As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses globally are considering the future of work and what this will look like for their organisations in the “new normal”. Recently, the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company in Canada announced its Distributed Work Program that will give the majority of its employees the flexibility in where and when they work, empowering its people to work in whatever way is best for them.
No justification will be needed for working flexibly and there will be no minimum amount of time required in the office. The ability to work flexibly is entirely dependent on roles. For the vast majority of roles at Wawanesa, that can be working from the office, from home, or a hybrid mix of time spent at both – the choice is up to the individual.
Empowering people with flexible work
The Distributed Work Program is company-wide and it applies to all staff members at all levels. It identifies three role categories going forward: office-only roles, proximity roles and flexible roles.
- Office-only roles require the use of equipment or paper-based processes that require employees to be onsite to perform their roles five days per week.
- Proximity roles require significant in-person interaction with customers/brokers or periodic use of on-site equipment or paper-based processes to complete a task. For those of Wawanesa’s employees that are in this kind of role, they’d be expected to live near the relevant work site(s) to be able to travel by ground within their "territory" or to the relevant Wawanesa office as much as necessary.
- Flexible roles are all other roles that do not fall under office-only roles or proximity roles. Flexible roles represent over 90% of Wawanesa’s workforce.
The Distributed Work Program allows employees to choose how and where they want to work if they are in a flexible or proximity role. They can choose to work from the office, remotely, or a hybrid mix of time spent at both. Flexible employees are also able to relocate to any part of their respective country, in a province or state where Wawanesa operates.
“We want to give our people flexibility and empower them to work in whatever way is best for them. We trust our people to support our customers and live our values in their work in everything they do” says Jodi Carradice, Senior Vice-President and Chief People & Culture Officer, Wawanesa.
For certain “moments that matter” identified by the organisation - such as team building, strategy sessions, and leadership events - employees may be required to meet in the office (up to four times per year).
A decision guided by people and purpose
There were many aspects to a decision affecting Wawanesa’s workforce of around 4,000 employees across multiple time zones and in the different types of insurance businesses.
Initially, the organisation spent a lot of time consulting employees for their input and feedback.
“A happy employee is an engaged employee, and an engaged employee is a productive one. That kind of logic is at the heart of our program” says Jodi Carradice.
It also conducted research into how companies of a similar size (including other ICMIF members) were adapting for the future. Wawanesa was also guided by the purpose of the organisation – we are here to look after one another.
Published November 2021
Evolving the workforce culture for the future
During the pandemic, Wawanesa’s workforce remained focused on delivering excellent service to its customers and broker partners. Investments in technology in recent years was critical to this and positioned the organisation well to pivot quickly; and now it creates exciting options for the future.
Within one week from the initial lockdown restrictions being imposed across Canada in March 2020, 98% of the workforce was set-up to work-from-home. A dedicated team of IT staff remained in offices providing essential support.
“Our success in managing through the pandemic and delivering for customers, we believe, has everything to do with the type of people who work for us and, I believe, the quality of our leaders across the organisation” says Jodi Carradice.
Flexibility work will be vital for talent attraction
Wawanesa's goal is to continue to be an employer of choice for skilled members of the insurance industry.
Being an employer of choice has many dimensions, including having a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture. The Distributed Work Program has been designed to supports this objective.
“No question, the ability to provide flexible – or distributed work programs – will be an increasingly important aspect of how we recruit and retain top talent as we go forward” says Jodi Carradice.
About Wawanesa
Over the past 125 years Wawanesa has grown into a diversified mutual insurer, serving the property, casualty and life insurance needs of over two million policyholders in Canada and the US. Recently, the company surpassed CAD 4 billion in annual premium, completed a decade-long transformation of its core technology platform, and was honoured to receive top industry customer service recognitions, such as #1 in personal property claims satisfaction in InsurPoll’s 2021 survey as well as “Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Auto Insurers in California” from J.D. Power for the second year in a row.
