Fleet Size
1,500 EV or PHEV cars in company fleet
2,000 employee-owned vehicles (grey fleet)
Allianz UK is one of the largest insurance companies in the UK, trading under well-known brands names such as Allianz, Petplan, Britannia Rescue, and LV=.
It offers a range of business and personal lines insurance products including home, motor, pet, travel, engineering and legal expenses. Allianz has undertaken a zero-to-hero journey in the past two years to completely overhaul its risk management for its extensive car-driving workforce, revising its systems and approach to driver training in order to boost employee engagement.
Switching from blanket training to targeted training has delivered very positive results.
Summary of Achievements
Training Engagement
UP 100%
Targeted Training
SAVED 80K
Compliance Levels
UP 70%
Demonstrating leadership in driver safety
“As one of the UKs largest motor insurers, driver safety has always been important for Allianz, and for me, both personally and professionally.
Until recently I was the Chair of Thatcham, an organisation dedicated to innovation and education in vehicle safety. As part of my responsibilities closer to home, Allianz has seven hundred engineer surveyors on the road every day, conducting Health and Safety inspections for our customers, and it is vital that we practice what we preach in terms of our own employees’ safety. Finally, in my role of Chief Claims Officer, I see the impact poor driving can have on individuals and society more broadly.
In all these circumstances I support the aims and aspirations of Driving for Better Business.”
Graham Gibson
Chief Claims Officer, Allianz
More details
Declaration
“As one of the UKs largest motor insurers, driver safety has always been important for Allianz, and for me, both personally and professionally. Until recently I was the Chair of Thatcham, an organisation dedicated to innovation and education in vehicle safety. As part of my responsibilities closer to home, Allianz has seven hundred engineer surveyors on the road every day, conducting Health and Safety inspections for our customers, and it is vital that we practice what we preach in terms of our own employees’ safety. Finally, in my role of Chief Claims Officer, I see the impact poor driving can have on individuals and society more broadly. In all these circumstances I support the aims and aspirations of Driving for Better Business.”
Graham Gibson
Chief Claims Officer, Allianz
Business Benefits
- Compliance levels rose from <50% to 85%+ in three months
- £80K saving from targeted training
- Twice as many employees engaging in training
- Greater staff engagement in health and safety
Driving for Work Policy
The Allianz fleet is challenging to manage. Driving is a secondary skill for its drivers, who drive to get to a place of business rather than work as drivers. In addition to its own car fleet, it uses 2,000 grey fleet vehicles.
Due to structural changes in the company, it became clear that some business areas had more intensive driver processes than others and given the importance of the topic a project was launched to rectify this. Further feedback highlighted that parts of the business did have comprehensive structures in place to manage drivers, but these often complex processes deterred managers and employees from using the system correctly.
Allianz therefore decided to start with a clean sheet and worked with its insurance provider to set up a new in-house risk-assessment system. This assesses each driver based on mileage, points on licence and previous accident history. All licences are now checked, with repeat licence checking based on the driver’s risk score.
The company also has a ‘Driving for Work’ policy which is available on the employee intranet. It is shared with all drivers, and Allianz regularly sends out emails reminding people about the policy and how it impacts them.
Improving Roadworthiness
Last year Allianz announced a salary sacrifice scheme for all their employees, whether they drove for business or not, to upgrade their vehicle to a new electric model. The scheme contributes to their sustainability targets by reducing the impact on the environment. However, it also means that a higher proportion of employees will be driving new vehicles, with a matching rise in vehicle condition and advanced safety features that are often fitted as standard to newer cars.
The company has brought together several aspects of its own business together with CBVC Vehicle Management to create the deal. It was negotiated by ElectriX (part of LV= General Insurance), and employees get three years of fixed insurance costs, plus home charging, servicing maintenance and breakdown provided by Britannia Rescue.
Driver Training
Previously some employees believed the driver training ‘imposed’ on them by the company, which consisted of between 8 and 24 modules, was too onerous. This meant they either avoided it or took a whole day out of the business to complete it.
The training is now tailored to each driver based on their risk score. This has lowered the amount of training compliant drivers require and provided a better and clearer justification for their time investment. Engagement with the training has therefore improved substantially. Training can cover all general risks of driving for work, with specific topics and 1-1 training allocated depending on the individual’s risk ratings.
While the company has also improved its driving compliance through the training, a major benefit has been that employees are no longer taking as long to complete it. This efficiency gain has saved the company £80,000 pa, while also improving its driver risk management. The company’s management say this has had a positive impact on the company culture as well, because employees are now more engaged with health and safety. Previously health and safety was generally perceived negatively, as opposed to for the employees’ benefit. This is now changing.
