Please join us in welcoming Mark Walker to the team at Inclusion Score Inc to lead Sales & Strategy. Mark is not new to Inclusion Score as he was one of our earliest investors and understood the immediate market potential for both the international standard's InclusionScore software platform and also the certification / consulting business lines. We've been so fortunate to be the beneficiary of a truly organic community of growth and opportunity thus far. Now it is time to evolve from a start-up to a scale-up with direct placement of Inclusion Score products and services at distribution partners globally.
Mark brings along with him, nearly 30 years of experience distributing risk management resources across the insurance industry and the industries that it serves, services like Integrity Testing and Business Cyber Theft Remediation. He has established services and programs with clients to address: Workers Compensation Claim Frequency and Severity Reduction, Employee Turnover Reduction, Employee Theft Reduction, Improved Productivity, ID Theft Restoration, Business Cyber Theft Monitoring and Remediation and so much more. Mark has worked with nearly every sizable insurance carrier and broker institution.
As we regularly state, insurance is the incentive for inclusion. It's just too expensive in modern times to keep incurring charges from negligence or lawsuits on company's Employment Practices Liability (EPL) insurance or Directors & Officers (D&)) insurance. We're bringing Mark Walker on to help tackle the growing market of claims based on violations of Discrimination and Retaliation laws in the countries that make up the Western World, including India, Japan, Australia, and South Africa.
“In 2021, we continued to see premium and retention increases for Employment Practices Liability (EPL) insurance in the range of 10% to 25%,” wrote Emily Loupee, area senior vice president for Gallagher
According to Joni Mason, senior vice president, National Executive & Professional Risk Solutions claims practice leader at USI Insurance Services based in New York, New York, most EPL accounts will see moderate rate increases between 5% to 20% in 2022 unless there is a claims history on the account.
In the U.K., there has been an uptick in employment practice liability (EPL) claims over the past few years. According to Willis Towers Watson claims data, U.K. EPL claims have increased year on year since 2015.
The number of complaints globally is steadily on the rise and the nature of the workforce changed. We will see this financialized in the EPL D&O and E&O insurance market.
This isn't just an American problem. Businesses are coming under intense scrutiny to ensure they can demonstrate a work culture where sexual harassment/misconduct is not tolerated and that employers are doing all they can to heighten awareness and ensure appropriate policy and practices are in place.
As well as having appropriate EPL insurance protection, firms should, first and foremost, put in place suitable procedures and protocols to combat and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. In July 2018, the Women & Equalities Committee (a new select committee appointed to examine the U.K. government's performance on equalities issues) published a report on sexual harassment recommending a Code of Practice for employers, setting out good practice guidance, which includes having proper reporting systems and procedures in place (including guidance on anonymous reporting), support for victims, and targeted training and inductions. InclusionScore is that "reporting system".