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October 4, 2021

We're ready to welcome the 'Flexecutive'

With the way we work transformed by Covid, RBIG is set to recruit 'flexecutives'. Commercial Director, Stephen Hodgson explains why.

trade credit insurance

As many commentators have noted, Covid restrictions and the enforced transition from office to work from home (WFH) operations have changed everything.

What was once envisaged as a pandemic-induced temporary measure, is set to leave a permanent mark.

Employers have found WFH has been beneficial.

Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) found that 65% of employers reported that greater home working had increased or had no impact on productivity.

Employers also reported an improvement in people’s work-life balance, enhanced employee collaboration and better focus.

Employee benefits

Employees also saw positives in the newly established normal, not least in our sector.

A YouGov survey for Deloitte found 76% of financial services professionals citing not having to commute as the main reason for their WFH experience being positive.

Other benefits recorded included increased flexibility, being able to spend more time with their family, enhanced wellbeing and having more time to exercise.

Next steps

As we continue to gently ease out of Covid restrictions, minds are very firmly focused on how we are going to work in the future.

flex execs

This is no more true than for us at RBIG as we prepare to recruit executives to our commercial insurance sales and claims operations.

This has put a focus not just on how we expect to work, but the expectations of those aspiring young executives we're seeking to recruit.

Hybrid working models - where staff spend some days in the office, some working from home - are very much being touted as the model for businesses that can embrace such flexible working.

One reason is that there is plenty of evidence that employees don't necessarily want to spend all their working life at home. CIPD research confirms this has never been the most popular option.

Flexecutives

Wrestling with these issues, at RBIG we're championing the concept of 'Flexecutives' - flexible executives.

The flex is very much focused on the employees needs and desires, tempered by the logistical demands placed upon the business.

So we are very much open to employees working with us on how they want to work with us.

If they want to spend the majority of time working from home, that's fine. Or vice versa if they'd prefer to head to the office more often.

That also means we can expand the talent pool from which we recruit. Home-loving flexecutives need not live near our Manchester base, but towns, cities or villages much further afield.

It's a similar story with working hours. Whilst there will naturally be some constraints dictated by client needs, we're not that interested in people sticking to a 9 to 5 routine.

Nor will we be watching their clocks. How people perform, what they achieve, is much more important to us than the hours they work.

Indeed I believe such a "hands off" approach will be rewarded with increased productivity and, importantly, staff loyalty.

Of course we won't be hands off when it comes to supporting staff, whether they're at home or in the office. Inductions will be offered on a one-to-one basis - online or face-to-face - and training designed to foster personal advancement and career development.

We're proud that when people join RBIG they tend to stay. It becomes not so much a job as a career.

Embracing this idea of 'flexecutives', of adapting our operations to attract and retain the best insurance talent, is one way we see we can continue that proud tradition.