The Insurance Coffee House

“There is this misconception that the only way to grow or advance is to move into leadership. Some people just don't want that or aren’t sure”, says Andrea. “We want to give people an experience who aren't sure if they want to. We'll find opportunities to allow them to try their hand in things like the mentorship program, where they have an unofficial way of helping to grow talent.” On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Andrea shares her career journey in HR. “It all started with a knack for numbers and data. I was drawn into the world of compensation because it beautifully combined my analytical side with that human aspect. In compensation, you have to know the business inside and out, you have to know how your sales people are motivated, how the company earns money. I always found myself really closely connected to our leaders in the business and working on programs to incentivize and drive performance in the organization.” Andrea discusses what she learned from being part of staffing business, TrueBlue, where she rose from Director of Compensation & Benefits to Chief People Officer over 12.5 years. She joined AssuredPartners as Chief Human Resources Officer in June 2023 and highlights the transition from staffing to insurance. “One of the things that I was drawn to at AssuredPartners was their unwavering dedication to people. There's such a strong connection to fostering a culture of learning and development and that's something that really resonated with me. Believe it or not, there’s a lot of similarities. Whether it's on the staffing side or on the insurance side, you really need to know your customer, what impacts them. In insurance, the thing that is really compelling is there's such an incredible tie to protecting people's livelihoods. Whether it's their business, their health, their employees. There's something really heartwarming about helping people protect the things that are most important to them.” Based in the US, UK and Ireland, with just over 10,000 employees, Andrea shares her passion for nurturing and advancing talent at AssuredPartners. “I am incredibly passionate about ensuring there's a clear path and trajectory for their growth and the importance of our employees feeling valued, recognized and knowing their company envisions a future alongside them. Discussing the initiatives to foster growth and development, Andrea says, “Our mentorship programs are game changers. There's something truly magical about pairing up employees with seasoned pros. And we're cooking up something extra special this year, which like a Master's degree in AssuredPartners leadership. It's almost like a VIP experience, tailored just for them and their success. We also recognize there's another piece of the puzzle, which is heavily focused on building content and experiences for our individual contributors. It makes our employees fiercely loyal.” Andrea highlights that developing in your career doesn’t always equate to going in to a leadership role. “When it comes to fostering growth and development, there's more to it than just your typical learning programs. First off, there's the structural piece around job or role architecture. These give employees that framework for career paths and for development. A road map that helps show them exactly what they need to do to move up that ladder. For those who really do want to help us grow to the next level, it’s really helping them to learn how to be a leader.” Andrea showcases the outcomes the business has seen as a result of learning and development initiatives. “In 2023 we promoted over 550 people in our organization with 77% of those being women. Our employees are highly engaged and we have very low voluntary turnover...

“A lot of businesses talk about it, but do they really analyse what they need to do to build it? We've spent a lot of time thinking about what high performance looks and feels like within the context of a turnaround”, says Karen. “When I joined the business, I prioritized improving the culture, establishing values that really mean something, as well as working with Scott Egan (CEO) to ensure we've got the right leaders at every level that exude those values. We've created a really strong accountability culture. I think the key to making sure culture change sticks is integrity." On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Karen shares her 30-year HR career journey. Starting in insurance, she has moved through some of the most recognizable brands in insurance, financial services, hospitality and media, before returning to insurance with roles at Saga Plc and RSA. She joined SiriusPoint in November 2022. Karen discusses working across a wide variety of sectors, and how she has found transitioning back in to insurance. “When I started my career, for many insurers, there wasn't a big focus on culture and values. People talked about it, but I don't think they did it as well as we did it in hospitality and retail. I think in the past, in in financial services, technical skills have tended to be rewarded with bigger and bigger roles, and I felt that the leadership aspects were secondary. What I found in retail, hospitality and also media, is because the customer is just so central and critical, there's just much more focus on leadership of the people, the values and the culture within the business. It's just such a heartbeat of the business at every level in those industries. I'm a massive believer in values and culture, and I love being part of businesses where these are really central. I think that's become true, probably now more so in the insurance industry than it was when I started. That's certainly true for SiriusPoint.” Karen explains how some of her best experiences have come through the tough times and the importance of HR’s relationship with the CEO. “The relationship I have with Scott and other bosses I've worked really well with, are where you've got mutual respect but sometimes differences of opinion. That’s where the real spark comes. Sometimes we come at things with different opinions and we'll explain them to each other. But we'll end up in a different place, and it's a better place than either of us had thought of. That ability to challenge with mutual respect and actually stand your ground is so important.” Headquartered in Bermuda, with offices in New York, Liege, London, Stockholm and Zurich, Karen gives insight in to SiriusPoint and the ambition to be a best-in-class insurance business. “We're a global underwriter of insurance and reinsurance. With over $3billion capital, our business lines include accident and health, aviation, space, casualty, credit, energy, marine, property and life insurance. Our global headcount is around 1000. In terms of growth, we really want to become a top performing reinsurance and insurance company in the coming years. Our aim is really to be among the names who consistently outperform the market year on year.” Karen emphasizes how creating a high-performance culture is more than an HR task, as well as the role integrity plays. “From day one, our CEO has made building a high-performance culture, one of our executive leader leadership team’s top priorities. We've created real integrity around what we say we're going to do and what we're actually doing. If there's any mismatch there, people see through the cracks and they just lose trust very, very quickly. My strong belief is that culture can be built. But culture can also be damaged in a nanosecond. If you don't have integrity, you can just lose trust so...

“We learned a lot early on and we continue to learn as we scale the organization remotely. Some of the key things are over communicating. Sometimes you're having a few more meetings to feel that personal connection”, says Vikki. “We've set up mentor programs, our summit leadership where you're partnered with another leader in the organization. If you're interested in growing your career, whether that's within your team or learning more about other teams, they have one-on-one mentoring sessions and group mentoring sessions. We formed, ERG groups and really started making sure that we're celebrating the diversity of our employees. All of those things help people feel really connected.” On the podcast this week, Vikki shares her 25-year HR career journey. “I began in the recruiting space, before I expanded my responsibilities to include employee relations, compensation and benefits, succession planning and employee engagement. I eventually made the shift from the staffing industry into the start up space. Someone recommended I connect with Kyle, our CEO. I did not think I was going to be jumping up and down about insurance. Shortly after I met him, I, I came home and I said, ‘Wow, I'm actually really excited about insurance.’” Vikki joined Clearcover as VP of People in 2019. At that stage the business had 45 employees. She became Chief People Officer in 2022. As an insurance company, Clearcover has scaled to over 500 and is using technology to transform customer experience. “The tech start-ups I've been part of, the technology was the actual product. Insurance, that is ultimately what our product is, but the technology behind it is really what's driving us to be different.” Vikki explains what’s enabled the business to scale so successfully. “We launched in California, then in Illinois. Once we got through those first two, we really started launching all over the US, trying to scale the organization as far as, ‘How do we get into more states? How do we offer Clearcover to more customers in as many places as we can?’ In the beginning, we outsourced our claims and our customer service teams and since then, we've brought those in house, which has accounted for a lot of our growth.” As for future plans, Vikki says, “The goal hasn’t changed. Our mission is to be a generational insurance company, powered by leading technology and innovation, really leveraging AI to do that as well. Offering an experience to the customer that is seamless and hopefully less stressful for them if they have a situation where they are in an accident.” With Clearcover’s headcount having grown tenfold, Vikki discusses building an HR function to handle the business scale. Vikki highlights how Clearcover have embraced a remote-working model without compromising the cultural values. She discusses how the remote model has impacted hiring and impacted diversity. “Truly, it's really opened up a world of opportunity for us by being able to hire remotely. It's helped us diversify our workforce. We continue to strive to improve at all levels of the organization, but we've made tremendous strides because we’re able to recruit people from all over the United States. We aren’t limited to a small talent pool in one geographical area.” Discussing how team members are encouraged to switch off in a remote world where the boundaries between work and down time are sometimes blurred. “When employees start, they get a stipend to set up their workspace, to make sure they're set up for success and they have a space available to them. We understand that people have kids, dogs, spouses that are working in their home too. It's helping people find that right balance. Maybe having a headset is super important to them or being able to work from a coffee shop during a crazy period of the day. Those are things we can be...

The opportunities are vast. Hundreds and hundreds of companies with a physical presence here and the jobs to go with it. It's important that all Bermudians remember that we're not just competing within Bermuda and our small country, we're competing on a global scale”, says Kirsten. “We are an exceptionally well-educated island. It's critical there are opportunities for Bermudians. And that Bermudians can see themselves in the industry and see the example of other Bermudians. This is global level competition.” On the podcast this week, Kirsten tells how she’s spent her entire 25-year career in Bermuda. With experience in broking and underwriting, Kirsten shares details of her double-headed role for Willis Towers Watson in Bermuda. “We have three teams in Bermuda, a Broking team, our Actuarial Consulting team and our Captives team. My geography leadership, I view it as accountability to them to make sure that we have the operations and the facilities, they need to run their businesses. The other hat I have, is leadership of our broking unit, the nuts and bolts on the insurance side.” Kirsten discusses the insurance ecosystem in Bermuda and states the only thing micro about the island is the geography. “There's a robust ecosystem that goes beyond just the underwriting roles or the broking roles. There are opportunities in actuarial captives, but there's also lawyers, accountants, marketing services that support this entire ecosystem and the Bermuda economy. Insurance and reinsurance and the supporting services are at the heart of it.” Kirsten shares WTW’s future plans and working in the local Bermudian market, with its importance in the global marketplace. “We're in growth mode. We have new dynamic leadership in North America that's gotten us focused on growth and accountability. We're looking to reorganize ourselves along the industry focus that is core to how our clients manage and view their own risk. That really is at the core of our strategy. I find myself often having to translate Big Willis to Bermuda and translate Willis Bermuda to Big Willis as I call it. Our employment law isn't the same as in the US or UK. Our regulatory structures might not be exactly mirrored so that translation work can be time consuming. I really love that I've been given the platform to be able to do it. Having the seat at the table when you’re little old Bermuda is exceptionally important because we are pretty core to being able to deliver on our promise and commitment to our clients.” Kirsten discusses her area of passion, something she battled with early on in her career. “It was hosting an underwriting meeting as a young underwriter. I was nervous. I had moments where I couldn't speak. For a confident, outspoken person not be able to use my voice because of the nervousness of being the center of attention in a speaking setting was a shock. “Me and a group of women got together. It started with a survey because, how many other women feel like this? And how do they grapple with it? We put out a survey to the market. Roughly 80% of women are nervous speakers. 80% of them avoid speaking as a result. Think of all that subject matter expertise that is lost because of nerves.” To combat this issue, Kirsten was involved in setting up ‘We Speak’ to help women and teens in Bermuda to learn the value of public speaking and project their voices. “We are not insurance or reinsurance specific; we help develop their voice in whatever sphere is necessary for them. It could be giving a TED talk for one person, but for another, maybe someone more like me, it's just being able to host an underwriting meeting and ask your questions without going red in the face. It’s meeting people where they are. We have a coaching approach, where we have one coach for every five women. It's an exceptionally

“We’ve got to deliver financial results and profitability, but you’ve got to be thinking about the way you can do that most efficiently too”, says Lisa, describing what a high performance culture means to her. “High performance is people being clear on what's expected of them, delivering that and then some, because they want to. It’s constantly improving and trying to do better. We make mistakes sometimes too and that’s ok. Let’s learn from it. It's about a learning mindset.” On the podcast this week, Lisa talks about transitioning from a 17-year career at Morgan Stanley to joining AXIS Capital 8 years ago as Head of Rewards. Now Chief People Officer, Lisa highlights the changes in the business over the past year. “We're excited about where AXIS is headed. We're certainly transforming as a company. We've got a new CEO in the past year. He's brought in some new leaders and we're really trying to refocus what HR is focused on to drive business results.” Lisa discusses the type of talent AXIS is looking to attract. “We want to attract people that are excited to help shift the company's evolution. People who bring their expertise and skills, new insights and ways of working. Our world is changing every minute. Things are evolving and changing. AI is on the horizon; digital focus is on the horizon. We certainly still need specialty insurance expertise. That never really goes away. But how we work and the systems that we have access to, that's all shifting. You need people that can see a future vision.” Lisa emphasizes some of the initiatives at AXIS to support the growth of high-performance culture. “Clarity around goals and what's expected. Our goal setting process for 2024, we spent a lot of time really reinforcing what ‘good’ looks like, the role managers play in setting clear goals with their employees so that we're all marching towards the same outcome. And we’re going to do a body of work around culture and renovating our culture. We’ve got new leaders around the table. Bringing that group together to redefine what AXIS wants to be known for. What are our values as we move forward? What do those leadership behaviors look like? What do we want to reinforce within our organization, model for the rest of the organization and hold people accountable for. There’s an energy around the organization, you can just feel it. People are excited about what we can deliver on. We've got great talent here. It's unlocking the best in what people can do and bringing that to life.” Lisa clarifies what she looks for in insurance leaders coming for interview at AXIS. “Be your authentic self. Ask a lot of questions. Be curious, be open minded. Don't make assumptions. Understand the organization and what got us to where we are.” Looking to her insurance industry peers, Lisa believes the best way to hire top insurance talent is to look at skills sets and experiences, mindset and the ability to learn. “Things are always changing. If you're too fixed on what's gotten you to be successful, it may prevent you from thinking about what it looks like as you move forward. Skills are really critical. When you are looking for skills, you do tap into broader talent markets. When working with an external insurance executive search partner, Lisa highlights the importance of how they represent AXIS and the level of diversity in their candidate slates. “I also want to look at the percentage of searches they’ve filled for areas of where we're trying to build expertise. What's their experience like in those areas?” Lisa discusses some of the tech tools AXIS are using to support insurance talent attraction. Revealing the one lesson her career has taught her she wants everyone to know, Lisa encourages us to listen more and talk less. She concludes by encouraging us to...

“Throughput is really exciting when you connect those three areas, so what does that ecosystem look like? We make sure we are branching out and seeking underrepresented talent and also talent who have amazing experience. We do that in our acquisition process”, says Christina Parr as she discusses her role of combining talent acquisition, learning & development and organizational development. “As folks flow into the organization, we're developing them to grow within the organization regardless of where they happen to come in at from a skill perspective. And then as we look at the organization and how it's developing, we have a lot of touch points, that we ask employees from a pulse perspective.” On the podcast this week, Argo Group’s Head of Global Talent Acquisition, L&D and OD talks about her career journey from high-tech and oil & gas in to insurance. “With quite a bit of reluctance I came to insurance. And until I really understood what was happening in the future of insurance, Insurtech, fintech, wasn't all that excited. I love it, it’s addictive.” Christina talks about the balance between attracting under-represented talent and through referrals. “I understand now why we tend to talk to a lot of folks who have vast experience in the market. But we also have to keep ourselves in check with that bias because if we get too heavy on referrals, we don't dig deep for underrepresented talent. It's easy to fall into just kind of staying with the folks that you've known for so long.” She shares how Argo Group are breaking down inter-departmental siloes, traditions and using data to transform employee engagement. “We want to try things in different ways. By doing that, I think it makes us far more effective. We partner with a third party who brings us about 10 million data points from around the globe. And we use those benchmarks to compare our employee engagement results. For the last five surveys, we’ve been going up and up and up, which is quite remarkable as we’ve been going through strategic alternatives.” Christina highlights the impact of the Brookfield Asset Management acquisition. “Most people in the organization were eagerly anticipating this transformation. Once the buy was completed, our executive team not only presented the direction, but more importantly, listened to people. ‘What's going well, what's not going well, what do we need to change?’ I very much appreciated that perspective. Values are being revisited to make sure everyone understands that integrity is first. We are transitioning the business to three towers. Casualty, Financial Lines and Surety, and Specialty Lines. They are in many different business areas and we get to be the arm of Specialty that they otherwise did not have.” In terms of the impact on the day-to-day, Christina says: “We have a focus on the right people in the right spots with the right skills. You’ve got to get the big people on the bus before you start going anywhere. We've had some shifts in how our is talent positioned. One out of 10 are getting a promotion in some way, shape or form. We've also been working with our socio-economic employee resource group to make sure that we give plenty of people, a chance to succeed who may not be traditional in their background. How we then train them, give them the right skills and then we promote them, thereby making the organizational more healthy and sustainable.” Christina emphasizes how the 8 employee resource groups are working to reduce barriers to entry and expand the prospective talent pool. “About a third of our roles do not require a degree now. That's a big change. In most companies, you've got the requirement for a degree, specialty certifications, Master's degrees. You can see why unfortunately, we're not getting underrepresented talent. We've worked very...

“We look at our people as our number one asset, they are really providing our product. You need the people in order to bring that (insurance) promise to life. When we bring in an entry level person, we’re looking at their development path. We want to know, ‘what do you want to do?’, says Roxanne Nelson as she explains how Falvey create a clear career path for those entering the insurance industry. On the podcast this week, Falvey’s Chief People Officer shares her journey from underwriting to people operations. SVP of Marketing, Megan Bell gives insight in to her marketing career in a start-up to natural foods, before joining the Falvey Insurance team in 2017. “I was one of the first hires into the marketing team. I've worked really closely with Roxanne on the employer branding side. What it's like to work here and why people should work here is a big part of what I do.” Megan describes what it’s like to work in insurance as a marketeer. “I feel like it takes too long for someone to realize that this is such an amazing place to be. You don't know until you're in it and you don't know before because no one ever tells you go and work in insurance. It's so full of passion. Everyone I meet, whether you’re an underwriter or you're in claims, just really cares about what they do. They really care about providing good service and coming up with new innovation. It's just a super inspiring place to be. I feel like there's also no end to insurance.” Megan explains how the business has transformed from Falvey Cargo Underwriting to Falvey Insurance Group, offering a suite of MGA programs which includes marine cargo, all risk shippers, interest insurance, inland marine vessel pollution, as well as transportation and logistics. The business has also recently launched a wholesale brokerage division. Roxanne highlights the growth in headcount over the past few years and the role collaboration and support staff have played in delivering first-rate customer service. “As we've built out our underwriting units, we've also built out our support staff. We are a very technology focused company. That is a big different differentiator to us besides our people. Along with growing our MGAs, we've had to grow our support staff. We have a fully operational IT department, building our systems in house. We have a business intelligence and innovation department that is really focused on working with our internal departments to find out what they need to be more efficient. There’s lot of collaboration.” Roxanne discusses how Falvey are moving from more rigid people committees to launching fluid, less formal employee resource groups. “These groups are set up to give our employees a chance to get together and have discussions about what's going on in their careers, what are the opportunities, what can we do to recruit more people? They are ultimately helping us drive the business forward and be more ingrained with our employees.” Megan emphasizes the value of close collaboration between marketing and people operations, when it comes to employer branding. “Every year we send an underwriter to the Lloyd's Academy in London. That's like gold. It's not promotional content, it's something people want to read. It's great to tell people that this is something we're investing in. When we redid our website there was a big focus for me on our careers page specifically. There isn't a stock photo there. It's all of our employees.” Roxanne advises people coming to interview at Falvey to embrace the culture. “It is so important to us and the employees. It's not just about the number of accounts you're writing or the production level you have, it's about being part of our team and our culture. If you're an executive and you've been in a very strict corporate type of structure, you're not necessarily going to find that here. We're more...

“We always have a common goal every year for the entire organization. It’s in every single employee’s goal plan, from CEO all the way to somebody in an administrative position. The same goal we're all working towards”, says Aimee. “You can't expect people to rally around a goal unless you help them understand what that goal is. You have to help connect every person's role or every team's role back to that goal.” On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Aimee talks through her insurance career journey. “My entire career in insurance has been spent in the banking space. Coming out of college, I went to a bank’s management training program. Through all the different rotations and nothing was really resonating. That bank had actually purchased an insurance agency and were still very early on in their journey of that agency into the fold. The manager of the program said, ‘why don't you go over there for a couple months and do a special project?’ I went and never left that space.” She shares how being inquisitive and working for a CEO who encouraged her to take risks and fail has been key to her insurance career development. “I’d ask a ton of questions. He would share things with me that I probably had no business asking. He was very transparent with me and helped me really to understand the business of insurance. I spent a lot of time focusing on early career programs, bringing talent to the industry. And then he gave me a couple of departments to run and gave me a lot of freedom to do that.” Aimee shares the road to becoming COO at Cadence Insurance, who’s inspired her along the way and how insurance has helped her find her true passions. She highlights how the business has recently transferred in to the ownership of Gallagher. “The organization I sit in today goes all the way back to the late 1880s. The next journey in our evolution was us joining the Gallagher organization. We have come out of that bank ownership structure and now joined one of the largest brokers in the world. It’s being positioned for growth and what our organization needed to move forward.” Aimee emphasizes the impact on the team and clients as well as Cadence’s aspirations under its new ownership. “When the announcement came out, the bank had been our home for 24 years. There were very strong professional and personal relationships developed there. But the time was right for both them and us. This really was the thing that we needed for our future. Being owned by an insurance broker and having a parent company that speaks our language and lives and breathes insurance every day has been a lot of fun. Short-term, it's about helping to connect our teams to the Gallagher teams. Helping to connect both our clients to the huge suite of resources that we now have access to and our teammates in terms of their career development, opportunities, that weren't in our legacy world. Then, it's going to be about how we best harness and leverage the power of Gallagher that we have behind us.” Being a key player in the merger, Aimee gives insight in to her role as COO and managing the transition. “Even the most positive change can still come with a feeling apprehension, anxiety. For us it's helping our teams understand the changes. Helping them understand ‘the why’ behind it. It’s also helping them to see the other side. Sometimes you have to go through a little bit of a pain period to get to the better part. We try to do our very best to be very clear about what's coming, what to expect and what we're going to gain on the other side. It’s been very much a collaborative conversation with our teammates, with the Gallagher teams that we're working with.” Aimee describes how transparent leadership is key to managing a culture of change. “You have to be intentional around your communication strategy. We are a very...

“I changed the department from HR to People and culture. The term HR is a construct of an economist in the 1800s, talking about people as commodities, just like paper and pens. That's not what this is about anymore”, says Denise. “The world has changed. In order to unlock true potential of a company and its performance, you have to focus on the people, unlocking their true potential as whole individuals.” On the podcast this week, Denise shares her journey from investment banking through Silicon Valley in to insurance. “The consistent theme across my career journey is I'm a risk taker, which is interesting, given I'm in the risk business now. I always looked for additional challenge, something different, something that I could fix, launch or do differently. I left investment banking in the dotcom era and moved to Silicon Valley area and worked for 2 different start-ups. I had the experience of taking them up, expanding and then dismantling. Then through my network, I got a call from Marsh Mclennan and I took the leap. I was sucked into the insurance world. Once you're in, you're really never going to get out.” Following a Head of HR role with Voya and launching her own executive coaching business, Denise was approached by an executive search firm to meet with Fortitude Re. The business operates in the Life and Annuity and Property & Casualty business in the US, Bermuda and in Japan. She joined the team in 2022. Denise gives insight in to her role as Chief People Officer as well as overseeing marketing, communications, branding and CSR. She emphasizes the desire to create a human-centric culture and the benefits of being a smaller reinsurance company. “Human-centricity and putting people as our priority and at the center of what we do, really helps us make decisions as a business in a way that enables our people to not only bring their whole selves to work. But to focus on developing themselves across the spectrum of things that make them people. That unlocks such tremendous potential and their ability to perform at a level that you couldn't really expect otherwise. Human-centric leadership is not something that comes naturally to people who have grown up professionally over the last 20 years. But if you think about authenticity and communications and transparency, you think about empathy and understanding where people are, being adaptive and being able to flex things, it starts to make sense in terms of why that works. Because we’re a smaller company, we get to focus more on development. We get to experiment.” Denise highlights the importance of finding opportunities for the team to unplug from the complexities of large reinsurance deals. “If you think about investment banking as an industry, it’s very much a burn and churn type of reality. That's not a sustainable model. We’re really focused on trying to create balance for our people. The work is hard but we make sure we find opportunities for people to unplug from work.” Denise talks about closing the whole business for a week in August and Fortitude Re’s Ignite annual learning allowance program. “They can use it to develop themselves in any way, personally or professionally. We have people using it to go skydiving, learn a language or to get certifications that will help them professionally. It’s about developing the whole person.” Highlighting the advice, she’d give to insurance leaders coming for interview, Denise says, “Be confident yet be humble. Our CEO calls it a sneaker culture. We run really fast, we're super aggressive but we like to be normal people. Being very confident in your capabilities and being able to convey your subject matter but being a humble human who can work in that flat hierarchical structure is important.” As advice to her fellow insurance industry people leaders, Denise says the ‘how’ is more...

“Flexibility has become increasingly important. Not just working from home, but being able to work remotely and work the hours that suit you“, says Jason. “No one's expected to work late into the night or weekends unless they want to. Unless that's a rhythm that suits them.” On the podcast this week, Jason discusses his background in tech and digital recruitment, before moving to an in-house talent acquisition role. He gives insight in to the fast-paced growth of Italian auto insurtech, Prima, as well as the impact of Goldman Sachs and Blackstone investment in 2018. “We offer primarily digital motor insurance products. In Italy, we now have home and family insurance products as well, diversifying that product range. In Italy, we now have over 2.5 million customers. The plan is to consolidate that market leadership whilst also establishing ourselves as a brand in the UK and Spanish markets.” As part of driving its presence in the UK and Spain, Jason outlines the business objectives, distribution models and future plans. “We're going to first and foremost continue to establish our brand here, but in a very sustainable and controlled way. Especially with recent economic conditions, making UK and Spain profitable businesses in their own right is the most important thing. We'll also be looking to perhaps diversify the product range over the next 3-4 years. Jason highlights the importance of Prima’s global EVP and being culturally sensitive to wide range of nationalities in the business. “To add consistency to all of our employees in multiple countries, it's a hybrid / remote working environment here. We wanted to define that in detail and make sure people were aware of the flexibility. We have a working from abroad policy. 30 days per year in which you can work from other countries. With 33 nationalities at Prima, that's quite a popular policy. We want to make sure that people are aware they can travel too. Whether it's to Milan our headquarters or London or Madrid. Making sure they get that face time with their colleagues.” Jason discusses the outcomes of the EVP on attracting the best insurance talent. “Obviously, we’ve got to get the salary right but Prima has a real focus on work life balance, a respectful culture. But that's been a positive conversation to have with candidates in how much flexibility there is here. You're in the driving seat over your own career progression and the direction you want to take. You have the support of the company and managers.” Jason shares his interview advice for high-performing insurance talent coming for interview. “Being tech driven and data driven in your mindset is key. Our leaders here really voice the importance of using data to make key decisions. Interviewing for senior level roles means that you're going to be asked about decisions you've made based on data. How you made those decisions. The technologies you've used and the engineering or technical teams that you've worked closely with.” As well as sharing some of the tech tools, Prima use to support hiring, Jason encourages his fellow insurance talent acquisition leaders to have a competency and values-based interview process. “It’s allowed us to take a lot of the ambiguity out of interviewing, to make sure we get the right fit of candidates and they align with the values of Prima. Trying to take the biases out, making sure that interview panels know the content they're covering at each stage and what they should be interviewing about, that's really helped us identify and hire really top talent across a multitude of domains.” Connect with Jason Marsh on LinkedIn or find out more about Prima...

“Because we’re such a mission driven organization, it is really important that we are bringing people in who want to make a difference in the world, who are excited about joining our mission and making an impact ”, says Sarah. “The people who are involved in that process are really committed to finding the people who are going to amplify the team the most and help us achieve our objectives." On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Sarah discusses her passion for leadership development and attracting talent to early-stage tech businesses. “I am a builder. I enjoy creating programs from scratch. Getting to know each person so we can design our programs and culture for the people who are in the organization.” Sarah gives insight into EvolutionIQ and how they use AI and machine-learning to sift data to support the business mission of supporting those with bodily injury claims. “Our mission and vision is to be able to revolutionize the industry of bodily injury claims. To become the leader in claims guidance by helping to improve the lives of sick and injured workers and enable them to return to the workforce. We try to accelerate that journey, to connect people with the resources and the attention that they need at pivotal points. We're primarily in short term disability, long term disability and workers compensation. We have really honed in on various points where you can help to essentially guide the claims adjusters and examiners to be able to look at those cases at the right time.” Sarah discusses how OKRs are used the goal-setting methodology at both leadership and company level. “That is where we really set our big challenging goals. The executives and leaders of the organization take personal responsibility for making sure that those are achieved. People are given very consistent feedback about where they can potentially improve. There is a really well laid out road map for how people can be successful and measure their performance. Our goal is to make sure every single person is able to see the impact that they're having and what their potential development and growth areas are. We really support that through ongoing conversations” Sarah shares how EvolutionIQ is balancing an ultra-high performance culture and building a culture of community. “We really do believe in people getting to know each other on a more personal level too. For anyone joining us remotely, we fly them in for the first week so they're able to really walk around the office, get to know other people cross functionally alongside their own teams. We try to create an extremely inclusive environment through regular events and company off-sites. Meaningful activities that we can essentially bond through. People also are able to pursue their own passions and interests and share that with other people in the organization.” Sarah gives her advice to insurance leaders coming for interview, citing authenticity and being clear on your purpose and fit within the organization. And she encourages her fellow people leaders within insurtech businesses to know what’s needed for success. “Know your organization extremely well. Be able to identify the critical components, requirements and skills that are necessary today. You don't want to hire a bunch of replicas. You want to find people who have different skill sets and different perspectives, where you get a little bit more diversity of thought and diversity of contribution. That brings even greater value.” As closing advice, Sarah says, “One of the things we learned during the pandemic is that it can be challenging to have these separate worlds collide together. Looking at it as a holistic part of your life and figuring out how to get the most meaning and joy out of it as possible.” Connect with

“Anyone stepping into a predominantly 100% remote opportunity, assuming it's not their first time, they know what they're getting into and what to expect from the day-to-day”, says Blair. “In terms of building a culture, the onus is really on the company, but also us as individuals to engage with co-workers. You have to be intentional about over-communicating.” On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Blair Kamrass shares her journey from studying political science to an HR and people leadership function at a growing Insurtech, Coterie Insurance. “I've been in a leadership position now for about 7.5 years, overseeing the whole HR department, all of the functions. People are so complex that it keeps things interesting. A lot of what we do isn't ‘set it and forget it’, we have to constantly be evaluating policies, programs that we've put in place to make sure that it's staying up to date with the modern-day workforce.” Blair highlights the role HR plays in internal communications. “It’s partnering with people leaders, our ‘S-team’ is what we call our executive team, to make sure everyone is as updated as they can possibly be about upcoming changes. We know change management in any organization is huge and trying to stay ahead of that the best you can. It’s helping leaders develop their own unique, authentic selves and making sure that all of the communication channels are firing on all cylinders at any given point.” Blair discusses attracting insurance talent to the business and the impact of its 100% remote nature. “We’ve set up an organization that truly supports the employee’s whole self because we know there is life outside of work and life gets very complicated. Having those structures, helps attract the insurance talent we're looking for.” She discusses the tools Coterie uses to keep people in engaged and communicating. Including Slack channels and bi-annual engagement surveys. “One thing we do really well is communication. Every month we have a company ‘All hands’ with more formal reports from our ‘S-team and every week we have a meeting called ‘Friday Wins’. This is a more casual gathering, but the intention is to come together, express gratitude and shout out your coworkers, discuss your wins for the week. It's a combination of making sure you're creating the opportunities to come together in a formal way to hear business updates, but also to have fun because we need to always make sure that we're building fun into our work.” Blair advises senior leaders coming for interview at Coterie, saying, “I would say over-communicate. I can't express that enough with a 100% remote company. Be intentional about thinking, ‘OK, who do I need to follow up with? Who needs to be in the know about this? We want to make sure everyone feels they're in the know.” To hire the best insurance talent, Blair counsels fellow insurance people leaders to have a good grasp on the demographics of their workforce. “Have in the back of your mind that people are complex. They're not robots. Everyone is in a different season of life. Do your research. Know what's going on in the world socially, economically, politically because it will filter into the organization and it will impact our teams.” In terms of attracting a diversity of insurance talent, Blair highlights, “We make sure all of our hiring managers receive on average at least three pre-qualified diverse candidates to progress through the interview process. Our goal is always to build out a diverse workforce whenever we can. We use a people dashboard, so at any point in time, we can see the makeup of our organization. By gender, age, race, location, our turnover rate at the executive level and so on. That way we have a pulse on how our organization is looking.” Blair highlights how Coterie is using experiential exercises as part of the hiring process and what she...

“Patience is such a virtue when working in a high growth organization like this. The number of partner agencies that we’ve brought together are all in different phases of talent maturity. You just have to be patient and figure out where they are on the continuum and bring them along. I'm building and doing and teaching all at the same time”, says Lea as she emphasizes the need to be patient in a start-up environment. On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Lea discusses the steps that led her from advertising HR leadership roles in Boston and New York, through to real estate investment in North Carolina to her role as Chief Human Resources Officer at Oakbridge Insurance. “People are people. The principles of organizational behavior, design and talent management are transferable. There are some tweaks that need to be made based on the industry that you're in and the issues you may be facing. I’ve really enjoyed learning all about insurance and risk management. I work with a great leadership team that has helped me learn. They have learned from me and the talent skills that I bring to the table. Oakbridge Insurance is an extraordinary company.” Lea describes the private equity-backed business model that underpins current growth. “We're on our second round of private equity. We hit the ground running on January 1 of 2021 with around 100 employees. Today, our growth, we're ranked 55th among US insurance brokerages. We have 485+ insurance professionals. And have now acquired 32 partner insurance agencies.” “Our shareholders know that is how we're going to grow. We are constantly in the market looking for partner agencies that share the same cultural values. We've got a robust M&A team. That is what they do, day in day out." From a people and culture perspective, Lea gives insight into working alongside the M&A team and integrating insurance talent in to the business. “Once they’ve identified the prospect and moved it through the funnel, we get to the point where we start having the talent conversations. I integrate with the leaders, the owners of those acquisition targets and talk about talent. We all know that without talent, what are we in the brokerage world? We need to preserve that insurance talent and make sure that change management journey is as easy as possible.” Lea discusses the impact of working in a high-growth fast-paced insurance business environment. “The driving force is the mission to better serve the communities that we're in. Transforming and elevating the way that business is done in the insurance industry, you've got to be prepared for a rapidly changing environment. To be comfortable with ambiguity, flexible, adaptable and open-minded.” Lea highlights the benefit of working alongside a team of like-minded insurance professionals as well as seeking the advice and counsel of external support. “It's all about creating a best-in-class producer-centric, employee-centric brokerage built on the foundation of meaningful client relationships. Having that team of like-minded folks is really important as we explore all the opportunities that are out there and building things from the ground up, making sure your skills are sharp and that you can be agile. I am a firm believer in peer support from other organizations, even outside of the industry. Having conversations with people like you on, ‘What's going on in the industry, what are you hearing? Making sure that I'm learning and growing all the time.” Lea shares her advice for insurance leaders coming to interview at Oakbridge, saying, “Bring your authentic self to the interview. Be prepared with your questions about the organization. Make sure that you're looking for the fit, because the fit is so absolutely important.” Advising her fellow insurance industry HR people leaders and talent acquisition professionals,...

“Having events like the town hall is incredibly important. For everyone to get together and be able to celebrate what we're building”, says Eric. “It gives us a forum to talk about what's going on, what the strategy is. It’s a time for anyone to ask questions so they can get a better understanding of what everyone does. We don't want everything to be just work. We also have fun things, that people normally aren't used to, so they also get a sense of accomplishment. It builds a lot of camaraderie.” On the Insurance Coffee House Podcast this week, Eric Haller and HR Director, Ashlie Keeling talk about the journey to launching and joining Bermuda-based Fleming Insurance Holdings. “Stephen Minor approached me in 2018 and said, ‘Do you think there's room for another legacy carrier in the market?’ We decided there was but we really wanted to change the paradigm in terms of how it was done. We wanted to focus more on capital solutions versus exposure solutions. What we mean by that is instead of simply taking away bad liabilities, allowing our counter parties to recycle capital back into the front end of the business, so they can provide a legacy solution on an ongoing basis.” Eric discusses navigating the early days of running the business. “When you're in start-up mode, it was getting the regulatory side, getting the capital side sorted, mapping out that strategy, how to achieve all those individual goals to get where we wanted to be today. The good thing is we had a great core team. We were able to close our first transaction at the end of 2018. The most challenging thing about the early days, is every counter party you talk to, the first question is, ‘Have you done a deal yet? Within two months of starting the company, we were able to answer that ‘Yes’. Eric discusses working through Fleming’s strategic plan and the interim goal of securing institutional funding from Altamont Capital Partners in May 2022 and the acquisition of JRG Reinsurance. With team based in Bermuda and spread across the US, employees are Fleming Insurance Holdings’ biggest asset. Ashlie highlights her role in attracting and retaining the best insurance talent, as the business eyes European expansion. “One of the first things I did when I came was, I planned a town hall meeting. That was a pivotal week for us. We just got to know one another. With us being remote, being able to do that and see us grow as people, colleagues and as a collaborative supportive culture has been the most amazing transformation.” Discussing the outcomes of these in-person collaborative events, Ashlie emphasizes the excitement to be on the team, for what the business is doing and for each other. “One of our values is that we recognize the expertise of each other and we celebrate it. It’s got us excited to learn more about them as people but also things they have published. We want to have a repository where people can upload white papers or articles. We want to celebrate each other, a culture of collaboration and support. No matter where you turn you get that support. You get help and make friends out of it. It is so important as we build businesses in a virtual or hybrid world.” Eric shares the benefit of having an insurance people leader like Ashlie “Bringing Ashlie on board and focusing on the people aspect has been great. Making sure employees needs are being sought or being looked after is positive. Soon after Ashlie was hired she came to me and said, ‘What about unlimited PTO?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? That's crazy'. But the more we talked about it and all the detailed benefits, it provides a mechanism to allow the employees a little bit of flexibility.” It's that type of input. Having her in the role is incredibly beneficial. Our goal is to make Fleming a better place to be for its employees.” When looking

“We're able to move mountains with far fewer people because of the fact that everybody in their role is exceptional and they’re that 90th percentile. It's really hard to maintain that talent density, especially as we've started to scale. But we absolutely refuse to just put bodies in seats because we need them”, says Datha. On the podcast this week, Steadily’s Co-Founder & COO shares her career journey. “I've spent my entire career in the insurance industry. Geico heavily recruited in the university I went to. They ended up recruiting me into their Emerging Leaders program. Then I was recruited again by Brown & Brown, a large international insurance brokerage. They recruited me into their internal audit program. Within that role, I learned everything about insurance. She discusses the steps she took to weigh up the risk of leaving an established insurance leadership role to co-found insurtech Steadily. “I'm an insurance person, I'm very risk averse. The idea of going out on my own and doing something that could fail. That was terrifying. I sat down and calculated the risk. I thought, ‘Ok, let's model out worst-case scenario and best-case scenario. We raised $4million in a seed round, so we had 12 to 18 months to prove our concept.” With a recent Series B fundraise of $60m and a team of 100+, Datha gives an overview of the business' current position and the insurance solution Steadily provides. “We wanted to make sure that real estate investors, no matter where or what type of property they had, could come to a single place to find somebody who could help them and who could do it quickly. Steadily does have a product of its own but we also have very strong relationships with retail partners. That allows us to support virtually anyone who comes to us with any type of rental property. Some are using it for short term, some are using it for long term. Our sales agents during the hours of 7am to 7pm have three minutes to respond to a customer. When a customer is on our website, they're going to hear from us within just a few minutes. That's why we're winning.” To achieve this level of service and achieve a continued growth trajectory, building a high-performance insurance leadership culture is paramount. Datha highlights how she weeds out the B & C performers from the A-players. “When we bring somebody in to interview, the entire process is designed to figure out, ‘Are they the person or the few people who were carrying the weight for their whole team at their previous company.” We have a culture deck for everyone who applies to Steadily to look at. Our philosophy for hiring is to hire a company that’s only made up of 90th percentile team members. We save money in other areas so we can pay people the max, so we can attract the very best people in their fields. It can be painful sometimes, but if you drop that bar then very quickly your talent density starts to go downhill. It’s easier to get in to Harvard than get hired at Steadily.” Datha shares her approach to hiring the best insurance talent. “As one of the co-founders, I still meet every single candidate in my downstream. I want to know who they are and who is joining our company before they come on board. So much of my calendar is spent interviewing people. It's worth it because by doing so, we are able to keep our talent density high. As for her advice to candidates coming to interview, Datha says, “We talk a lot about our culture deck in the interview process. Sometimes people bow out of the interview process after they read it. Make sure you know the culture deck inside out. Make sure it gives you warm and fuzzy feelings. If you don't like the culture deck, you will not like it here.” Advising fellow Insurtech founders and insurance people leaders, “You have to prioritize money to pay them. You need

“We’ve had 115 acquisitions. That’s 115 individual small businesses who’ve become part of Inszone. How do you connect that? How do you make people feel like they're part of one company? says Matt. “We put this quarterly meeting in place where we have the whole C suite on and focus on three things, ‘Where are we at? Where are we going? And how are we going to get there?’ On the podcast this week, Matt talks about his accidental fall in to the insurance industry. “It’s a little story about dumb luck. I saw an ad in the paper. I called and got an interview but went to the wrong place. They were in a hiring frenzy because they had just come to town. I ended up in the insurance department that settled total losses.” He discusses feeling like the dumbest guy in the room whilst working for NASA and his love of organizational development. Matt joined Inszone Insurance Services in June 2023 as Chief HR Officer. In January of that year, the business had a headcount of 220. By the end of the year, it was over 500. Continuing on their acquisition of 50 insurance agencies per year, Matt is responsible for fostering an inclusive and collaborative work environment. “In the next couple of years, we will be several thousand people. I was brought in to help usher through the next 2 to 3 years of incredible growth. To make all of these individual small businesses feel like one. To bring team members together.” Matt explains the key to Inszone’s success being a three-legged stool approach. Employee culture, carrier relations and being client centric. “Taking care of folks, Chris and Norm started another business in 2014 called Staff Boom. That business has 1500 employees. 350 are dedicated to Inszone, all the back-office functions and administration. The insurance agents can spend their time either selling or servicing the clients’ needs. It frees them up to have a decent work life balance.” Matt highlights how Inszone create moments of connection and embed new insurance talent in to the business. “We call out everybody that's a new acquisition and make sure that they feel welcomed. The cadence of doing that quarterly is really important. If you're not always talking about where the company is at and where it's going, it, it disconnects people. They don't feel like they're part of something.” Matt emphasizes the importance of management training within the Inszone culture. “Traditionally, owners pick the best widget maker. They’re the best at doing what they do, but might not have any idea how to manage people. A business can really struggle they don't have the skill set of how to communicate, solve conflict, motivate teams. Or how to drive results and make the business unit feel cohesive. When I came into Inszone, I asked for a list of every manager we have in the company. I broke them up to groups and every single month we have management training. 78 people where we talk about best practices.” Matt discusses insurance talent retention, employee recognition and creating a collaborative culture. “Those moments of connection where a manager just lets people know that they care about them. Calling out good things. That form of employee recognition is missing in so many businesses. People will stay at a workplace where they're treated well. Most companies have no idea how much money it costs them when a great employee leaves and walks out the door with their institutional knowledge.” When it comes to hiring high-performing insurance talent, Matt encourages leadership candidates to be real. “Be yourself. Be transparent with your strengths and weaknesses. I’ll use myself as an example. I love training and development. I love culture. I love organizational development. But if you need me to do spreadsheets all day, Math was never my strong point. If somebody says, ‘I just work too...

“Every employee, even the most entry level positions, gets bonus company stock at the end of the year. You start thinking differently, about improvements in processes. It doesn't just benefit you. You're looking for things that benefit the whole organisation“, says Ryan. On our insurance executive search and talent acquisition podcast this week, Ryan discusses growing up in a farming family to his father launching his own insurance agency in the 1980s. “As soon as I was able to help, I was employed in the agency, updating paper manuals. I got insurance producer licensed in high school.” After college, Ryan joined a Fortune 500 Company, where he learned underwriting and claims. He ended up managing and buying an independent agency before merging it with his parents’ insurance business. “I always knew of RLI Insurance, the culture and the reputation. I got a phone call one day where they just said, we have an opening to help us recruit folks.” Ryan explains how his role as Talent Acquisition Lead has evolved over time and the current market position of RLI. The business with over 1100 employees - 450 based from its Peoria, Illinois HQ - operates in the specialty, mostly commercial space across 50 States. "We've seen property take off here in the last couple of years. That’s been one of our fastest growing areas. One of the things that makes us unique, is our product groups all have the autonomy and the freedom to decide what coverages they want to offer the distribution channels. It’s not a top down, one chief underwriting officer dictating the same process for everybody. We hold our product VPs to a very high standard. It’s like running their own business. We give them the tools and the resources, but that ownership mentality is critical for success of their particular insurance product.” Ryan highlights RLI’s ESOP model and its impact on team unity, accountability and support. In his Insurance Talent Acquisition role, Ryan emphasizes how he balances the demands of the hiring manager with attracting and retaining the very best insurance leaders. “You want people that get it, coming in the door with that ownership mindset. Not everybody comes in fully understanding what that means and what that's going to look like. We want people who want to think like an owner. It's actually better for the business overall, because people care more. They're treating it as their business.” Ryan shares what he looks for in leaders coming for interview and the advice he’d give to fellow insurance people and talent acquisition leaders in the insurance industry. “There's a lot of smart people in the insurance industry. If it's not a cultural fit for your team, group or organization, it's going to be frustrating for both sides. We look for what we call ‘hungry, humble, smart.’ All the questions filter into those three categories.” Ryan clarifies what he seeks when working with an external insurance executive search partner. “I want a partner that understands my needs, but also the organisation at large, our total compensation package, or total rewards. What our corporate mentality is. It again goes back to culture.” Ryan concludes with the one lesson his job has taught him, he thinks everyone should know. “I'm a big believer that we are all in sales, every job, every role. I don't mean that in a stereotypical car sales way. Whether it's internal or external roles, you're influencing others. We're all in sales. It is a people business.” Connect with Ryan Hite on LinkedIn or find out more about RLI Insurance Company The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by

“We’re very committed to staying connected. We’re very careful about how we meet, when we meet and who is in the various meetings”, says Marjorie as she highlights the key success factors to implementing a remote-first culture at insurtech, Openly. On the podcast this week, Marjorie charts her career journey from consultancy to insurance people leader. “I started my career in the lean six sigma field, mostly in technology. It gave me a fantastic appreciation for process and data and people.” “One of the things I recognized in consulting was you can have the greatest process and amazing data, but you've got to have the convergence of those two things plus the right people in the right roles. And so, I made an intentional decision to pivot toward the people side of things.” She discusses her love for growing people functions within scaling businesses and her role at Openly. “I absolutely love this stage of a company's growth because it really is about how you set up to grow an amazing, strong business with a solid foundation. That's got to be everything from technology to processes to the people and the strategy across the company. The insurance market and the insurance industry as a whole fit perfectly with that.” “One of the great things about Openly is we are so committed to the policyholder, to the agents and to our employees. It's a great marriage of the three.” Marjorie highlights Openly’s growth, insurance products and distribution model. “We sell our insurance policies through 30,000 independent agents in 21 States. We giving those agents the technology and the tools makes it possible for them to do more business, to serve their customers better. They want an easy experience that they can rely on because that's their reputation.” Founded in 2017, Openly is a remote first environment. Marjorie discusses how the business keeps a team spread across 43 States, knitted together both professionally and personally. “We're always looking to improve opportunities for connection. We're actually rolling out ‘culture hubs’ in specific locations where we have concentrations of employees. We spend a lot of time on Slack. Channels that are specifically business oriented, and channels more on the personal or fun side. People can find those levels of connection.” Marjorie gives insight in to how the business is developing storytelling – using employee spotlights to tell the story of what operational excellence looks like at Openly. “We’re working with our engineering team right now to find a creative way to tell a story without being overly complex on the technical side. That’s how our employees and anyone external who's listening can appreciate how technology really drives our business.” Discussing wellness, well-being and remote-working, Marjorie says, “We’ve started a ‘Be Well’ programme. It’s a monthly stipend that goes to employees to spend on any kind of wellness related activity. It could be a membership to a gym. It could be a ski pass or meditation sessions. And we've also been doing a series of panels, largely stemming from our DEI initiatives. When you're in any kind of a stressful environment and your employees are remote, there's an added challenge there because they don't have that in person outlet. We're doing an event around managing holiday stress. We also have a mental health expert coming in to talk to the entire company, looking for the signs and symptoms of any kind of mental distress.” Marjorie shares how building a remote workforce helps build a more diverse and inclusive culture within Openly. “We don't have geographical limitations when hiring, so that goes a long way. We built out our DEI programme this year. We started with a panel for International Women's Day. 10 female leaders across the business, came and talked about their...

“Generative AI, it's going to change the world in an incredibly positive way”, says Alex. “In the long term, I truly believe that we will elevate the role of HR because we'll be able to not only remove a lot of the friction from finding complex answers around HR policies and programs, but we'll also be able to augment our services to be able to do more.” Alex charts her career journey to falling in to consulting. “15 years ago, I'm not even sure I really understood what human resources was. How I ended up in this was focussing on how organizations manage their people and how they build relationships with their workforce. I constantly asked myself, could we make work better?” “I understood that technology and data were huge drivers in how organizations think about their people, how they make decisions about their people.” Alex gives insight in to how technology and humans can combine to make HR better. How we can use technology to deliver a more personalized experience as employee expectations continue to shift. “It's incredibly difficult to make the argument for more human resources in human resources. There are times where humans should be the main point of contact, but we should be digital first where we can so that the limited human resources we have access to can be there for those human moments like a promotion or something unfortunate, like a death in the family or even just a difficult coaching conversation.” Alex emphasizes the biggest impact embedding AI will have on business functions and the steps we can take to deploy AI effectively into our organizations. “Build off the things we're used to, things we're comfortable with things that we have already built into our spaces. My number one piece of advice would be to embrace it as an individual because it will make you feel more comfortable in the workplace setting. Use it in your personal life so that you can then better understand the applications at work and be open-minded.” Alex highlights simple AI use cases that can lead to wider organizational buy-in. "There are a number of smaller use cases that organizations can begin to embrace today. Job descriptions are a great example. Ask ChatGPT to write a job description for you, then ask it to rewrite that job description from the perspective of a cool or edgy company.” “I would never suggest that you put your internal data in any sort of open environment, but asking to write a job description for an HR Business Partner is absolutely something that you can use.” Alex discusses challenges around AI, biases and DEI. “We hear things like we've removed anything that could create any sort of bias towards one particular group or another. We know however, that, that is just beginning to scratch the surface. The real trick here is something called humans in the loop. There's no world where I would recommend using artificial intelligence that doesn't include humans in the loop.” In conclusion, Alex advises HR professionals and talent acquisition professionals to use AI to enhance our skills. “The best advice I can give is to only use generative AI to augment your area of expertise.” “We should be using the years of expertise that put us in our jobs to analyze the output from generative AI. It should never replace the areas of expertise we already have.” Connect with Alex Zea on LinkedIn or find out more about Mercer Leapgen The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO of

“One of our divisions wanted to pilot a work from home model in 2019. They tried it and it was successful. We made a decision that we would pilot that across our business and I remember working with others to figure out the guiding principles. When Covid hit, it’s not an overstatement to say that we had zero issues from a technology and productivity perspective”, says Andrew. On the podcast this week, Andrew discusses his career journey from Wales to Fort Wayne as his transition from part-time consultant to joining the MedPro team full-time. With a remit of overseeing external communications across MedPro’s 17 divisions, Andrew explains his role from an internal communications perspective too. “It’s ensuring that employees understand the mission of the business and what's important to us. That became a bigger part of my job. We were a little bit behind in how we develop people, so we had pretty much a blank canvas, and so that's exciting, because you get to think, ‘Ok, what do we want to do to engage and make 1300 employees better’. Andrew highlights MedPro’s areas of operation, the 5 values that underpin culture and the desire to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit. “We want to be hungry and nimble, while leveraging the scale of our size. We fight against what Warren Buffett calls the ABC of business decline - arrogance, bureaucracy and complacency”. Andrew clarifies MedPro’s approach to hybrid working and the benefit of in-office activity for younger team members. “We think there's value, especially for younger employees, just being in the office. If you're new to a job and you can hear someone in the next cubicle who's been doing this role for many years. To listen to them take a call or deal with a difficult situation and learning through osmosis.” Andrew shares the impact of the hybrid model on talent attraction and retention and gives his advice to candidates interviewing to join the MedPro team. “I think it's, ‘Have you understood the job and been able to contextualize your experience with what the organization is looking for?’ It’s really important to understand the mission of the role rather than the day to day tasks." From an insurance hiring perspective, Andrew encourages industry colleagues to be flexible in searching for the best insurance talent. “It's not one size fits all. We need a lot of tools in the toolkit. Beyond that is having the ability to explain what the organisation is doing and why it does it” Acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2005, Andrew concludes, “Being part of the Berkshire family gives us an incredible an advantage. They don't give us top line goals and say, ‘Run your business as if it's your family's only asset for 100 years. Do everything with complete integrity and ask us if you need any help'. That long term mindset underpins everything we do. We will only grow into new segments if we think we can become the industry leader.” Connect with Andrew Booth on LinkedIn or find out more about MedPro Group The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO of Insurance Search. We are a global Insurance Executive Search Consultancy, supporting Insurance and Insurtech businesses to attract and retain the very best insurance talent. Find out more about showcasing your employer brand as a guest on the