Insurance management

How can risks be identified?

A detailed risk analysis will identify all the potential risks, such as fire or hacker attacks, and prioritise them based on your answers to the following questions: 

• What could threaten the existence of my company?
• How high is the maximum loss to be expected?
• Who pays if a loss is incurred?
• How high an excess can I afford per claim event?

The risk catalogue produced via this process can be used to determine and then conclude the insurance policies needed. The risks faced by a company should be regularly reassessed to ensure that it continues to benefit from the optimal insurance solution even if circumstances change.

As the risk analysis process is extremely challenging and requires a great deal of expertise and experience, VZ will be happy to assist you with this process.

What risks must a company insure?

Social insurance schemes, such as OASI/DI and unemployment insurance, are compulsory, as are accident insurance and occupational pensions pursuant to OPA. In certain sectors where there are high levels of potential risk, public liability insurance is also required. 

Other insurance that is voluntary, but in many cases recommended, includes illness daily allowance insurance and business property insurance, which covers losses and damage to business assets, such as goods, facilities or machinery, caused by fire, water or theft. 

For many companies, cyber-risks are nowadays the main business risks. This applies not only for companies who conduct their business online, but for all companies – if cyber-criminals steal data, install malware on systems or take down servers, companies can face losses totalling millions, damage to their reputation and even disruptions to their business that could place their existence at risk.

How can companies save money on insurance?

Many companies pay far too much for their insurance: they take out unnecessary insurance policies and fail to select the provider offering the best value for money. 

Many companies simply don’t have the time to analyse insurance offerings in depth. If they did, they would often be able to save up to 25 percent or more on risk premiums and administration costs for their pension funds as well as on accident and illness daily allowance insurance.  

Would you like to know where your company could do better and how much you could potentially save? Then request a free-of-charge insurance analysis now.

Why is absence management important?

Health-related absences are a major cause of costs for companies and in recent years, have increased by approximately 20 percent across Switzerland. Illness-related absences have a number of different consequences for companies: 

• More work must be done by employees present
• More time must be spent by HR departments, for example, on finding replacements for shift workers
• High costs caused by work absences
• Poor working atmosphere
• Difficulties meeting deadlines / making deliveries due to lack of capacity

An absence management system systematically records all absences. This makes it possible to analyse whether a professional health management approach could reduce these absences. This can save on costs and reduce long-term absences. 

The health management solution offered by VZ spans a wide range of services for company owners, including prevention training, absence management, care and case management as well as support with legal issues.

Why do companies need an insurance broker?

It is difficult for companies to successfully navigate through the insurance jungle: there are countless different insurance products and the benefits can be difficult to compare. What’s more, the terms and conditions are often formulated in such a way that even after struggling through them, you are left unsure as to what is covered and what is not. 

If companies have questions about insurance, they can contact an advisor at their insurer or an independent broker. While insurance advisors only sell products offered by their company, brokers examine products from a wide range of providers. One thing insurance advisors and brokers have in common is that they both receive compensation from the relevant insurance company for brokering and managing the policies.

What do companies need to consider when it comes to insurance brokers?

Insurance brokers are directly compensated by insurance companies for their advice, risk analysis and customer support. This takes the form of a brokerage fee charged to the insured company. Depending on the company, this brokerage fee can be several times higher.

It is often the case that many brokers do not transparently disclose the brokerage fees they receive each year. This can lead to conflicts of interest. In certain circumstances, brokers recommend a solution from which they earn the most, rather than the solution that would be best for the insured company. In practice, VZ has seen time and time again that companies often take out unnecessary insurance cover or are recommended providers that charge high brokerage fees.