What trends are we seeing in the US EB market? And what are the challenges facing multinationals in the region?

In the latest Our People interview, we sat down with Maile Mathews, Senior Relationship Manager in our US Business Development team to find out about EB in the US, and a bit more about Maile herself!

1. You’ve worked at MAXIS for a long time now, can you tell us a bit about your current role and how it’s changed over time?

It’s been 12 years now since I joined MAXIS, and over those 12 years my role has changed quite a bit. At the start of my MAXIS career, I was working in the Reinsurance & Reporting team as a captive reinsurance analyst, which was a role where I wasn’t client-facing at all.

From there I went into an account management role within the Business Development team, working on both pool and captive agreements with our US-based multinationals. Over time, this account management role has evolved to where I am today, as a Senior Relationship Manager. I focus on our largest captive clients across the US and have a client-facing role now where I work directly with our clients and consultants, helping multinationals to scale their employee benefits strategy worldwide.

2. How would you describe your time at MAXIS? Can you tell us one or two highlights?

As I mentioned I’ve been here for 12 years, so you could say I’m pretty happy here! MAXIS has a fantastic culture and all of the people here are amazing. It’s truly a global company and I love working with people from different countries and cultures around the world – I think it’s great to be able to work alongside such a diverse group of people. The people at MAXIS are a huge part in why I’m still here all these years later.

One of my highlights is from a while ago now, when I first joined the Business Development team. I went over to London and worked out of the London office for six weeks, which was a brilliant opportunity to work with some of our European multinational clients, and the team in London. This was definitely one of the main highlights of my time at MAXIS.

I’d also say that the MAXIS Global Forums and our global staff MeetUps have been highlights for me. These events are a great chance to meet with local members and some clients, as well as members of the MAXIS team. As we’re such a global company, it’s always good to be able to meet with colleagues in person – sometimes you’ll have known people for months or even years, and you’ve never met them in person, so finally getting the opportunity to put a face to a name and to build relationships further is really important.

3. You work in the US Business Development team – what trends are you seeing in the US EB market? And what would you say are some of the biggest opportunities for multinationals in the region?

I’d say one of the biggest trends at the moment is clients wanting to move towards captives. We’re seeing a lot of captive RFPs and a lot of pool clients who want to transition into the captive space as they gain more governance over their EB programmes. I think diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is one of the key things driving this trend as multinationals look to invest in their people and provide the benefits they really value and need. There’s also an opportunity for multinationals to reinvest their underwriting profits into these DE&I initiatives.

I’d say that using a captive reinsurance programme to implement a minimum standard of benefits worldwide is one of the biggest opportunities for multinationals at the moment. Doing this allows employers to shape their terms and conditions on a local country level, where it would not be possible otherwise. We’re seeing a lot of our captive clients take this opportunity, and I’d expect that trend to continue.

4. What would you say are the challenges facing the EB market in the US?

The main challenge that I’m seeing at the moment is related to medical inflation and the rising cost of medical care. I’d say we’re seeing a similar number of claims, but these are costing much more than they have previously which is a huge challenge for multinationals who want to care for their people but also manage their costs.

5. The MAXIS team is spread across the world, how do you find collaborating with your colleagues online?

I definitely try to have calls with people where I can – I think you can do so much more over a quick call than you can going back and forth over email, and like you said, as we’re spread all over the world, picking up the phone or scheduling a quick video call helps with building relationships too.

Overall, I’d say we operate well as a global business. A lot is done via Microsoft Teams or email, but I think that works well – everyone is aware of the different time zones of team members and people are always respectful of these differences when trying to collaborate.

6. When you’re not working, what are you usually doing?

When I’m not working and sat at the computer, I try to be outside doing something active as much as I can. That might be taking my dog for long walks or playing pickleball, which I love doing. I also go to Pilates a few times a week and I’ve been taking up golf over the last few years. For me it’s all about getting up and out and staying active.

7. Can you tell us something about you that we don’t already know?

I’m a middle child! I have two sisters, one older and one younger, and I grew up in Florida.