Social protection: from fragile to agile

Doing business in today's world requires a new way of thinking – agility - from understanding empowered customers, harnessing technology and protecting workforces who face new challenges in strained social protection systems, new skills and shifting employment relationships.

It's easy to forget, but even as the world becomes digital people remain at the center. A healthy and productive workforce will remain businesses greatest asset. The question is, how can we protect workforces globally at a time of profound change?

To address this, Zurich is launching a major three-year research program, Agile Protection, in partnership with the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. The study will look at the potential for developing frameworks involving different stakeholders, so more workers are provided with flexible protection and financial support in an increasingly fragmented labor market.

- In the first phase, we aim to understand more deeply the economic and social drivers behind the need for a new social protection framework;

- The cornerstone of the agile protection program will be the second phase, where new empirical data is gathered, both on employers’ perspectives on the challenges of providing flexible protection and on individuals’ behavioral tendencies that influence their insurance purchasing decisions, in order to inform the design of new solutions;

- In the third phase of our project, we will put forward recommendations to governments, employers, insurers, and other financial institutions and intermediaries, as well as individuals and households.

Read the report to find out more.