Lockdown Team Blog - Series 2: Rob Pascual

4 minutes to read.

Last year, our teams produced a series of blogs written by colleagues across multiple divisions of the company. They provided a small insight into our evolving working practices and values as we all adjusted to our new post-COVID19 world. Now we're back with our second series!

Here is the eighth in our 2nd series of posts from Haywards Heath Head of Site, Rob Pascual.

""Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today."

For those who don’t immediately recognise that quote, it is from the seminal 90s film Groundhog Day, which is perhaps how life can feel to many of us at the moment.

As I sit down to write this blog, we are three weeks away from working from home for a full year.  On a personal level, and as I said in my last blog, I miss being in the office seeing colleagues and friends and having a laugh over a coffee but with the vaccination programme in full swing I hope those days are set to return soon.

Whilst I am sure most of us are eager to return to some normality, and the Government’s roadmap starts to pave the way for that, there is no doubt that we are extremely fortunate at Carpenters that we have been able to adapt to working from home, meaning that at least one part of our lives has been largely stable.  I think it is fair to say that whilst home working required some adjustment, it has also opened up new opportunities.  For example, I have been able to balance work with seeing more of my two young (and extremely energetic) children.  Others have been able to take advantage of shorter commutes to enjoy more down time. It feels to me that this more blended approach is here to stay and that can only be a good thing.

The technology we have all now embraced offers some tangible benefits: 121s, team meetings and just general catch ups carried out over Teams and Zoom have been great and I think will remain.  Likewise, the ability to hold meetings with colleagues and external partners regardless of geographical location has enabled us to create new and productive relationships with colleagues up and down the country.   Having said that, nothing will replace being able to see people face to face and I cannot wait for that to return.

Some things that we have tried out, like recruiting virtually, at first glance might have been difficult to implement.  Having successfully run several recruitment campaigns now it is hard to see why we were not recruiting in this way before, and we are continuing to recruit online to meet the growing demand of our services. 

I mentioned the work of my Haywards Heath team in my last blog, and I could not forsee then that this situation would be so prolonged.  My team, together with the rest of the department, have continued to impress with their continued resilience, embracing the many challenges thrown at us over the last 12 months, maintaining high performance levels and in many instances exceeding expectations.  I am incredibly proud of their work ethic and dedication to achieving the highest quality standards and I want to thank each and every Carpenters team member who have maintained our reputation throughout this most unusual time.

Collaboration for us here at Carpenters is not just a Covid fad, it is something that we have embraced since inception. Just one example of this is the Resolver process that we pioneered, which has been operational for four years and our experience in injury resolution remains unrivalled. Resolver offers independent resolution of a claim in a fraction of the time to the traditional process and continues to be a popular and robust solution to the ever increasing delays within the Court process, as evidenced by the increasing number of insurers who sign up to the scheme.

In line with the ethos of Carpenters to continually innovate and meet the varied and evolving needs of our clients, we have and will continue to develop Resolver and other propositions to cover more services and the full complexity of the claims that we handle.  The nature of Resolver means that it is tailored to each insurers’ needs, giving them flexibility to sign up to as much or as little of the process as they are comfortable with.

The prolonged impact of the pandemic and the potential impact on our mental wellbeing means that it is more important than ever to support our employees.  Internally we continue to prioritise colleagues communications to highlight our wellbeing offer, including the network of mental health and wellbeing champions who can give confidential advice and support if you need it, as well as the opportunity to raise issues and concerns via “Ask the CEO” which has proven to be a popular addition to our internal communications.

As we gradually tread the cautious path to a less restrictions in our professional and personal lives, I look forward to the time when we are able to meet up, share a drink, have a laugh and a good chat – just so long as it is not COVID related!"

About the author

Rob Pascual, Head of Site - Haywards Heath

Rob has worked in his current role for just over 9 years and has over 20 years in the industry. 

Outside of work Rob is married with 2 kids, has keen interests in horse racing and football and has been a season ticket holder at Tottenham for 25 years.