As the world enters the third year of the pandemic, employees in the insurance industry expect to maintain workplace flexibility—a hybrid model—even after COVID-19 infection rates dwindle to safe levels.
Executive Summary
In the post-pandemic workplace, hybrid working will reign supreme, P/C insurance executives and consultant agree. But that means leaders must grapple with questions of how to lead teams they rarely see face to face, how to instill a sense of corporate culture while training newcomers to the profession and jumpstarting innovation. AXA XL's Charles Cooper, Gallagher Bassett's Simon Pemberton and EY's Isabelle Santenac discussed the challenges with CM International Editor Lisa Howard. Editor's Note: Cooper spoke to Carrier Management before AXA XL announced that he would step down from his role as chief executive of reinsurance in early March.Now companies will have to navigate this new environment—to find how to maintain employee morale and loyalty while continuing to innovate and attract new talent. Management will have to make decisions about whether to keep expensive buildings in cities across the globe. It’s been called “the new normal,” “flexible working,” “hybrid working,” “agile working” or even the “new better.”
The insurance industry generally coped pretty well from a technical perspective during the pandemic with its remote working arrangements, according to EY Global Insurance Leader Isabelle Santenac, “but we have started to see the impact of working in a remote environment.”
She said the question leaders must grapple with is how to lead teams they rarely see face to face.
