Current remote working conditions pose personal challenges to about 50% of individuals
... working at home.
Recent lockdowns, and the consequent acceleration of digitalization and flex working trends, have made the Home the new center of people’s lives. How is this affecting people, and how should insurers and assistance companies react? The research shows how the focus is shifting towards new services, helping people cope with emergencies and needs remotely and in their own house.
85% of those surveyed said they spend more time at home since the start of the pandemic
36% of respondents declare they regularly work remotely, but less than half believe they work in good conditions.
78% of survey respondents said they feel concerned about their health and wellness, including both physical and mental health conditions
79% of respondents indicated that the Covid pandemic further increased the number of senior people isolation, posing an ever-growing challenge to family caregivers
76% of survey respondents said that they spend more time online since the pandemic started; awareness and concern around cyber risk has considerably increased. 70% personally know a cybercrime victim, 16pp higher than before the pandemic started.
Out of all survey participants, 73% have changed their leisure habits and lifestyle aspirations as a result of the pandemic
Europ Assistance and Lexis Ricerche conducted a "Live and Work Well at home" survey which studied the implications of Covid crisis on people’s daily life and habits, including topics like physical and mental health, senior caring, cyber risk, home & lifestyle. The study was conducted in four European countries: Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Europ Assistance (“EA”) today announced the findings of their first “Live and Work Well at Home” survey, which was conducted by Lexis Ricerche through a 20-minute quantitative questionnaire in four western European countries: Germany, France, Italy and Spain. EA set out to examine people’s new work and lifestyle habits since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and evaluate the new kinds of support and services requested to address these changing trends.
Andrea Fiorani, Head of Personal Lines at Europ Assistance: “It is no surprise that Covid-19 completely changed the habits and lifestyle of pretty much everyone around the globe. The height of the pandemic was an incredibly tumultuous time filled with uncertainty and adaptability, and it continues to be. In certain ways, the pandemic changed things for the better, like the ability to conduct everyday tasks and appointments from home. This survey allowed us to get a deeper understanding of this ongoing change and its impact on consumers’ needs and on the way we can address them. I was particularly surprised to find that only 20% of workers are satisfied with their regular remote work, and about the growing concerns around physical and mental health. It was also interesting to see how countries that were more or less severely hit by Covid now reflect these differences in people’s behaviours. This gave us a better understanding of the current desires within the assistance market, and ways to adapt to them.”
HOME is the new center of our lives
47% of people surveyed now regularly work from home, slightly higher in Spain (51%) and slightly less in Italy (40%).
50% of people find it difficult to balance their time at home (working from home with family members being around, taking care of the home, etc.) with a similar number of respondents in all four countries surveyed.
Top 3 concerns related to working from home:
Physical wellbeing: 59%
Mental wellbeing: 57%
Work / life balance deterioration: 53%
More than 70% have changed leisure habits and lifestyle aspirations, and more than 80% enjoy free time in a different way focusing on really important things, especially in Spain when compared to Germany.
HEALTH: Remote medical consultation is growing and highly appreciated, and digital health platforms show a high expectation on usage frequency
The concern about health is high overall, as 78% of respondents feel more concerned about their health and wellness, with peaks in Spain (92%) and in France (91%).
38% of respondents used a teleconsultation service in the last 12 months. The result is especially high in Spain (68%).
78% of those surveyed like having access to teleconsultations. The top 3 reasons are:
Saves time / transport: 51%
Easy & simple access to a medical professional: 49%
Avoiding going to crowded medical offices (especially after Covid 19): 39%
Overall, 65% of respondents have an interest in digital health platforms, and 1 out of 2 would consider in using it at least once a month.
SENIOR CARE: Senior people are even more isolated than they used to be, and family caregiving is proving increasingly stressful, challenging, and restraining every day’s life
Almost three-quarters of respondents (74%) still have senior relative(s) in their families. Among them, 57% consider themselves a caregiver, providing regular assistance to help make her/his/their life/lives easier, especially in Italy (73%).
Among those who consider themselves as caregivers, 47% take care of senior relatives every day, of which 64% find it difficult (very difficult for 50% of respondents), while 60% say they restrain themselves from any leisure activities (travelling, socializing…) because they need to take care of a senior relative.
Therefore, caregivers are highly interested in support services. The Top 3 services they’re looking for include:
Home caregiving services (bathing, meal cooking…): 77%
Healthcare services at home (sending nurse, medical exams…): 75%
Devices for emergency calls (connected button, fall detectors…): 74%
Almost 40% of respondents (38%) would be interested in care manager services, meaning access to a professional “Care manager” who would help them carry out the right services along to access to a predefined number of medical and non-medical home caregiving services in case of a medical emergency. A wide majority (82%) would prefer this service to be benefit included in an insurance policy (Life insurance, Accident and Health insurance...).
CYBER: as people spend more time online, concern over cybercrime keeps steadily increasing; 30% have been hit personally or in their close network
Compared to Europ Assistance 2019 Cyber Barometer, Europeans are feeling much more worried about cybercrime (phishing, fraudulent emails, virus/malware infection, cyber bulling…) in 2021. 64% found themselves really or somewhat concerned, up +19 pp vs 2019. This trend seems common all across the continent, even if the percentage of people concerned significantly differs from Germany (52%) to Spain (79%) as an example.
Cyber protection solutions also know a significant rise in positive perception, with 70% of European having a good or excellent opinion of this service for them and for their family (+16 pp vs 2019). Italy is the surveyed country with the most positive perception (80%) and the most significant increase vs 2019 (+ 20 pp).
Top 3 preferred cyber protection features:
Financial protection (financial indemnity (up to 10 000€) to help you bear the consequences of a cybercrime): 72%
Device protection (a software suite and a mobile app to protect your devices from most sophisticated cyberattacks): 72%
Incident resolution services (24/7 access to cyber resolution specialists to help you deal with any concern related to your online activities, virus/malware infection, loss of data, attempt to your online reputation…): 71%
The presence of a cyber protection service is quite impactful in the decision to buy or renew a service or an insurance policy, 68% of respondents say it can be really or somewhat influent, especially in Spain (79%) and in Italy (76%).
HOME and LIFESTYLE: securing remote working conditions as a pre-requisite to fully switch to smart-working
While 42% of respondents declare they regularly work remotely, 53% of them think they don’t have the best conditions to work, which means only 1 worker out of 5 is fully satisfied with remote working conditions, as the number of remote-working days explodes in every country.
Surveyed countries show quite a high level of autonomy in terms of managing leisure activities like finding things to do around, booking a restaurant or searching for a hotel, but things turn out to be more complicated when it comes to finding a qualified craftsman (plumber, electrician, locksmith…) with 42% of respondents saying really need help or need some help. This is the highest item in all 4 countries, which underlines the ability to provide quick and reliable solutions to remote workers when a claim occurs is a key thing to handle to make the switch to smart working (mix of remote and on-site working) sustainable.
The appreciation respondents give to digital personal assistants (such as a conversational interface to book restaurants, mobility means…) is significant (61% of positive opinion, with peaks of 75% in Italy), with quite similar levels while traveling (55%) as on their everyday life (50%).
Survey Methodology
The survey is a quantitative study carried out in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain through a 20 min questionnaire.1600 interviews were conducted, 400 per country. The fieldwork was carried out in August 2021.
