 years. It's a well-known, purchased product to help solve for on-the-job injuries for independent contractors. When I was asked to lead this segment, it was an exciting opportunity to be part of something brand new at Zurich; not only to challenge myself about a new product and a new market, but also to help our other business units learn about this coverage and workforce.
SMULISON:
Excellent. So why don't you tell us a little bit more about the role?
HOVSEPIAN:
Yeah, in 2018 we started seeing gig platforms gain popularity, and brokers began asking about Occupational Accident coverage. Uber and Lyft were obviously the large platforms out there at that time and utilize independent contractors to transport individuals from one place to another. Around that same time, Instacart gained popularity and provided a way for users to purchase groceries without having to go to the store. At that time, we didn’t know that this was going to be a dedicated vertical within our Occupational Accident team. We just knew that we needed to have a form ready to react to this growing workforce. I'd say two factors really contributed to Zurich forming the Gig Economy vertical within OccAcc, the first being COVID.
For me, COVID changed the way users interact with platforms. When restaurants closed, individuals still wanted to order food; when grocery stores were seen as places to avoid due to crowds, individuals still needed to get groceries. So, it really created that dependence on an app and that familiarity, which I think still sticks with individuals today. The second aspect, I think the most important one, was the passage of Prop 22 in California. This was in late 2020 and in a nutshell what Prop 22 required was that transportation and delivery platforms provide Occupational Accident coverage to their drivers. In doing so, they would be considered independent contractors rather than employees. Our hope is that states will continue to adopt the same framework as California and formally recognize gig workers as independent contractors rather than employees if they have certain minimum protections. A couple of facts I think help tell a story and show the growth of this segment: Currently there are 54 million non-traditional workers of the United States. The gig economy is growing at 17% year over year, and approximately 30% of U.S. workers are currently part of this freelance economy. Right now, our team is focused on raising awareness of the different types of health and wellness solutions available to gig workers. We're not just looking at how we can provide access to the solutions, but also how we can make them affordable.
SMULISON:
Let's talk a little bit more about gig workers today. There's no templated profile, so tell us a little bit more about what you've learned about them.
HOVSEPIAN:
Yeah, you nailed it. What I think is cool about this segment is there is no mold that these workers fit into. They are everybody, blue collar to white collar…your neighbor. They're the 25-year-olds who don't want to work the traditional nine-to-five office environments. They're the 18-year old’s who are trying to make a little extra money to hang out with their friends on the weekends. They're the 65-year-old retiree who's looking to fill their time and try something new. It really spans everybody. I think the data's becoming a little more clear and we've been really working to understand this segment to better understand our customer base. What we've found is that there's a slight skew towards males — 53% males, 47% females — taking gig jobs. We've found that there's a slight skew towards southern states in having more gig workers, and they tend to be younger. The largest segment of gig workers being between the ages of 18 and 34.
SMULISON:
Brandon, as the Gig Economy Segment Lead for Zurich, how are you staying ahead of these trends?
HOVSEPIAN:
So, through public resources and Zurich's ongoing research and interviews with gig workers, we're exploring how we can help solve problems for gig workers and their platforms. But to do that, we need to understand the contractor. Why do they choose one platform or the other? What benefits do they see themselves missing? What are the pain points of working on a certain app and what changes did they like to see to the existing app they're working on? We are diving deeper into the minds of gig workers to better understand how and why they choose certain platforms and learn more about what benefits they see as missing or can be enhanced upon.
SMULISON:
Brandon, I'm sure you have your ear to the ground in risk management. What are you hearing from risk leaders at large companies about health and wellness risks for independent contractors?
HOVSEPIAN:
Yeah, these questions are certainly relevant to risk managers and they’re questions we're hearing for risk managers for both large and small companies that are struggling to find workers, especially after COVID. We're fielding questions about adding in gig workers or freelancers to close the employment gap, whether that be seasonal help or developing verticals within their companies that utilize independent contractors year-round. Offering these benefits is a great recruiting tactic and may be the reason why a contractor chooses one platform over the other.
SMULISON:
So, we've been talking about the platforms. What role do they play in helping those struggling to access and pay for healthcare?
HOVSEPIAN:
So, very few platforms offer health and wellness options to gig workers. There's a variety of reasons for where that, for why that might be. But what we've seen from the passing of Prop 22 is that there are legislative concerns around not imposing minimum standards of coverage. From a regulation perspective, it's still unclear how gig workers will be classified in the future. In California, Prop 22 passed in 2020 and was voted in favor of by 59% of California residents, which gives me hope that other states will adopt a similar framework.
SMULISON:
Excellent. So, California provides a hopeful snapshot. What about at the federal level?
HOVSEPIAN:
At the federal level, the Department of Labor posed a rule last fall that would make it more difficult for companies to treat workers as in independent contractors, which could have an impact on both platforms and its workers. It wouldn't surprise me though, if we start seeing platforms provide options for contractors to purchase other health and wellness solutions in the future.
SMULISON:
Brandon, clearly the concept of gig work and the gig economy is here to stay. How does Zurich think about developing future solutions for gig workers?
HOVSEPIAN:
As we chatted about before, it’s time for us to do more research to understand the life of a contractor working on a platform and hear what they need and want. We continue to tailor our products to evolve with the changing needs of contractors, whether that be ways to bridge affordable healthcare while off the job or provide Occupational Accident insurance with benefits tailored to the contractor while on the job. An interesting anecdote from an interviewee in a recent study we conducted — [she] shared that she doesn't prefer to work on transportation platforms due to fears of personal safety. At Zurich, we offer a sexual assault benefit that can be added to an Occupational Accident policy to address these types of concerns. We're working to understand the various pain points in the life of a contractor, but to better address these needs the Zurich team will get there by continuing to ask the right questions and deliver better solutions that can help protect American lives and livelihood.
SMULISON:
That was great. Thanks again to Zurich North America's Brandon Hovsepian, Gig Economy Segment Leader. For more information, visit zurichna.com. And to learn more about Zurich's Gig Economy segment, visit zurichna.com/insurance/accident/gig.
Resources
“The Gig Economy.” Edison Research and Marketplace. December 2018.