But the much heralded office mandate has not yet come to pass in the insurance industry, with many in the London market adopting hybrid work practices, often caveated by the “expectation” of more in-person work, research by this publication has found.
Goldman Sachs’ CEO mandated a return-to-work policy last year, calling on all employees to work from the office five days a week. Earlier this month, the Bank of England ordered its staff back to the office for two days a week.
In the insurance industry, the change in momentum from fully remote working of the peak pandemic phase could be felt by the end of 2021, when Munich Re Syndicate CUO Dominick Hoare declared that the London market was reaching a “tipping point” whereby underwriters and brokers needed to have a significant in-person office presence to stay commercially competitive.
In early 2022, the Lloyd’s Market Association reached a market-wide consensus that its underwriters would be physically present for in-person trading three days a week. In March this year, Lloyd’s CEO John Neal expressed his desire to see brokers and underwriters on the trading floor four days a week, up from three days, in an interview with the Financial Times.
The push towards more office work is unsurprising in an industry built on a tradition of face-to-face trading. Those emphasising the importance of office work discuss the need to build up younger talent or collaborate quickly in person.
As the return to the city picks up pace, this publication examined working practices at some of the biggest London market firms and opened a survey to readers in order to gauge employee sentiment.
The direction of travel is cementing hybrid working policies as the new normal. Yet it would seem insurance employers are reluctant to formalise office time as a top-down directive, with many leaving it to the discretion of line managers. However, survey responses suggest that this opens up the potential for resentment over soft mandates.
The issue also throws up challenges around recruitment and training.
Flexibility is key
This publication reached out to a wide range of the biggest London market firms, and the 13 respondents included seven syndicates, three brokers, a start-up and two London-listed insurers.
All these firms indicated that they have adopted a hybrid working policy with no strict mandates, citing flexibility as key to employee wellbeing and satisfaction. But they all added that the number of days spent in the office was dependent on the role and client demands, as determined by line managers.
The Lloyd’s syndicate Canopius 4444 has adopted a “fully agile office environment”, according to Ceri Royal, head of organisational development at Canopius.
Atrium 609 stressed that its “Flexible Working Charter” focused on “results and outputs rather than presenteeism”.
At London broker Gallagher, where most staff are in three to four days a week on a hybrid basis, EMEA HR director Claire Davies said they have left decision-making to team leaders to decide which working pattern works best for their part of the business.
London-listed carrier Lancashire said its flexi-work policy recognised different roles may have different requirements.
Munich Re’s specialty group chief HR officer Chris Simson said most people were coming in “Three to four days a week of their own volition” and that there were no mandates because “people see the value of being in this office”.
"Flex is different for every person, role and team"
Beazley’s Pippa Vowles, head of culture and people, also said that the firm “empowers our people to decide when and where they want to work given the work they need to do”.
“There are obviously some roles that require more face-to-face meetings, or a need to be in the office or in Lloyd’s, but we encourage everyone to have an open dialogue with their managers on what option is best for that role and employee,” she added.
Nikki Lees, people director, inclusion and wellbeing for QBE Europe, said the carrier’s policy recognises that “flex is different for every person, role and team, with prioritising “connection and collaboration”, putting “customers at the centre of how we flex” and respecting flexibility as a “two-way street”.
Broker WTW has introduced “work styles” across its operations globally, which provides the possibility to work either in the office, fully remotely or on a hybrid basis.
“From a UK perspective there are small populations who are either fully office based or fully remote; most other colleagues split their time between office and remote and are hybrid,” said Alastair Swift, head of global business lines, WTW.
Soft mandates
However, some respondents were upfront about their desire to encourage people into the office.
Start-up Inigo does not have “a specific policy necessarily,” according to its chief people and development officer Andrea Aakre, who said the firm does “ask people to spend at least three days a week in the office”.
“I think everyone appreciates the idea that there's some work that is just better face-to-face. And post-Covid, there’s also an understanding about how productive you can be from home.”
Ark 4020 has no strict office-working mandates either, but the firm “strongly encourages” its employees to spend four days a week in the office, according to its managing director Paul Dawson. “I think probably mandate would be slightly too strong an expression,” he said.
“We like to let people behave responsibly in a way that they think is appropriate. So I think what we're saying is a strong guidance, rather than if you don't turn up four days out of five, there's going to be consequences.”
Similarly, Ascot 1414 has a full hybrid-working policy, which tries to be “as flexible as possible”, according to Joanne Homes, director of HR. She said that while there are no mandates, it's “suggested” that people come in the office at least two days a week, and that there’s an “underlying expectation” for underwriters to come in around three or four days a week as they are client-facing and Lloyd’s broker-facing.
"It's not about presenteeism, it's about getting your job done"
Holmes said the syndicate follows Lloyd’s trading hours, adding: “That push from [our] CUO to have our underwriters coming back face to face, and going over and utilising the Lloyds space has really helped us maintain box space when it comes to the new layout.”
The system works, according to Holmes. “We like to just treat everyone fairly and as more like adults. It's not about presenteeism, it's about getting your job done.”
Employee sentiment
Through an optional survey, Insurance Insider collected the thoughts of 92 people employed in the London market on hybrid working – asking them to provide some colour on their employers’ current working practices, and how they align with their own preferences.
The majority of those surveyed said they were happy with their employers’ current hybrid-working practices.
Interestingly, in contrast to our conversations which found that employers were eschewing strict mandates, 44.6% of our survey’s respondents said they had a hybrid-working policy with mandated office days, while 47.8% had a hybrid-working policy with optional office days.
When it comes to days spent in the office, 44.6% of respondents said they were in three days during their last regular working week.
Most of the survey respondents highlighted their preference for hybrid working and cited flexibility as the most beneficial part of their current working practices, while some voiced their concerns that home working could soon be a relic of the pandemic.
One UK-based respondent with more than 10 years of experience in the industry said his employer’s current hybrid policy with optional office days fit his needs at the moment, but fears “there will be increased pressure to return to office 3+ days”.
When asked about what improvements to the company’s policy, this respondent said: “Stop the pressure to return to office for non-market staff, find other ways to train people!”
Another respondent working for a carrier with a hybrid policy said he wished there was “less angst amongst management around it!”
He added: “The business is thriving and we were able to be successful working from home fully during the pandemic.”
" Clear the fudge of either optional or mandated working"
Some echoed concerns around whether practice is matching up to theory, or whether work is fitting well around life responsibilities. A respondent working for a reinsurer with a hybrid and optional policy suggested the company improve its working practice by making “childless workaholic managers understand that four or five days in the office every week is not conducive to a family life”.
He added: “Work is what I DO, not a place I GO. Whilst my company has a published flexible working policy, some managers are definitely still making their teams come into the office as if Covid had never happened.”
Matching up to pandemic promises or experience is also a concern. A respondent working for a UK-based broker with mandated office days said firms should “not... mandate two days a week when full flexibility was promised on being recruited two years ago”.
“Clear the fudge of either optional or mandated working,” said one respondent working for a legacy insurer with mandated office days, which succinctly sums up the issue at hand.
Another suggested employers should pay travel fares to encourage people into the City.
While there were a few outliers among the respondents who called for more in-person presence in the office to “afford a competitive advantage”, an overwhelming majority expressed caution around office mandates.
National statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has collected its own statistics on the prevalence of homeworking nationwide, which show that a full return to the office is still not occurring.
According to this data, workers who share characteristics with many of those in the insurance industry – that is, those based in London, working in professional occupations and earning salaries above the national average – are far more likely than the general working population to work from home some or all of the time.
The ONS also publishes data on transactions volumes at Pret A Manger stores throughout the country, which we previously analysed back in September 2022.
And the latest Pret figures collated by the ONS suggest that – in the City at least – the frequency of in-person working has plateaued at a level below the pre-pandemic norm.
Retaining talent
Employers are in an especially tricky position when formulating working policy, needing to balance the needs of the business with the growing chorus of demand for flexibility from employees in the midst of a talent war.
The relentless talent churn has continued into this year, with broker M&A, hardening market conditions and buoyant wage inflation all contributing to an ongoing, multi-year recruitment battle.
In interviews with this publication, some firms admitted that flexibility was a must to attract and retain staff these days. “Hybrid working is the new normal in our view,” said TMK’s Elisabeth Ibeson. “We continue to review our approach and will make changes if needed to ensure effectiveness, but It’s hard to envisage how a company could go back to mandating office every day without losing talent.”
However, it cuts both ways as firms prioritise in-person networking and team development. Inigo’s Aakre said that when the firm comes across candidates looking for fully remote work, especially prevalent in tech, they might have to pass on them, even when they might be great.
“That's one thing that we're just not going to compromise on because we want people who want to be here, to learn, grow, develop, and be part of the organisation. We just think it's harder to do if you are never in the office.”
Dawson of Ark 4020 added that its policy of asking staff to come in four days a week “isn't necessarily what everyone wants to do”. As a result, “when we've looked into the market for new hire, we found that a bit more difficult”, he said.
Better together
Adding to the pressure on employers is the recent Flexible Working Bill, which achieved Royal Assent in late July, granting UK employees new powers when requesting flexible work arrangements such as the day-one right to request flexible working.
All the firms interviewed also highlighted the benefits of face-to-face interactions, especially for junior employees. Munich Re’s Simson said it is “critical for junior colleagues, especially our young underwriters, to learn on the job in person”.
“We are strong believers of that approach to professional development because we find that our younger employees want to be part of an office culture and feel the buzz.”
Simson, like many others, spoke of having a duty to “to support the early development and wellbeing of young people’s careers”.
Inigo’s Aakre noted that different things are just “easier and better when they're face to face”, including collaboration, feedback and learning. “Those things are the main drivers for why we want people spending more time in the office, because we think that that's really core to our culture.”
Ark 4020 Dawson said that while data can be moved quickly and efficiently via remote working, discussion and brainstorming were better in person. “We are strong advocates of maintaining the huddle culture, because we think that if you can create clear, purposeful, and quick feedback loops, we can just make better decisions quicker.”
WTW highlighted the intrinsic relationship-based nature of the business, saying: “Collaboration is at the heart of how we operate as a business and, for all teams, staying connected remains important, even in instances where there is no compelling business need to attend the office on a regular basis.”
However, as our survey respondents were quick to point out, there are numerous pros to remote working including reduced commute times, “less chit-chat at work conducive to efficiency”, and more time for family and ailing parents.
“I do see that it's a horses for courses thing, which some people will embrace, and some will prefer to just have the freedom that work-from-home flexibility offers,” Dawson added.
Insurance Insider delivers global wholesale, specialty, and (re)insurance Intelligence that enables you to act first. Redeem your complimentary 14-day trial for more premium content from Insurance Insider.
Scan here to download the app