by Peter Hamilton, Head of Market Engagement at Zurich UK and Government Disability and Access Ambassador for the Insurance Sector
A year or so back I went to an insurance event focused on Gen Z – those born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s. Most of the speakers were under 30, with a few undercover boomers like me swelling the ranks of a largely youthful audience.
Three words stood out: authenticity, transparency and relatability. These are Gen-Z’s non-negotiables. And as the event went on it unpacked Gen Z’s strong sense of values, the importance of health and the absolute reliance on their phones for social interaction, education and learning, entertainment and more.
Why should this matter for insurers and long-term savings providers? And why is it relevant in Mental Health Awareness week of all weeks? Well because Gen Z represent some 25% of the global population and will be the predominant cohort in the workforce by 2030.
The Anxious Generation
Focusing on the importance of health, commentators at the event noted how health anxiety is rocketing amongst Gen Z. And the afore mentioned increased use of social media and increased health anxiety isn’t a coincidence. A book published a year ago, ‘The Anxious Generation' by Jonathon Haidt, suggests there's a very direct and causal link between Gen Z's social media use and a huge rise in mental health problems. This has also been raised in a recent discovery report as part of Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working Review. Although of course, some will make the case that young people have a lot to more worry about, including climate change, inequality, global conflict, debt and more.
Jonathan Haidt calls it "The Great Rewiring of Childhood" and he explores the rising levels of anxiety and depression among Generation Z. He talks of four foundational harms caused by social media: social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation and addiction.
What can we do?
All of this is important insights, especially as Gen Z start to form a larger part of our workforce.
Sir Charlie Mayfield’s review highlights that there are more working-aged people today who are economically inactive due to ill-health and disability than ever. The human and economic cost of this economic inactivity is huge.
And there has been a surge in the number of people with work-limiting health conditions between 2015 and 2024. Specifically, and startlingly, there was an increase of 530,000 younger people whose main health condition was mental health related.
When people face ill-health, fluctuating conditions or barriers to work, there is often a lag before they access effective support and treatment, especially related to mental health. This can lead to deterioration in outcomes and longer periods out of work or early exits. If people do fall out of work, it’s vital to act fast. People are five times more likely to return to work if it is within a year than if they have been out of work for more than a year.
Addressing what Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Review found to be a degree of fear in our country’s workplace culture, could help get Britain working. We know that employees are often fearful of disclosing health issues. When an employee does go off sick, employers are often fearful of engaging, worried about potential perceptions of bullying and harassment, and triggering tribunals. People who are ill are seen as risks to be managed rather than individuals to be supported and protected – there is a need to rehumanise the process.
Perhaps this is where insurers, with our focus on prevention, can step in to help.
The insurance model of procuring and pooling vocational rehabilitation with financial benefits and other health services is both cost-effective and well-suited to SMEs. It gives employees at small companies access to human resource facilities that their employers may not themselves be able to offer. The link with the employer is retained (and often the potential tensions between employer and employee are reduced). It can also support a successful return to work through vocational rehabilitation services such as mental health support, access to rehabilitation clinics and return to work planning.
ABI analysis of some 16,000 cases in 2023 found that nearly nine in ten people remained in the workforce following access to rehabilitation services through insurance. The combination of rehabilitation and early intervention, together with a greater focus on preventative initiatives, can have a transformative effect on people’s lives, leading to a healthier, more fulfilled, and more productive workforce. We also know only 3 in 10 workers have access to it.
So, as insurers, we can recognise some of the support we provide to those suffering mental ill health. “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” It’s a quotation attributed to Desmond Tutu, and maybe that, societally at least, is the assignment here.
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