Brokerages have been working hard on mitigating the stress clients have been experiencing during Canada’s wildfire season, while having plenty on their own plates.
“I’m very grateful to work for such a large organization that has so many resources in so many different places,” Jacquie Gaudreau, AVP Operations in the Shuswap region for Hub International, told Insurance Business. “We’ve learned a lot as we progressed through different fire seasons as an organization.
“We have a fire resource team re-deploy some existing staff members that are personalized or commercialized trainers, IT Staff, our regional operations leadership team,” Gaudreau explained. “We meet via Zoom three times a week, more if needed.”
Hub’s IT managers track wildfires and new evacuations daily, and monitor local regional district websites, reaching out to clients via email when needed. The brokerage can take an evacuation order or alert, match postal code ranges to the affected area, and send communication to the clients who need it.
“We’ve always had a strategy to keep really good contact information in our agency manager system,” said Gaudreau. “The email communication has information around how to contact us as their broker, how to contact our after-hours emergency claims service, and has information on how to find out where their resource centre is, as well as including links to the Red Cross.”
Hub has been innovative during evacuations when call volume increases, re-directing incoming calls to brokers all over western Canada. “Right now, I have staff in Victoria returning calls because there’s no fires in Victoria and they have the capacity,” Gaudreau noted.
However, the key to its response effort has been preparation.
“I think as brokers the best thing we can do even when selling a policy is to advise people of a checklist,” said Gaudreau. Brokers should be ensuring their clients preemptively pack essential items such as passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, important mortgage or banking documents, water, and pet supplies.
“It’s also a good idea for brokers to use social media as much as possible to give people advice and checklists,” Gaudreau added.
Binding restrictions can be another challenge during wildfire season. “Our brokers have to be very careful to understand their binding authorities. Brokers represent both the client and the insurance company, so we need to represent the risks properly, advocate for the client and protect insurance companies,” said Gaudreau.
On July 01, the first fire broke out in the Shuswap, forcing Hub brokers in the area to shift gears. Rather than celebrating Canada Day and phase three of reopening after the pandemic, Hub’s team gave up their day to handle high call volumes and walk-in clients.
“We have to recognize that all of those [employees] also live in an evacuation zone,” Gaudreau noted.
“Hub in particular has been very community focused, so our volunteers come to help at those resources centres,” said Gaudreau. “It’s about people coming together and helping each other.”
