When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and in the months that followed, engagement scores jumped at Sun Life – it happened organically, says the company’s CEO, Dean Connor.

“All around the world, Sun Life people and advisors just bent over backwards to help clients,” he told those gathered to hear him speak in a pair of webcast presentations. “Engagement scores went up significantly – up to the highest levels that I’ve ever seen – partly because people were looking out for each other,” he says. His comments were part of the 37th Annual Insurance Conference presented by S&P Global Ratings and part of his discussion with BlackRock country head, Marcia Moffat at a recent presentation by the Canadian Club Toronto.

Like other companies, he says decision-making efforts at Sun Life sped up considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We got more done in the last 12 months than we’ve done in several years, in terms of digital, in terms of partnerships and in terms of some M&A (merger and acquisition) transactions. It was quite remarkable,” he says. “We found a new gear. The question for the future is how do we keep that gear?” 

Interestingly too, he says the company’s investment in real-time data feeds, largely developed and built since the global financial crisis, has decidedly paid off. “We did not have the real time data feeds that we needed to navigate the ship. So we spent the last decade getting ready for this next thing.” The pandemic being the next big thing, he says all of the information being gathered – balance sheet details, capital and liquidity positions, credit position, up to date mortality and morbidity numbers “with incredible granularity” was hugely helpful to have in the current crisis. “It turned out to be really, really important,” he says.

The pandemic, he adds, also reinforced the value of a balanced and diversified business model. “The value of the balanced, diversified business model, by geography and by line of business really showed through in a big way.” 

As for pricing, he says going forward the pandemic will likely not have a huge impact. “I see this as more of a shock event as opposed to a persistent event,” he says. “Time will tell if the long-haul effect shows up in any meaningful way, but we’ll have a chance, in some cases, to reprice and reflect that for the future.” 

Drivers of demand, he adds – the aging population, downloading of responsibility from governments to individuals and employers, “incredible growth” of the middle class in Asia, and the acceleration of business through technological development – are all stronger than ever, in many cases accelerated by the pandemic. More, he says “the purpose of what we do, the demand for what we do, has come into sharp relief for our clients around the world,” all of which, when coupled with what looks to be promising economic growth, bodes well for the company.

In looking at the future, meanwhile, he says he anticipates there will be a step change in productivity. “Productivity has taken a backseat in the last year,” he says. “For all kinds of reasons. But if you look forward, my sense is there’s going to be an improvement. We’ll have learned from this.”