The role of the actuary
This month I have been asked to write about the work of an actuary, a difficult subject, given that few people know what an actuary is, although in professional circles people are beginning to know more about what we do. I always remember the classic question, what do you do, I’m an actuary, oh yes, notary, right? Well, not exactly… I am sure that all actuaries who read it will know what I am talking about.
The formal definition would be: Actuaries are professionals who study, plan, formulate and apply mathematical models in order to provide information for planning, forecasting and decision-making, and to solve economic and social problems involving risk.
Leaving aside the different areas in which an actuary can work, life, non-life, Solvency II, blah, blah, blah, blah,…, I am going to focus a little more on the one I am involved in, which is the actuary of issues related to social welfare in companies.
There are two basic aspects to our work, the first is purely technical and closely related to actuarial practice, ranging from the calculation of actuarial present values to the calculation of an accounting provision that a company has to account for. The second, and the one I personally like the most, is the consulting work, which consists of recognising the needs of the company and helping them to find a solution to these needs.
The needs of our clients in the field of social welfare and more broadly in the area of employee benefits, consist mainly in designing a complete package of benefits for their employees, from the implementation of a health programme, including physical, mental, increasingly demanded, and financial, to the implementation of a welfare / savings system.
Medical insurance is the most valued employee benefit within the health programme, while voluntary employee contributions through group insurance and within flexible remuneration are increasingly demanded by employees and companies. Another benefit that is increasingly in demand is related to improving the financial well-being of employees, for which we have cutting-edge solutions that are fully customisable to the individual preferences of each employee.
I hope this article has clarified a little more about what an actuary can do in the specific areas of employee welfare and benefits. I look forward to helping you in any way I can.
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