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Employers, employees and distributors can benefit from occupational disability insurance.

How you benefit from occupational disability insurance

Many employees get more and more aware of the importance of voluntary social benefits from their employers. In turn, facing increased competition for skilled staff, companies who cannot pay exorbitant salaries must try to score elsewhere. Against the background of this two-sided demand situation Assistance Services GmbH and Credit Life have developed occupational disability insurance. This innovative solution provides protection for employees, while employers strengthen their brand and distributors can expand their product portfolio and thus generate additional premium income.

„The new insurance offers small and medium-sized companies an opportunity to present themselves as more attractively. It was only with the help of an innovative partner like Credit Life that we were able to develop a new product and can now launch it together.“

Karl Assing Managing Director of Assistance Services GmbH

Features of the Cooperation

  • We ensure that the Assistance Services GmbH can draw on a huge potential of 30 million employees subject to social insurance contributions in Germany with a new product.
  • The occupational disability insurance closes the income gap between the original net income and the social sick pay and is suitable for every employee between the ages of 16 and 65 with statutory or private health insurance.
  • The occupational payment is financed by the employer, thus strengthening the employer brand and complementing the company's health management.
  • We have designed the application process to be lean and mean; a health check is not required.
  • Brokers have a new competitive product at their disposal and, furthermore, are given an opportunity to talk to existing customers.
  • The occupational disability insurance scheme was awarded the "Goldenen Bullen" as pension product of the year.

The Task

The sales specialist Assistance Services GmbH and Credit Life launched an innovative product out of their joint development process with the idea of using disability insurance outside the banking sector. A hedging solution was required, with clear and easily communicable competitive advantages, a large target group and a simple design. The concept had to convince three target groups at once with its attractive product design: employees subject to social insurance contributions, employers as policyholders as well as distributors and brokers operating on the market.

The occupational disability insurance scheme was awarded the "Goldenen Bullen" as pension product of the year.

The solution

The occupational disability insurance closes the gap between social sick pay and the previous net income in the event of disability. As a company benefit, it is financed by the employer, thereby increasing employee loyalty and attractiveness on the applicant market as well as enabling employers to help their employees in difficult life situations. Finanzen Verlag, publisher of the renowned financial and business magazines €uro, €uro am Sonntag and Börse online, also recognizes this quality, having awarded it the "Goldenen Bullen" for pension product of 2017.

    • The high demand to cover the salary gap from the 43rd day of disability (in Germany) forms the background to the innovative development process, as only around 3 percent of dependent employees have cover for the income gap in the event of illness.
    • The social  sick pay is up to 30 percent lower than the previous net income, and in view of low reserves, many households can hardly meet their financial obligations.
    • The demand is high: well over a million people get seriously ill every year, caused for example by cancer, heart attacks or strokes.
    • Occupational disability insurance can close this income gap for employees subject to social insurance contributions.
    • The product is designed as property insurance. This allows the use of a simple tariff system and renders the unpopular health questions unnecessary. There is also no age restriction, and the enrichment ban does not apply.
    • The comprehensive assistance services can be taken advantage of from the very first day of an illness.
    • The occupational disability insurance has a favorable price-performance ratio; the total burden for employers amounts to only about 0.5 percent of the monthly wage total.
    • A group insurance contract allows the introduction for all employees at once, keeping the administrative effort very low.
    f. l. t. r.: Christoph Buchbender, Udo Klanten, Dr. Lothar Horbach, Andreas Schwarz

    The implementation

    Credit Life provides all aspects of the insurance solution from a single source, its services cover the technical prerequisites for development in areas such as pricing and product management as well as insurance-related tasks such as application design or contract administration, for example in the event of claims or terminations. The Credit Life Partner Portal serves as a simplified, holistic data entry platform, allowing a streamlined application and conclusion process for occupational disability insurance.

    Per company, only one group insurance contract is required. In addition, Credit Life provides comprehensive support services in the areas of marketing and sales. This includes the creation of a website, target group-specific flyers, brochures and other sales support measures. They benefit both the cooperation partners, such as brokers, and the employers as contact persons for their employees. By dispensing with health questions and applying a simple tariff system, occupational disability insurance has great advantages over solutions that come as a form of health insurance. As insured persons, employees receive an insurance benefit based on their income, with Credit Life determining the amount of this benefit on the basis of income clusters. The premiums for the respective employees are based on these benefit clusters.

    The Assistance Services GmbH

    The Assistance Services GmbH is a sales company and 100% subsidiary of GAV Versicherungs-AG (GAV). GAV, based in the Münsterland region of Germany, develops and sells repair cost insurance and guarantee systems for a wide range of lines of business through its subsidiary. Since June 2010 DEVK Versicherungen, headquartered in Cologne, has been a 100 percent shareholder in GAV. DEVK is 130 years old and now serves around four million customers with more than 14 million risks in all lines of insurance. In terms of the number of contracts, DEVK is Germany's third-largest household insurer, fifth-largest car insurer and sixth-largest liability insurer.

    Contact person

    Hanns-Bodo Berger

    Sales