1CISP is a composite insurance company based in the Philippines, and has been serving members for the past 47 years. 1CISP was established in 1974 to promote and engage in life insurance services as a cooperative. In 2018, 1CISP acquired licenses to write life and non-life policies as a co-operative. At present, 1CISP is operating nationwide in the Philippines, with a head office based in Quezon City. 1CISP insures primarily farmers and the low-income sector, and at present, has 2,962 co-operative members.
The COVID-19 pandemic devastatingly affected the Philippines. The country entered into an advanced community quarantine state (lock-down) from 17 March. This resulted in the vast majority of Filipinos not being able to leave their homes and over 12 million people losing their jobs and income, putting strain on the country and economy.
1CISP was determined to PROTECT the livelihoods of their employees by relating to their staff like family. This response includes:
- Implementing work from home for all staff;
- Strict safety protocols;
- Employees engagement programme to execute in the digital workspace;
- A focus on remote talent development.
Whilst looking after employees is essential, 1CISP also turned their focus to their member cooperatives to ensure they could embrace the new normal and the needs of their members. New policies were created to allow for the digital ways of working and grace periods to allow for delayed premium collections. Other initiative included making COVID-19 related deaths payable and increase hospital benefits for those who had fallen ill.
Member surveys were conducted and Member-Owners Forums were established to better listen and adapt to the needs of the members and ensure their well being during the pandemic.
Social media has also widely been utilised to stay in contact with members with regular social media posts on all platforms designed to inform the members of their new products and developments to assist.
1CISP constantly looked for opportunities to engage with the public through advertorial campaigns (#KwentoKo and #KwentongKoop campaigns for young leaders). Co-operative partnerships also came into sharp focus with all member co-operatives to provide meaningful webinars assisting with COVID-19 safety, technology, and leadership issues.
In terms of lessons learnt from the pandemic (so far), 1CISP state:
- Take care of your people, and they will take care of your business – employees are an asset and work hard despite the conditions and challenges to deliver on their business priorities.
- Reinvent yourself – make the changes to your business that will work to provide value to all parties.
- Digital transformation is a must.
- Communication is the key – communicate continuously to staff and customer alike to keep them engaged and aware of company priorities and changes in the business.
- Develop partnership and relationships to stay relevant in the changing landscape.
