Most brokers are accustomed to early starts and long hours but that’s not the case for one firm, where employees work a four-day week and are free to start when they like.
Ben Webster is the founder of travel insurance platform Insured by Us – he says the firm is a “remote-first” company where employees are empowered to work in a way that suits them best.
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“It all started from a purely selfish standpoint because I had children and I wanted flexibility so I could be around and they could know who I was,” Webster tells Insurance Business.
“This morning, I didn’t get in until 10.30 because I went to the beach and dropped the kids off at school,” he continues. “That means I might work late tonight but I got to spend all morning with them – it was beautiful.”
Webster, who is also the Sydney lead for newly-launched Insurtech Australia, says employees also feel comfortable making the most of the perk because they see leaders taking advantage of it too.
“We bake that culture in from the start so that makes a big difference,” he says.
As well as ingrained flexibility, Webster says employees are free to work from where they like – whether that’s in the Sydney office, out of state or even overseas.
In fact, one team member recently came to work and announced she’d be moving to Broome.
“Her partner got a job in indigenous health and she knew that her job wasn’t in jeopardy so they were able to go,” says Webster. “She packed up her house on Friday, her day off, and was at her desk in Broome on Monday with absolutely no hit to productivity at all.”
However, Webster says the organisation is only able to function effectively under these circumstances because it has a remote mindset.
“We have systems in place and we call ourselves a remote-first company so that it’s baked into every single thing that we do,” he tells insurance Business. “We think in a remote-first way, in every meeting we have and in every kind of communication we have, we always make sure that we can communicate across time zones and asynchronously.”
While the approach relies on a lot of trust, Webster says the rewards are well worth it.
“That trust gets repaid in so many different ways – primarily in retention,” he says. “Losing staff is so costly in terms of the knowledge that’s walking out of the door, then there’s replacement costs as well.”
Recruitment has also been made significantly easier as a result of the unique workplace approach.
“Employees are demanding more flexibility and the companies that offer it find it a lot easier to hire people,” he says. “I don’t really have any trouble filling positions whenever we need them – whenever a position becomes available, I have a queue of people who are keen to change the way they work.”
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