“​As insurance firms adapt to maturing markets and economic turbulence, in the long run, their ability to integrate technology, talent, and business-model innovation into legacy environments may be the key to success.”  - "2020 Insurance Outlook" by Deloitte

Beginning in the early 2000’s, technological innovation and a new focus on customer experience began reshaping all consumer oriented and business service industries. Nearly every American consumer now has more choice than ever before and business operators have begun large-scale shifts away from legacy service providers in favor of vendors who provide convenience, speed, choice, and quality service.

While trillions of dollars of market capitalization have shifted hands in the turbulent movements of the new information economy, the commercial insurance industry has been left more or less behind. High renewal rates, a lack of alternatives, and significant barriers to entry have allowed commercial insurance to remain a backwater as innovations in client service and technology rapidly transformed other sectors of the economy.

It is clear that change has now come to commercial insurance. Hardening markets, the rise of millennial business owners, the predations of private equity in the insurance space, and increasingly convenience-oriented consumers have made commercial insurance customers deeply unhappy with the industry. Customer satisfaction in the commercial insurance industry is at 30% -  among the lowest of any American service sector. Recent surveys indicate that commercial insurance customers are more open than ever to switching agencies, as long as the new agency  can provide better quality service and increased convenience. Meanwhile insurance agencies still tout “going paperless” as meaningful technological advancement.

In addition to providing a poor customer experience, the insurance industry faces additional challenges around hardening markets, volatile economic conditions, increasing regulations, and a critical shortage of young talent.

These factors are forcing market participants to squeeze harder on their one-time partners. Carriers are pulling out of high risk areas, investing in direct-to-consumer technologies, and privately discussing lowering agency commissions. Brokerage owners are cutting splits and forcing producers to share support resources. Producers are left with fewer resources and support, while their customers face skyrocketing renewals with no improvement in coverage or service. It’s no wonder that only four percent of millennial workers are interested in a career in insurance. 

The industry’s response to these historic challenges has not been to innovate or improve but instead to cash out in the form of retirements and mergers, leaving the industry wide open to an onslaught of private equity. These private equity investors have no interest in solving the key issues facing the industry - they are focused on squeezing every last penny of profit out of the industry for their own investors. 

Newfront is convinced that American customers will always choose better value when it is available. And we are equally convinced that there is a tremendous opportunity to create more value in the insurance industry by harmonizing technology and human expertise. We build this value every day by building and leveraging modern technology to empower our team with tools and resources to more accurately assess and mitigate risk. We build it by finding new ways to attract and retain top talent, and we do it by giving our teams meaningful work within a culture where they have the autonomy to question dogma and innovate. We build it by working together to set a new standard for what the client, producer, and carrier experience can and should be. 

When we started Newfront, my co-founder and I saw an industry facing deep, structural problems. For clients, dealing with insurance had become an unbearable, unpleasant process. For industry professionals, doing their jobs had become more and more tedious as they were being told to work harder for less pay. For industry executives, finding high-quality young talent to enter the industry had become a major challenge. And we believe that society and entrepreneurship and families suffer when our collective safety net, the insurance industry, becomes frayed.

As a part of our pre-launch research, we first looked at other efforts to innovate and reform the industry. What we found was not very compelling. There were tech startups that built compelling technology but had wrong-headed ideas about replacing industry talent with computers. On the other side were existing industry incumbents whose best contribution to innovation was “going paperless” or using Docusign to execute agreements.

We were certain that there was a better path; one that combined the agility and technological capabilities of startups with the deep sophistication and customer focus of industry professionals. We further determined that our best bet for quickly delivering a superior client experience and better platform for producers and support teams would be by focusing on technology, economics, and culture.

When brokerages talk about investing in technology, they often mean buying off-the-shelf tools like AMS tools or application tools like Indio. These tools look great in the marketing pitch, but the reality is that they don’t work well with each other at all. And once these tech vendors become established, like the AMS providers, they stop innovating because they know how painful it is for brokerages to rip them out. These technologies may make some incremental improvements for the brokerages, but they don’t make support teams work better with producers, they don’t improve customer outcomes, and they’re not intuitive. This was not a direction that we wanted to go.

Instead we looked at the companies that we admired the most and saw that their differentiating value came about because they wrote their own software. Apple, for example, makes its money by selling hardware (phones, watches, computers) but instead of just selling those products they invested millions into writing software that they don’t sell. Why invest in software when you only sell hardware? Because Steve Jobs recognized that building a beautiful, magical, seamless software experience made their hardware incredibly valuable. Tesla sells cars. But by writing their software from scratch, they’ve provided a user experience that absolutely dwarfs the experience provided by other electric carmakers. The software is what made Apple and Tesla the two most valuable companies in their sectors.

Newfront is a retail insurance brokerage, and we build our software from scratch because doing so allows us to provide an experience to our customers, producers, and account managers that far exceeds that of any other brokerage in the world. Make no mistake - this is hard, expensive, sophisticated work. But our customers and employees make it clear that the work is worth it.

For us, this process started by building service for our clients similar to online banking. Our customers can log in to see their policies, their covered entities, download their certificates, file or check on claims, and access (or pay) their bills. We've made the entire insurance application process digital, and our customers’ information carries over from year to year, which makes renewals much less painful for them and for our staff. Then we built our own AMS system. Then we started adding ideas from our producers that would delight their prospects.

Our second key area of differentiation was around the economics for our producers. For too long this industry has extracted as much money as possible from the producers in order to line the pockets of the ownership. With the rise of private equity, this inequality has only gotten worse. Agencies are cutting service staff, cutting splits, and cutting producers out of any meaningful ownership. We think that that is wrong, but also incredibly shortsighted.

The hardest job in any brokerage is producing new business. The gifted professionals who do this work should share in as much of the value as possible. And when everyone in the agency works their tails off to build a successful, transformative business, they should get equity.

Newfront not only pays the highest splits in the industry, but we also give equity in the business to every employee. We believe that this shared ownership aligns us all to do what's best for our clients since our reputation with clients will ultimately determine the measure of our success as a company. Many question how we can afford the splits that we offer, and the answer is that the technology allows for efficiencies throughout the business that make us a far more profitable entity than other brokerages our size. We pass these savings back to our producers.

Our third area of focus was to build an incredible team with a terrific culture. The energy when you come into the office is electric — we're a group of people that knows we have a chance to truly move this industry forward, and you can sense that effort and drive from the team. Folks that come in to interview routinely say that they’ve never experienced anything as exciting as Newfront in their careers. 

We’ve built a powerful coalition that bridges the domains of technology and insurance. We have folks with decades of industry experience working side-by-side with talented professionals coming in with a fresh perspective.  By only hiring the best account managers, engineers, producers, creatives, product managers, and operators we’ve moved far faster than any other brokerage to seize the historic opportunity in front of us.

We've had an amazing journey so far and have brought on thousands of clients across the country who were searching for a better insurance experience. Looking ahead, we’re focused on scaling the team so that we can continue to improve and bring the benefits of working with Newfront to even more clients. The opportunity to move this industry is enormous and we're truly just getting started. Onward!

Like all of you, I’ve watched with dismay as COVID-19 disrupts our world and radically re-shapes our lives. As I write this, half of the world’s population shelters-in-place and the resulting business stoppage has unleashed economic calamity unparalleled in our lifetimes. For Newfront, the virus paralyzes some of our customers, dramatically slows down our unprecedented rate of growth, and freezes up the capital markets upon which high-growth businesses like Newfront depend.  

When operating conditions change radically, a business must adapt. For Newfront, the shift in credit markets and the consensus outlook for near-term economic activity presents us with a dramatically different set of operating conditions than we had anticipated at the start of the year. On Monday we made the incredibly difficult decision to restructure our business to operate effectively within the new environment. Unfortunately, that required us to reduce our workforce, especially on our engineering, recruiting, strategic growth, and operations teams. 

We did everything that we could to avoid this moment. We slashed non-essential spending on events, advertising, and travel. We instituted a hiring freeze. We cut most of our executive pay by 20%. My co-founder Gordon and I cut our salaries to zero. But in the end, these alone were not sufficient to achieve the safe harbor needed for us to renew our focus on driving innovation and unparalleled service to our customers.

These cuts are business-related and not in any way reflective of these individuals’ performance. I’m so grateful to each teammate for their dedication to Newfront and their hard work to drive our business forward. We are doing what we can to support those whose roles were reduced in this difficult time, including offering severance packages and extensions of the time periods for them to exercise their stock options so that they remain Newfront shareholders and a part of our community.

With all this said, I can tell you that I have never been more dedicated to our company or more convicted about our long-term prospects. Following this painful day, we stand on sound financial footing. I am fully confident that Newfront will emerge as a highly impactful and lasting business that will transform our industry.

These next few weeks will be among the hardest in our nation’s history.  In spite of this, we will build this business and care for our customers because we owe it to each other and to the people we are losing today, who will always be a part of the Newfront family.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has unfortunately provided an opportunity for cyber security threats to multiply, and many organizations may find themselves vulnerable. Attacks are now ranging from credential phishing and business email compromise (BEC) to fake landing pages and malware, all tied to the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

There are several steps individuals and businesses can take to prevent a cyber attack: 

Run regular updates on your programs and operating system; developers are continually releasing fixes for security gaps, but these only offer protection if you run the updates

Require devices to have two-factor authentication, which verifies a person's identity before logging in

Ask employees to confirm that their home WiFi connections use WPA2 encryption and are password-protected

Ensure employees have easy access to a list of approved remote work tools for communication

Companies should maintain a reliable backup for their data on a different network

Organizations should make sure their antivirus software is up to date

All employees should be instructed to think twice before clicking links within emails. You may consider holding a phishing awareness training

Amidst the crisis, we’re looking for every opportunity to help our clients. Given that many businesses have temporarily shifted to work-from-home situations, or are in the midst of reevaluating their cyber security protocols, we’re making our IT team available to help you. For a complimentary technology consultation and security review, please contact our IT director at chris.hahn@newfront.com. We're available to discuss the systems you're currently using and offer recommendations to keep your workforce productive and secure.

When Newfront co-founders Spike Lipkin and Gordon Wintrob set out to build the brokerage of the future, they resolved to shake off some of the baggage of the old-school insurance industry. One obvious way to do that was by building a company filled with diverse voices and fresh perspectives—and that's just one of the reasons Newfront empowers a strong female workforce and actively encourages gender equality at work and beyond. 

In honor of Women’s History Month, we want to shine a spotlight on just a few of the female leaders, brokers, and clients who make Newfront proud. 

Lisa Hanson's career in insurance has spanned nearly 30 years; before Newfront, she owned a management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, change management, and leadership. Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn here. 

What do you like most about the work you do? 

Helping salespeople achieve and get out of their own way. I love being a resource at the sales level and helping producers keep their confidence up during tough times. I place a lot of value on helping people gain insight into their own emotions during important sales conversations, because it can help them clear their head of roadblocks and get in the right mindset for success. 

I have cultivated leadership skills over my lifetime and I like to lead other people toward unlocking their own leadership capacity. I strongly believe that everyone has leadership potential and I think it’s a strength of mine to help people feel empowered and find the right leadership role for themselves. 

Can you describe a time when you overcame a challenge? 

In a prior leadership role, one of my responsibilities was to turn around unprofitable territories marked by economic downturn and low producer engagement. The obvious assumption was that the regional economic troubles led the producers to disengage, but I wanted to dig deeper. My first step in every territory was to schedule lengthy one-on-ones with each producer to connect on an individual level. In doing so, I learned that it was not typically the perceived lack of opportunity that caused producers to disengage; rather, it was because the individual did not feel valued by the brokerage.

Once I listened and understood what motivated each person to do his or her best, I found ways to engage the producers in the business. We created action plans that reflected how and why the producer wanted to be successful. To further engage them, I created opportunities for the producers to become part of large and small teams to give a sense of camaraderie. Through coaching and encouragement, the results came quickly as producers surpassed the expectations others had of them as well as those they had of themselves.

Do you have any words of wisdom for women who might want a similar career to yours? 

I would say to never give up. Historically, the insurance industry has been full of barricades for women. While things are dramatically different at Newfront, they’re not fully solved anywhere. So as a woman, it’s important to reach out to your colleagues and find allies in both men and women. Your allies will be critical over time.

Debra Scalice is a Newfront broker with more than 30 years of risk management experience. She partners with entrepreneurs across a variety of industries, from manufacturing and distribution to non-profits. 

My clients are so inspirational to me. Entrepreneurs find a way where there is no way; they are mavericks, pioneers, and problem-solvers. They are the most hard-working, creative people among us and I’m so proud to help them contribute to the US economy. 

I am painstaking about assembling insurance programs that are as unique as my clients. I take the time to deeply understand my clients’ needs, educate them about their options, and compile programs that make sense for their business and their appetite for risk. 

This is one of my favorite stories, because it’s demonstrative of the power of determination. One of my HR clients found themselves in an expensive bind when their workers' compensation classification code had been mis-assigned before we started working together. They had tried to remedy it to no avail, but I was determined to fix it. With my client’s permission, I spoke with eight people at several entities and carriers—all of whom told me “no”—before I finally got the change made. It didn’t affect my commission but it was a huge cost savings for my client. The takeaway is that it doesn’t matter how many people tell you that you can’t do something—you can. Just follow your instinct and keep forging through. 

I would tell any woman that if you want this career and you’re willing to work hard for it, you can have it. Pursue knowledge, gain experience, and find a mentor and this is one of the most financially and emotionally rewarding careers you could possibly have.  

When Cristina Posada emigrated from Colombia at age 20 and arrived in San Jose, California, she found a job at her brother-in-law’s construction company and spent the next 13 years mastering English, earning her undergraduate degree in business and marketing, and absorbing as much industry knowledge as she possibly could. When presented with a fortuitous offer to buy a struggling concrete scanning company, she borrowed money from her parents for a down payment, arranged to pay for the rest of the company over time, and took an enormous risk. She’s owned the company, Safe2core, for a decade now, and Cristina is a client of Newfront broker Susan Groff. 

Safe2core provides concrete scanning, concrete cutting, and utility locating services. We use ground penetrating technology—an alternative to x-ray—to locate embedded construction targets like post-tension cables, conduits, and rebar. We also locate utilities such as water, gas, and telephone lines. After the target areas have been scanned and cleared, we cut the concrete laying over them. The process is important because it prevents the structure from being damaged and protects the safety of everyone working on the site; that's what I value most about what I do. 

I care deeply for my team and I consider them family. I routinely hear from clients, employees, and friends how much my team loves working for Safe2core. Most business owners think the customers are the most important asset, but for me, my employees are the most valuable—because if they’re happy, they make my clients happy. 

When I first bought Safe2core, the business had a terrible reputation that I had to overcome. The prior owner was a good person but distracted by personal issues that left the business in bad shape. Former clients were hesitant to hire me and I couldn’t get a loan from the bank. I sometimes literally begged people to give me a chance. I eventually rebuilt the reputation of Safe2core and I’m now doing five times as much business as the prior owner. It’s an incredible feeling to look back on what I’ve achieved. 

I always think of this quote from Robert Kiyosaki: “Don't let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” I always keep that quote present in my mind because it helps me remember to not let fear interfere with my goals. Of course uncertainty is terrifying, but you have to just go for it anyway—because the feeling of really achieving something cannot be matched. 

In March and Beyond, We Celebrate Our Woman Leaders

As an insurance brokerage, our primary responsibility is to you, our clients. As you face interruptions in your normal course of business due to COVID-19, you're understandably inquiring as to whether your commercial insurance policies will cover your losses. While we sincerely wish we could provide more comfort in these trying times, the answer is: It depends. It depends on your individual policies, it depends on the specific reasons for your losses, and it depends on how the government and insurance carriers collectively decide to respond to coronavirus-related damages. So while we cannot address your specific coverages here, we can walk you through some concepts you should be aware of and steps you should take during this complicated time. 

First, we strongly recommend you embark on a policy review with your Newfront broker. Knowing what's contained within your insurance policies is your first and best move before making any decisions. 

Second, the biggest unknown for the insurance world right now surrounds business interruption and property damage coverage, so we'll address that first. But read on for information about other coverages and exclusions you may find within your policy. 

Will business interruption insurance or property damage insurance cover my business losses due to coronavirus? 

It depends. Many policies require a connection between the business losses and some “physical loss or damage” to property. Insurers are currently taking the position that there is no physical loss or damage when a business shuts down or loses customers due to COVID-19 health concerns. However, since governmental directives designed to address the spread of the outbreak are motivated by the physical presence of the virus, there may be credible legal arguments to make that the presence of coronavirus in a building renders that building unsafe and it could be presumed that all buildings where people congregate have been contaminated. Where a property is rendered unsafe for use, there is some authority that this constitutes “physical loss or damage.” We anticipate that these issues will be litigated in court, and we are aware of at least one lawsuit that has been filed and expect that there will be more. (We are tracking developments in our list of ongoing news coverage.)

We can make no guarantees as to how an insurer might react to a claim, but we believe it is in many of our clients’ best interests to track ongoing losses and file for claims.  

While the arguments described above have not yet been tested in courts and we cannot be certain of any outcomes, what is 100% certain is that if you do not file a claim with your insurer, you will not get any coverage for your losses. 

As your brokerage, we can assist you in submitting claims to the carrier, and we can also discuss how a claim might impact your coverage going forward (particularly if you are close to a policy renewal). Please contact your broker or connect with us at contact@newfront.com for more information. 

Please know that any thoughts we may provide regarding potential claims do not constitute legal advice or a legal opinion and we urge you to consult with legal counsel on this matter. 

What other language in my policies might help cover my losses? 

It depends on what's in your specific policies. Your policies may contain some version of the following: 

"Contingent business interruption" coverage may apply when the insured suffers business losses due to damage to property belonging to another party (like a supplier). 

“Civil authority” clauses typically refer to coverage for business interruption losses caused by government closure orders. Losses are typically capped by a time period and depend on the reason for the government action. 

"Environmental loss" coverage pertains to contamination from viruses and other organisms.

Event cancellation coverage may apply if you've been forced to cancel events. 

Is it possible my policy contains exclusions for viruses? 

Yes. Your policy may have specific exclusions for losses caused by viruses, microorganisms, or “contamination.” You should discuss the potential applicability of these exclusions with legal counsel.

What can I do right now to position myself for success as an insured? 

Obtain a copy of your full insurance policy. Policies are made up of several components and you need to have them all to ensure you have the full picture.

Pay your premiums on time. In past circumstances, people facing severe stress have allowed their policies to lapse, and insurers have been unforgiving.

Communicate with your insurer in writing. Keep a specific file—either paper or electronic—of all communications. Send email confirmations of phone conversations.

Document your losses. Many policies require the filing of a “proof of loss” within a certain period of time. The law varies by jurisdiction as to what this requirement means. Discuss these requirements with your attorney or at least familiarize yourself with these requirements. Keeping track of your losses as they happen will make it easier when it comes time to file a claim.

We're here to help during this period of uncertainty. Connect with us for a complimentary policy review, bookmark our regularly updated coronavirus resource hub, and email us at contact@newfront.com with any questions or concerns you may have.

Can I Claim Property Damage or Business Interruption Due to Coronavirus?

The past month has been an unsettling reminder of how quickly business and personal priorities can change. Less than a month ago, the economy was thriving and unemployment was at record lows. Now, the outbreak of COVID-19 has forced social distancing measures across the country and spawned uncertainty across the globe. How should we manage our workforces during these unprecedented times? 

1) Make sure your workplace is safe for employees. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) General Duty Clause requires employers to provide a workplace “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.” OSHA recommendations include promoting personal hygiene at the workplace with hand sanitizer and disinfectants, minimizing COVID-19 exposure by using virtual communications where possible, and pausing non-essential travel. 

2) Keep a record of any team members who contract COVID-19. 

It might be difficult to determine exactly where or when a worker contracted the virus, but OSHA requires that employers record work-related injuries or illnesses and may request your records in the future. Notify your local health department if a team member is infected, but also maintain their privacy.

New Coronavirus Relief Law Requires Paid Employee Leave.pdf

3) Provide Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) benefits in accordance with updated federal policies. 

If a worker is seriously ill as a result of the coronavirus, they may be eligible for leave (paid or unpaid) under FMLA. The law requires most companies with 50 or more employees to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave every 12 months. Similarly, leave to care for a family member who is seriously ill as a result of the coronavirus may be FMLA-qualifying.

Please note: Healthcare professionals recommend that you don’t walk into a hospital or medical office if you think you have the coronavirus. If you or a team member want to see a healthcare provider, call ahead to let them know you’re coming and that you’ve potentially been exposed to the coronavirus. You can also request a mask be brought to you before you enter the hospital to reduce the risk of infecting other patients.

What to do if an employee has been exposed to the coronavirus 

If you or one of your employees ends up being diagnosed with or exposed to the coronavirus, we recommend being swift, conservative, and non-punitive (e.g., don’t start docking pay) in your response.

Step 1: Send them home immediately. Employees diagnosed with the coronavirus or exhibiting known symptoms, such as respiratory illness, fever, cough, or shortness of breath, should be sent home and encouraged to self-isolate.

Step 2: Separate exposed workers. Before they leave, ask the infected employee for names of anyone who worked in close physical proximity to them, and ask those team members to work remotely as well.

Step 3: Notify the people you work with—sensitively. Inform your team of their possible exposure to the coronavirus, but avoid sharing any private information. Tell the rest of your employees to check for coronavirus symptoms and to contact their healthcare provider in case they want to get assessed for potential exposure. Also notify any potentially exposed vendors, customers, or clients—again, while maintaining confidentiality.

Step 4: Record the diagnosis per OSHA’s instructions.

Step 5: Keep inquiries to a minimum. Limit the amount of personal information you ask from employees. You can encourage—but not require—them to contact the local health department. You also can’t ask them to get tested or to measure their body temperature.

BONUS: Make a payment plan for hourly workers. Depending on your existing policies and applicable local laws, you need to figure out how and when to pay nonexempt employees who are sent home. If your policy is not to pay in this situation, employees may resist going home or try to hide symptoms. This is not the behavior you want to encourage. 

If you have not already done so, set up a remote work policy for your employees. Outline who on your team can and cannot work remotely, ensure that remote workers have the necessary hardware and software to enable remote work, and establish a plan on how meetings, team communications, and daily activities will run. Here are some resources we found helpful:

Harvard Business Review’s guide to creating an emergency remote work policy
 
Lattice’s HR toolkit on pivoting to a remote work environment
 
Telework guidance by the US Office of Personnel Management
 
LifeLabs' HR & remote work playbooks

We recommend reading Harvard Business Review’s piece on companies’ legal obligations around coronavirus. As they suggest, it’s more important than ever to stay informed, intensify communications and hygiene, consider restrictions on returning to work, protect employees’ privacy, and start proactively planning for a worst-case scenario. 

Business leaders across the US are grappling with whether they should furlough employees, permanently reduce their workforces, or close offices during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you need to take one of these measures, these guides on communicating furloughs and layoffs due to coronavirus may be helpful. 

Given the nearly unprecedented rise in jobless claims, millions of Americans are trying to understand how to get help from the government while unemployed. Given the pandemic, many states are loosening their restrictions on who is eligible for unemployment assistance, as well as waiving the normal waiting period between applying for benefits and receiving financial assistance. If you are forced to make layoffs, consider pointing your employees to these resources: 
 
This government website offers guidance on how to apply for unemployment benefits.
 
Check here for a state-by-state guide on unemployment benefits, including additional flexibility for those affected by coronavirus. 

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (HR6201) requires group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance to cover COVID-19 testing and certain COVID-19 testing related items. Please refer to the provided links to see COVID-19-related responses by most carriers for fully insured coverage. 

Chinese Community Health Plan (Covered CA – 2019)

Oscar Health (CalChoice & Covered CA – 2020)

Sharp Health Plan (CalChoice & Covered CA)

Self-funded employers can reference the UnitedHealthcare current release of business disruption and stop loss support explaining that clients are considered the plan fiduciary. As such, they are the final authority on plan design provisions and should consult with their professional advisors. 

We continue to recommend telemedicine for less urgent care to avoid going into high risk areas.

Your healthcare benefits should continue to operate as normal, but if you have any questions please reach out to your benefits broker or relevant carrier. We urge you to continue following the latest guidance from the CDC on how to stay informed, protect yourself, and prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Refer to CDC’s resources for employers and OSHA’s COVID-19 guidance to ensure you are remaining compliant with your legal obligations and ensuring that your workplace is safe for your team. Fisher Phillips’ FAQs for employers may also be a helpful reference.

Workers may be eligible for leave under FMLA if they are ill due to COVID-19, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) could also be relevant if a coronavirus-related illness results in a protected disability. As a result, please reference the FMLA and ADA requirements to ensure you are abiding by federal and state leave requirements. 

We hope you and your employees are healthy and safe during these trying times. Please do not hesitate to reach out to the Newfront employee benefits practice at ebnewbusiness@newfront.com if you have any questions or if we can be of assistance.

There’s a lot happening in the world right now. Loved ones to check in with, news to stay on top of, social distancing to practice, and work teams and operations to try to keep moving. If you’re like most business owners, you probably haven’t had much time to review the nuances of your current insurance policies and how they were originally structured. As we find ourselves in this period of uncertainty, we’re seeing many clients reach out for a comprehensive policy review both for short-term and long-term support. They’re asking questions like: 

Can I file a claim for business interruption losses if the government ordered me to shut down?

What does the new emergency Families First Coronavirus Response Act mean for me as an employer?

I need access to working capital now to make payroll. Where can I go for help? 

I’m shifting my workforce to remote. What do I need to know to operate effectively? 

Will my insurance carrier waive late payment fees due to coronavirus?

I’m now forecasting my revenues and employee headcount to be lower this year. Can I reduce my premiums and/or deductibles? 

I’m thinking about risk management planning for the future. What other coverage do you recommend for my business? 

Right now is an important time to review your insurance policy to ensure you have the best possible coverage in place with sufficient limits and affordable deductibles that will work for your needs now and in the future. Newfront’s seasoned team of licensed account managers are now available for complimentary mid-term policy reviews for all businesses in California facing risk due to COVID-19. 

Review the exposures used to calculate the premium on your policies (payroll, sales, operational costs, vehicle fleets, etc), looking for ways to reduce the cost of your insurance program in the event that one or more of those factors have changed due to coronavirus.

Advise on best practices for submitting claims to your insurance carriers.

Review the latest updates from each of your insurance carriers, including services offered and remediation plans to provide support to businesses affected by this pandemic.

Evaluate across all of your policies in place (regardless of whether they’re with Newfront or not) to assess gaps in coverage and recommend policy adjustment opportunities moving forward.

If you’d like Newfront to conduct a policy review for your business, please fill out this form and your dedicated insurance team will get in touch in short order. 

Reviewing Your Policy Coverage with an Expert

Dear Newfront Clients, 

All of us across California are weathering a rapidly changing storm as we band together to flatten the curve on the spread of coronavirus and minimize the health impact to our country. I want to acknowledge that everyone is adjusting to new ways of working and feeling an impact, and we’re all in this together. Some of you, particularly our local business community and non-profits, are quickly facing a more difficult financial burden by the day. Whatever the size of your business, our teams at Newfront are partnering closely with experts across multiple industries and have some important information to share: 

Arguably the biggest question being debated is whether there will be coverage under property insurance and business interruption policies for projected losses arising from COVID-19. Many policies require a connection between the business losses and some “physical loss or damage” to property. Following the president declaring a state of national emergency on March 13, 2020, state and local jurisdictions began instituting orders and directives designed to address the spread of the outbreak motivated by the physical presence of the virus. The public is being told that everyone should assume that they are infected, and act accordingly. There may be credible legal arguments to make that the presence of coronavirus in a building renders that building unsafe, and it could be presumed that all buildings where people congregate have been contaminated. Where a property is rendered unsafe for use, there is some authority that this constitutes “physical loss or damage.” There can be no guarantees how an insurer might react to a claim, but we believe it is in many of our clients’ best interests to file for claims and track ongoing losses. We anticipate that these issues will be litigated in court, and we are aware of at least one lawsuit that has been filed and expect that there will be more. What is 100% certain is that if you don’t file a claim with your insurer, you will not get any coverage for your losses. As your broker, we can assist you in submitting claims to the carrier if you like, and we can also discuss how a claim might impact your coverage going forward, particularly if you are close to a policy renewal. Of course, any thoughts we may provide regarding potential claims do not constitute legal advice or a legal opinion. Please connect with us at contact@newfront.com for more information. 

For businesses considering staff reductions related to COVID-19: the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act was signed into law on March 18, 2020, providing for expanded FMLA provisions and paid sick leave financial relief for businesses with up to 500 employees. The program provides for financial assistance for employers to provide paid leave to qualifying employees for up to 3 months, with a tax credit equal to 100% of the benefits used through December 31, 2020. 

The US Small Business Administration has announced it is now offering low-interest working capital fixed-rate loans to help small businesses, agricultural cooperatives and non-profit organizations to meet payroll and other financial obligations that are being disrupted due to coronavirus. Our clients in California may be eligible for up to $2M to help alleviate economic injury caused by the pandemic. The SBA may consider waiving this $2M limit for businesses who are major sources of employment. Applications are now available through December 16, 2020, but we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. 

The IBank Small Business Finance Center Disaster Relief loan guarantee program is now available to businesses in California with up to 750 employees who are experiencing financial distress as a result of coronavirus. The program includes Financial Development Corporation (FDC) partners to assist businesses in securing up to a 95% guarantee on loans of up to $20M. Contact a local Financial Development Corporation for support. 

Your Newfront broker may have additional options for helping you apply for reduced insurance premiums based on reduced operations or revenue forecasts. Where possible, we recommend reaching out to your business partners (landlords, suppliers, wholesalers) and asking whether they’d be willing to assist you for a grace period on your existing liabilities, temporarily reduced payments with reinstatement schedules (with or without interest), or relaxed debt to income covenants on your existing contracts. 

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has issued a statement asking insurance carriers to provide a 60-day grace period on premium payments during this challenging time if nonpayment is due to circumstances beyond the control of the insured, including life, health, auto, property, casualty, and other types of insurance. Several carriers are in process of updating their policies as a result. We are closely following this and will provide additional information as it evolves. 

For restaurants and bars directly impacted by shelter-in-place directives, this article on LinkedIn included excellent advice for how to transition to delivery and take-out if you aren’t already set up that way. If you decide to make a change like this, your insurance policy may require coverage adjustments so please reach out to your Newfront broker for support.  

We feel a deep sense of commitment to the success of all of our clients. We’re here for you working around the clock, and hope that you are all safe and healthy. If you’re in a position to do more for your community and are looking for other ways you can personally support local businesses during this time of need, this article from Inc has some awesome practical ideas.

We’re working on an official resource center to publish on newfront.com in the coming days and will be in touch as this evolves. Please also join us for real talk and Q&A on coronavirus topics on Thursday next week. 
 

We're Here For You: Guidance + COVID-19 Financial Resources for CA Businesses

At Newfront, we are closely monitoring developments at the intersection of insurance and COVID-19. We're actively engaging with our clients to help them bolster their finances during this time of crisis, understand their coverages, and stay informed about whether any coronavirus-related claims might be covered. To keep our clients up to date, we've published a COVID-19 resource hub and are hosting a "Real Talk for Businesses" webinar on Thursday, March 26 to answer many of your questions surrounding coronavirus and insurance. 

Here, we're sharing a list of news articles tracking the debate surrounding business interruption coverage due to coronavirus. Bookmark this page and check back; we will update this list as development occur.

Insurers Reject House Members’ Request to Cover Uninsured COVID Business Losses
March 20, Insurance Journal
"A bipartisan group of U.S. House members has asked insurers to retroactively recognize financial losses relating to COVID-19 under commercial business interruption coverage for policyholders."

Proposed N.J. Bill Would Require Insurers to Pay COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims
March 19, Insurance Journal
"A proposed New Jersey bill, which aims to create business interruption insurance coverage for COVID-19 related claims despite virus exclusions in many policies, has drawn concern about the constitutionality of legislation like this."

Coronavirus Coverage Tied to Physical Damage Definition: Experts
March 16, Business Insurance
“Open questions about coverage surrounding the coronavirus may well turn on the definition of physical damage and whether the virus or its presence meets that threshold, legal experts say.”

French Quarter Restaurant Sues in What May Be First U.S. Coronavirus Insurance Dispute
March 16, WWL-TV New Orleans
“In what’s believed to be a first in the U.S., a French Quarter restaurant is suing Lloyd’s of London, hoping a judge will order the U.K. based insurance market to cover losses caused by government-ordered closures due to the coronavirus.”

Coronavirus Losses and Insurance Policies
March 13, National Law Review
“As companies look to mitigate coronavirus-related losses, they should carefully review their insurance policies to determine whether they provide coverage for losses. While coverage will ultimately turn on the specific terms of the relevant insurance policies and the precise nature of the losses, a number of insurance lines may provide relief.”

Coronavirus Work-from-Home Response May Expand Cyber Risk
March 13, Insurance Journal 
“As U.S. employers ask employees to work from home to avoid exposure to coronavirus, they may be exposing themselves to another kind of risk: Cyberattacks.”

Insurers Face Big Investment Losses, Trade Credit Claims from Coronavirus Crisis
March 12, Insurance Journal
“Having initially brushed off the potential impact from coronavirus-linked claims, global insurers are waking up to the prospect of a double whammy – a sharp rise in payouts at a time of big investment losses.”

Risk Managers Advised to Prepare for Coronavirus D&O Claims
March 10, Business Insurance
“Businesses should brace themselves for a likely flood of shareholder suits related to the new coronavirus outbreak, but the success of any litigation may depend on companies’ willingness to fully disclose directors and officers liability-related risks now, say many experts.”

Will Business Interruption Insurance Provide Coverage for Coronavirus Losses?
March 6, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
"With COVID-19 disrupting global supply chains and sales, businesses are losing income and incurring additional expenses as a result of the disruption. Whether the claims are covered will depend on the terms and conditions of the insurance policy and the circumstances of the loss."

Lawsuits Against Businesses Over Coronavirus Have Begun. More to Come?
March 4, Insurance Journal
"The coronavirus has upended markets, disrupted supply chains and forced quarantines. It’s all fertile ground for lawsuits. Here’s a survey of the likely legal landscape."

Insurance and COVID-19: Ongoing News Coverage

Like all of us, you’ve been reading a myriad of frightening headlines on Coronavirus (formally COVID-19), which was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization this week. People are staying home from work, events are being cancelled, schools are closing or moving to virtual learning. This is impacting every aspect of our lives fueled by a very understandable human reaction, a fear of the unknown. 

As a CEO responsible for the well being of more than 250 employees, and also for writing and servicing complex insurance programs for thousands of Newfront clients, I want to let you know that we’re monitoring the situation closely. During this time of uncertainty, friends, colleagues, and clients have reached out to our team asking for information about whether their specific insurance policies cover community-spread disease pandemics (every policy’s language is different, but there’s a reason why the majority do not), what the precedent on this is, and what they should be doing to mitigate risk for their business and protect their employees (here are some great resources).

Let’s first take a step back to look at how the industry works to provide risk protection to companies and individuals. Insurers study historical data under various scenario models to predict the likelihood that certain events may occur and then provide financial compensation if such an event does happen. Carriers are regulated by each state to ensure that they aren’t over-charging customers for policies, but also that they aren’t charging excessively low prices or maintaining insufficient reserves such that they would go bankrupt if they didn’t have the funds to pay claims. Commercial policies are often nuanced and complex to take into account whether a company has a profile that demonstrates higher or lower potential risk for a workplace injury, property damage, business interruption, supply chain delays, and the lot of hypothetical events that could occur. 

How then, would a Coronavirus policy be priced? The insurance industry is very good at pricing risk it knows and understands -- it’s just that right now we don’t know or understand a lot about pandemics. So the reason Coronavirus and pandemics in general aren’t typically included in commercial insurance programs is because 1) it’s incredibly difficult to predict the probability and scope of damages with a community-spread disease, given there have only been a few cases we can point to in history (SARS in 2003 would be the most recent) and business / lifestyles have changed dramatically since then, 2) the cost of acquiring coverage for a pandemic would be prohibitively expensive save for the largest companies in the world, and 3) there was generally limited demand for such a policy given the rarity in recent history. 

We can look back at the SARS epidemic to better understand this. A 2004 analysis determined that the SARS crisis cost the world economy a total of about $40 billion, a number fueled by economic impact via travel, trade and financial networks, with both direct and knock-on effects. 16 years later, the world is much more interconnected by air travel and supply chains supporting multiple sectors including manufacturing. Any insurers able and willing to write policies against a future pandemic would need to be so highly capitalized themselves that they could afford to stay in business. 

So, if you’re a business not on the Fortune 500 list with hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars to spend on insurance, what are your options? While our lawyers require me to caveat that every commercial insurance program has its own nuances and none of this should be considered legal counsel, here’s what we generally know: Many business interruption and supply chain interruption policies specifically require “physical damage” such as a windstorm or flood. It’s possible that we may see legal experts develop sophisticated arguments as to why COVID-19 constitutes “physical damage,” or that other types of complex policy endorsements may apply in the Coronavirus case. There may also be political pressure for carriers to make exceptions if the global pandemic worsens, or for the federal government to provide a broader relief package for hourly workers and small businesses. If we see increased demand for pandemic-related coverage moving forward, there may be more insurers coming to market with broader options. With the situation changing minute by minute, it’s possible that all insurance coverages could come into play, from the most obvious types of coverage to the most unlikely. 

We can’t make any representation or warranty as to individual cases, but the answer as to coverage will be how the various policies respond to the virus and whether there is any compensational incident that occurred to activate coverage. Bottom line, we’re here for you to guide you through this. We will partner with you to submit all claims or potential claims to your insurance carriers to determine coverage. We’re in this with you and will fight to get as much as possible on your behalf. Please connect directly with your Newfront broker to review your policies if you haven’t already done so. For all other business managers looking for a coverage review, please reach out to me personally at any time at spike@newfrontinsurance.com and one of our specialists will provide you with a comprehensive consultation free of charge.

In the meantime, we’re recommending that businesses focus on risk mitigation. The CDC continues to provide updated recommendations for employers on how to prevent workplace exposures to COVID-19, including sending sick employees home, performing regular environmental cleaning, and encouraging remote work where feasible. At Newfront, I’ve asked our San Francisco, Sacramento, and Portland offices to work remotely for non-essential meetings as a precautionary measure until we know more. Our goal is to continue to provide the best service we possibly can at the speed our clients expect and deserve. For tips on how to manage a remote workforce during Coronavirus, we found this guide from LinkedIn particularly useful. 

We’re also in the process of pulling together more detailed information for business owners in the community and will keep you updated as the situation evolves. We’ll be hosting a webinar on this topic Thursday March 26 at 11am PDT with expert speakers and a Q&A. Please sign up here to attend.  

Commercial insurance policies & Coronavirus coverage - it's complicated.

Clients, partners, and friends: We are thrilled to announce that we've updated our web address, and newfrontinsurance.com is now newfront.com! 

It took us almost a year to acquire the domain, and we got to announce the news (and celebrate!) at our January Broker Summit in San Francisco. Here's our Co-founder and CTO Gordon Wintrob making it official: 

This update means both our website URL and email addresses will change, but rest assured that everything about the way we serve our clients will stay the same.   If you are a user of the Newfront dashboard, you'll log in and use the tools the same way you always have. And our @newfrontinsurance.com email addresses will still work; you will just see replies coming back from @newfront.com.   

We're also excited to share that in conjunction with our new URL, we launched a brand new website! We’ve updated our design to make it even easier to learn about our company and connect with our team. Of course, if you are here on our blog, you'll have already noticed, but if you have not done so, click through to Newfront.com, explore, and let us know what you think!

Amidst all these changes, we want to remind you that we're here to assist with all your risk management needs and we wish you health, happiness, and prosperity in 2020!

We are thrilled to announce that we've updated our web address to Newfront.com and redesigned our website!

Karin Robinsantos left Uber to join Newfront in April 2019 and now leads our 50-person Operations Specialists team. We spoke with Karin about building the support organization at Newfront and what keeps her motivated at work each day. 

Q. What is your professional background and how did it prepare you for life at Newfront?

A. I started my career in tech operations working the phones at a (then-small) Cambridge startup called HubSpot. As it morphed into an industry leader, HubSpot taught me how to use enterprise CRM solutions and gave me my first taste of what is needed to build a support team from scratch. A few years on, I took a chance at another small startup—Uber—as a project manager on the support operations team in Boston. There, I launched a new ticketing platform in China, grew offshore support centers all over the world, and led a massive migration of Uber’s internal knowledge architecture for the US and Canada. It’s hard to express what a wild ride Uber was for me; when I left after five years, Uber had evolved from a network of hyper-local teams to a massive global operation with hundreds of thousands of support interactions each week. In a nutshell, it taught me how to scale support. But most importantly, Uber brought me to San Francisco—where I transitioned to Newfront and launched my career in insurance. 

Q. What do Operations Specialists at Newfront do? 

A. The purpose of the ops specialists team is to take on the day-to-day paperwork, bookkeeping, and data entry that keeps our business alive but takes critical bandwidth away from the account managers and brokers whose time is better spent serving clients. 

There are a total of nine distinct ops specialists teams at Newfront, each tasked with managing the data associated with a core insurance function. Our certificates team does the complicated (and high-stakes) work of issuing proof of coverage documents to our clients on demand. Our endorsements team manages the immense amount of data we get from incoming policy and endorsement documents. 

When I started as Head of Operations Specialists in April 2019, we had three full-time staff dedicated to the work. I knew instantly we would require massive growth to accommodate Newfront’s business and that our team could be a critical lever for scale at Newfront. In just seven months, we’ve grown to 50 full-time operations specialists and contractors and we’re still hiring. (Jobs here!)

Q. How is ops at Newfront different from ops at other insurance brokerages? 

A. The operations function is entirely unique to Newfront. At most brokerages, account managers are either required to handle these tasks themselves or they rely on assistant account managers for help. To illustrate why that’s unduly burdensome, let’s consider an example. Say a construction client is headed to work on a job site that requires proof of insurance. At other brokerages, generating that certificate would require oversight from the producer and the account manager involving lengthy discussions, contract reviews, and sign-off requirements that could create delays. 

At Newfront, our operations specialists are experts in specific pieces of that workflow—so not only are they able to get the task done faster, they do so with dramatically fewer errors than a generalist would produce. This means that Newfront ops specialists enable our account managers to take on a more strategic role than would be possible anywhere else. At Newfront, account managers are dedicated to ensuring that each client has the most thoughtful, competitively priced insurance package possible. They can spend their days doing what they are hired to do—helping clients.

Of course, our technology platform plays a critical role supporting both our operations specialists and our account managers. Our product and engineering teams have built proprietary tools that help us dramatically speed up these insurance workflows while reducing errors. We can conduct audits to assess how long each task is taking and where the pain points are to make them run faster. 

At other brokerages, it’s accepted that account managers simply have too much to do. At Newfront, we’re modernizing the insurance industry not only by building technology, but by implementing entirely new operating models in the service of our clients. 

Q. How is culture at Newfront similar to and different from culture at Uber? 

A. Both companies strongly encourage creative thinking to overcome challenging business problems. When teams are empowered to build solutions themselves, I truly believe anything is possible. And both companies attract and hire eternal optimists—my favorite kind of colleague. 

One major difference is that at Newfront, I’m glad to report that our philosophy is not “growth at all costs.” We absolutely want to grow as a company, and we believe we will grow while treating people right. We often say at Newfront that “our vision of the future has people at the center of it,” and as both an employee and a manager, I know this to be true. 

Q. What is the most satisfying part of your job?  

A. It gives me no greater joy than to realize that through our rapid hiring, we’ve built our team of operations specialists into a critical talent pool for Newfront. By hiring collaborative, smart, and intellectually curious people into support roles, we now get to develop career pathways for our ops specialists into management, account management, training and development, and much more. 

For example, Erika Palomo started as a contractor just six months ago and consistently demonstrated deep subject matter expertise and management talent. She was recently hired full-time to lead our conversion vertical and now manages a team of four. 

The ops specialists team is full of owners who step up when presented with meaningful challenges and I’m so proud to report that these empathetic, hard-working people are quite literally building the brokerage of the future. 

Karin is hiring for operations specialists roles in both San Francisco and Sacramento. She would love to hear your thoughts on this article and can be reached at karin@newfront.com.  

We spoke with Karin about building the support organization at Newfront and what keeps her motivated at work each day. 

An Interview with Karin Robinsantos, Head of Operations Specialists

We’re thrilled to announce the hiring of Garth Hamilton, whose charge as our new Chief Sales Officer is to lead brokers in developing client solutions and continuing the firm’s rapid organic growth. Garth was most recently the Chief Sales Officer and property/casualty market leader at HUB, where he led the Pacific Northwest sales team of more than 300 professionals to three years of unprecedented organic growth. 

When Garth first met with the Newfront team, he wasn’t looking for a job—but he was struck by the caliber of his someday colleagues. “At Newfront, I’m surrounded by brilliant people who are experts in technology, insurance, and operations,” he said. “And I instantly recognized how I could contribute—by helping brokers grow their books of business. It’s the piece I know and love, and the way I can take part in this revolution within the industry.” 

Garth is a former insurance broker and agency principal, and knows what it’s like to build a book from scratch. That credibility, he explains, is essential for inspiring a team of brokers to do the best selling of their careers. “I’ve been through the fire as a broker and built my own book from nothing; unless you’ve done it, you don’t know what it takes,” said Garth.

As for Garth’s plans for Newfront, he sees his overarching goal as putting Newfront brokers in the best possible position to write new business. “That means designing the best, most competitive sales program in the industry,” said Garth. “One that makes people want to come work here because they know they can win.”

Garth would love to hear from you and can be reached at garth.hamilton@newfrontinsurance.com. 

Introducing Garth Hamilton, Newfront's Chief Sales Officer

From our clients to our colleagues and carriers, because of every single relationship 2019 has been a powerhouse. Here's how we stacked up... 

I love this quote from Gandhi: "Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. And your values become your destiny." Put simply, our values define what we can achieve.

At Newfront, we learned early on that building the right culture was one of our biggest opportunities and challenges. Our business grows by supercharging insurance professionals with technology. We have world-class software engineers from places like Amazon, Google, and Palantir, experienced operators from McKinsey, Uber, and Opendoor, and seasoned insurance professionals from both smaller regional brokerages and some of the largest firms on earth. No other company to my knowledge has brought these groups together, but at Newfront this diversity is our strength.

Given this variety of backgrounds, our team needs shared values to help ground conversations and work through complexity. Values help people make all the micro-decisions that comprise our day without needing to "run it up the chain." This defines how successful the team is at getting things done and achieving big, audacious goals. The values become your destiny!

In addition to defining our values, we outlined a set of behaviors for each. These provide shared understanding for our entire team and offer real examples of how we live our values at work each day.

Can I Claim Property Damage or Business Interruption Due to Coronavirus?

Reviewing Your Policy Coverage with an Expert

We're Here For You: Guidance + COVID-19 Financial Resources for CA Businesses

Innovation in the Insurance Industry

Founding Newfront

Impact of COVID-19 on Newfront

IT & Cyber Security During COVID-19

In March and Beyond, We Celebrate Our Woman Leaders

HR Best Practices During COVID-19

Insurance and COVID-19: Ongoing News Coverage

Commercial insurance policies & Coronavirus coverage - it's complicated.

Announcing Our New URL and Website

An Interview with Karin Robinsantos, Head of Operations Specialists

Introducing Garth Hamilton, Newfront's Chief Sales Officer

2019 Year In Review

Newfront for Businesses

Newfront for Private Clients