Introducing group insurance does not start with forms – it starts with a conversation. The needs assessment is there so that we set out from the company's situation, not from a ready-made product: first we understand who the company wants to protect and against what, and offers enter the picture after that. This article walks through what I ask at this stage – and what I deliberately leave out.
The first question: what is the protection for?
Everything else follows from this. If the goal is retention and a competitive benefits package, the emphasis differs from a situation where the owner primarily wants to strengthen accident protection for a physically working crew, or to manage the risk of losing key people. The goal decides whether death, accident or health covers (surgery benefit, hospital daily benefit, critical illness) should carry more weight – and whether one tier should apply to everyone, or executive and staff tiers should be built.
The numbers: headcount, age profile, budget
An offer rests on two key data points, headcount and age composition – insurers build their premium calculations on them, so these two are worth providing as precisely as possible. The article on headcount and age profile shows in detail how to put all this together without names. With the budget we are not hunting for a specific premium but for an order of magnitude: how much the company plans to spend on the programme per year or per month. From that, the benefit amounts can be planned backwards – actual premiums only become visible after a quote request, from the offers that come in.
Job roles and special situations
A job role speaks the language of risk: office work and physical work carry different accident risk, and insurers typically follow this in premiums and conditions. That is why I ask how the team splits across job roles, whether there are several sites, and whether the work involves travel or seasonal swings in headcount. Borderline situations belong here too: colleagues on probation, part-timers, staff on long-term leave – it pays to set a rule for them at the start, not at the first disputed case.
What I don't ask: names and health data
A quote request typically needs no name list and no health data: group contracts typically start without individual medical underwriting. If insured-person declarations are needed at contract signing, they go directly to the insurer – the employer never learns anyone's health data. This is more than a privacy point: it is also easier for colleagues to say yes to a benefit that gives their employer no window into their medical background.
What happens to the answers?
Based on the assessment I put the quote request package together and collect competing offers from several insurers, using one and the same set of criteria – so the results become genuinely comparable. The full arc of the process, from quote request to launch, is shown on the How it works page. The advice is free of charge: the broker's remuneration is paid by the insurer, and the decision stays with the client at every step.
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