A refreshingly different approach

SRG Group is on a mission to “make insurance easy” – and CEO Rod Fitzgerald says he wants to shake up the sector’s stale reputation while he’s at it

Maintaining professionalism is part of a broker’s basic responsibility, but that doesn’t mean they have to abandon their personality the moment they walk through the office door. In fact, Rod Fitzgerald, CEO of SRG Group, believes brokerages can benefit if their staff are able to show a more human side.

“Insurance is very old and traditional, and it can be seen as a little bit stuffed-shirt or rigid at times,” Fitzgerald says. “We built our brand on being refreshingly different, and we say that without being corny. We consider ourselves modern and upbeat with a high-energy ethos.”

Of course, developing a dynamic company culture while building a forward-thinking brand isn’t the easiest task for any business leader, so Fitzgerald called on an established expert for help.

“We went through a pretty detailed culture project, and Matt Church, a leadership expert who does a lot of work around culture and engagement, came in and helped the team come up with some really honest values that resonated with everyone,” Fitzgerald says. “One of the ones that made me really proud of the team was that the staff wanted to have SRG identified as a community-responsive organisation.”

Fitzgerald says many employees within SRG are committed to volunteer work or charity fundraising; among them is Luke De Laurence, product manager at SRG subsidiary Bikesure. In his campaign to support emergency helicopter service LifeFlight, De Laurence decided to participate in a string of unusual challenges, including racing his dog, shaving his head and arm-wrestling a female athlete.

While the challenges – which were broadly circulated on social media – took a slight sidestep from the traditional buttoned-up reputation of insurance, the entire SRG team offered its support.

“They were the sort of things where some businesses might tap you on the shoulder and go: ‘Mate, would you mind acting a bit more corporate on social media, or at least change your name so people don’t join the dots?’, but instead, it was wholly embraced and encouraged,” De Laurence says.

Fitzgerald is quick to point out that De Laurence never veered into any dangerous territory – and even managed to demonstrate his own creativity and ingenuity in the process. “While there are obviously some boundaries, Luke never went anywhere near those, so there was never any concern about him damaging our reputation or his own,” Fitzgerald says. “In fact, seeing someone like Luke apply himself to fundraising in the way in which he did is actually very much in line with the way we think.”

De Laurence’s approach saw him pledge to complete a different challenge once a certain fundraising goal had been achieved, which led several people to donate on multiple occasions, desperate to see the next instalment.

“I think that was innovative on Luke’s part, and it also allowed others to get involved,” Fitzgerald says. “People were helping him participate, and it became a bit of a feature in our monthly newsletter. We were all waiting for Luke’s next activity.”

While De Laurence is thankful for the support and grateful to be part of a company “Insurance ... can be seen as a little bit stuffed-shirt or rigid at times. We consider ourselves modern and upbeat with a high-energy ethos” with such a supportive culture, he also believes SRG will reap the rewards for creating a positive work environment and encouraging its employees to be themselves.

“People want to deal with and work for real people,” he says. “I think if you’ve got somebody in your business doing something for the community, you’ve got a free hit at demonstrating the human qualities of your business.”

Fitzgerald agrees. He says many clients heard about De Laurence’s fundraising activities organically, which bolstered not only the company’s reputation, but also the reputation of the entire industry.

“I think the insurance industry gets a hard time in the media for various reasons, often because of the minority of organisations doing the wrong thing,” Fitzgerald says, “but, as a whole, it’s an amazing industry with a lot of amazing people in it.”