Greater attraction and retention from hybrid working

2 minute read

Our Head of Defendant Insurance Services, Faye Fishlock, recently spoke to Modern Insurance Magazine about greater attraction and retention from hybrid working.

We have seen a significant portion of insurance workers grow to prefer home working over the last 16 months, how will this factor into the future of the industry, particularly on working culture and the recruitment and retention of talent?

Ahead of the pandemic, Carpenters were already an agile firm, able to respond quickly to the changing demands of our insurer clients and the wider market. We had embraced flexible working arrangements for many colleagues, but as for everyone, we had to implement agile working completely overnight.

Clearly some in the sector were better equipped than others in the early weeks, but I’m sure we all learnt through our experiences. With the novelty of home working wearing off for many, there is a wide acceptance that some sort of hybrid arrangement will prevail.   We cannot be too rigid in our approach and the right environment for some, will not be for others.

Many people have realised the benefits to work-life balance that homeworking brings, but there are also positives  from being in the same building  such as face to face team building, training and  learning from peers, collective creativity and the benefits of personal human interaction.  Isolation can also have negative impacts upon mental health and we are even more aware of the importance of employee wellbeing. How the hybrid model is blended and approached by the sector will decide how successful it becomes.

Looking ahead, there is likely to be a focus on the outputs of a role, rather than where a person physically sits to perform that role.  Where someone lives is no longer a limiting factor for recruitment. This should lead to greater attraction and retention in talent which is crucial for a business where its employees are considered the company’s bedrock. No doubt the next 12 months will be as much of a learning curve as the previous year.

Faye Fishlock
Head of Defendant Insurance Services, Carpenters Group

Credit: Modern Insurance Magazine