Chubb responds to employment changes, digitally savvy millennials with Blink Paycheck

Blink by Chubb's recent launch of its Blink Paycheck income protection insurance product is a response to changing employment practices and the insurer's research on millennials, said Leslie Marshall, senior vice president and head of Blink by Chubb. 

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"As we all know, the nature of work has changed dramatically since the pandemic. One of the trends that we saw early on is a shift from traditional employer sponsored work to gig work and entrepreneurship, solo-preneurship, contract work," she says. "We saw a need that should be filled for those individuals because they wouldn't be able to take advantage of employer sponsored benefits any longer."

Blink Paycheck covers workers in the event of an accident or illness that prevents them from being able to work. It's now available in 37 states. The coverage pays out a monthly benefit for anywhere from one month to six months. The benefits issued would be a maximum of $2,500 per month. Premiums are determined based on several factors including the policyholder's occupation and income, according to Marshall.

As with Blink Cyber, the first offering from Blink by Chubb, prospective policyholders can use an API to enter their information and get a preview rate quote. "They're not obligated to speak to someone at Blink about the purchase experience unless they need to do so," says Marshall. "The entire journey is designed to be a do it yourself journey in that digital environment. One of the things that we're really focused on at Blink is that easy, effortless experience."

To get the final rate for coverage, Blink Paycheck asks you 12 questions that help determine the price of coverage and also catch if your occupation or medical history makes you ineligible. Blink Paycheck offers accident insurance or accident and illness insurance together, but not illness insurance on its own. 

To develop Blink Cyber, which insures against identity theft and privacy breaches, and Blink Paycheck, Chubb studied a sample of 1,000 millennials, ages 24 to 39. This research found that those sampled do not engage in employment in the traditional way, and are digitally savvy, leading a "digital life," as Marshall says. "Whether it's banking, whether it's their social interactions, whether it's booking their travel through online applications, they're really living a vast majority of life using their digital devices."

The same generation that leads the digital life also often works remotely, especially digital nomads. "Many of them are choosing to do that work, with their employer approval, in places other than their residence," says Marshall. "It's very important that they have coverage for both their income and their digital life."