Various industries and organisations have adapted to the post-pandemic world in different ways, hoping to shift and settle on the ideal circumstances for their employees. For some, that meant changing little to nothing, keeping workers in the office and even mandating attendance day numbers; for others, it meant fully embracing remote work.
In many ways, the transition into post-pandemic work-life gave employers and organisations an opportunity we wouldn’t otherwise be given, perhaps ever — to reassess, restructure, and transform how employees work from the inside out, to better align with the types of environments current and prospective talent is seeking, and spur better outcomes for employee well-being and businesses at large.
Similarly, insurers are paying close attention to the fluidity of today’s opportunities and challenges — and shifting their operations accordingly.
Shifts within the claims industry
In claims management, post-pandemic changes to office structure have impacted some employees’ day-to-day lives more than others. Our expert loss adjusters, for example, have never been office-based due to the mobile, flexible nature of their work. It’s often expedient for them to base their work operations from home and visit the office only to assemble reports and attend meetings or training.
Employees with desk-based responsibilities — whether existing or new hires — now tend to thrive in and prefer a hybrid working environment. A hybrid work structure not only facilitates/promotes a healthier work-life balance — a deciding factor among job candidates and increasingly being seen as non-negotiable — but also increases productivity and job satisfaction. While claims are a people first-business, flexibility is necessary in these evolving times. Sedgwick in the UK recently rolled out a ‘flexible first’ approach to act in the best interest of our colleagues and support a happier workforce.
In the UK, this initiative freed up the space for Sedgwick’s 22 offices to reduce to nine, with reduced space requirements in the key office locations of Cardiff, Glasgow and Leeds.
Talent attraction and retention
Post-pandemic talent is increasingly focused on an organisation’s working arrangements, too: is the expectation to be present in the office five days per week? Are there opportunities to work from home?
Failing to offer flexible working arrangements poses a significant risk to an organisation’s hiring and retention strategies. According to a February 2022 UK Office of National Statistics survey, more than 8 in 10 workers who had to work remotely during the pandemic said they planned to work in a hybrid setting going forward. By May 2022, the proportion of employees working hybrid had risen from 13% to 24%. There is compelling reasoning behind this cultural shift: 78% of those who worked from home in some capacity reported an improved work-life balance.
With flexible work arrangements being such an influential factor in both talent attraction and retention, a flexible approach can both foster current employees’ growth, while also keeping an edge on talent attraction.
Improving key office spaces
The office environment says a great deal about a business, its culture and how it values its employees. Sedgwick harnessed this transitional time to ensure office infrastructure is of the highest standard.
Meanwhile, we outlined the specific locations particularly integral to the organisation’s success and focused on shifting operations to better align with the new ways of the working world. Sedgwick’s office has lived on Fenchurch Street for decades. Last year, our London hub moved to a different area on the street, 30 Fenchurch, condensed three floors of office space into one to foster closer working connections, and designed our new facilities intentionally to meet and exceed the needs of employees today: an open-plan, sensitively designed space we feel confident about hosting clients in, both from the UK and abroad.
Learn more > Does your organisation maintain in-office requirements or embrace hybrid or remote work? Connect with me at paul.white@sedgwick.com.
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