Blogs
11th September 2025
The insurance sector is undergoing unprecedented transformations in working models, driven by rapid technological advancements, shifting employee expectations and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, giving rise to the growing adoption of hybrid and remote work settings.
Before the pandemic, companies rarely accommodated for remote working, with 40% of an Accenture and Munich Re Specialty Group survey respondents reporting that businesses had no remote-working options prior to the outbreak. In fact, participants said that their firms worked around 4.4 days in the office and 0.6 days remotely weekly. However, they’ve shared that employees worked an average of 2.25 days from home after the pandemic.
It’s clear that hybrid working models are emerging as a popular solution, enabling employees to enjoy the flexibility of working from home (or anywhere depending on company policies) while still maintaining a connection to their offices and colleagues.
This shift comes with many benefits, such as increased job satisfaction. However, this change doesn’t come without its challenges, as employers need to strike a balance between guaranteed productivity, revenue and flexibility.
The UK’s insurance sector is one of the biggest and the most dynamic globally, employing approximately 321 000 people. While insurance has always been predominantly a face-to-face industry, it was difficult for employers to envision a scenario where important physical business meetings would be semi-replaced by video calls.
However, people have spoken their minds, and according to research released by Accenture back in July 2021, right after the pandemic, one in four (25%) of UK employees at insurance firms would favour to work exclusively from home in the future.
The respondents of the same survey revealed their preference for a flexible working schedule; with 72% reporting this would help them cope better and that they’d prefer working from the office twice a week or less compared to only 6% who want to come back to the office full time.
According to Jamie Althorp, insurance lead at Accenture UK and Ireland: “As an industry that didn’t typically work from home, there was widespread surprise amongst insurers and their employees at the successful transition to remote working, particularly for areas such as motor, home and general insurance”.
What’s most shocking is that only 3% some of a group people surveyed reported that their firms were not willing to go back to full-time office work at least in the near future.
Face-to-face interactions remain a cornerstone of the London Markets, with 96% of brokers emphasizing their importance and 34% advocating for constant in-person engagement.
Fast forward into 2023 and 2024, face to face interactions are still unreplaceable in the general insurance and the London market. Nonetheless, hybrid working is here to stay, potentially for longer than everyone has expected, but with conditions.
For example, many insurance firms don’t allow their employees to work overseas for security and confidentiality reasons. In fact, research has found that working from anywhere (WFA) can increase cybersecurity risks for certain industries deemed to have sensible data, notably insurance.
According to a CMD recruitment research, the percentage of employees working remotely has decreased to 14% in June 2024, a decrease of 24% since the same period in 2020. Additionally, 29% of full-time employees worked in a hybrid remote/office work setting according to WFH Research
Narrowing the data down to the insurance and financial services sector, a recent study discovered that 52% of insurance firms prefer a structured hybrid working model which enforces some mandatory office days, from an employer perspective.
According to Rob Sadow, CEO of software company Scoop: “Rather than giving employees the freedom to come into the office if they choose, [insurers] are now mandating in-person work for set days, the average being 2.53 days.”
However, data and sentiment from an employee perspective reveals astonishing differences. In that sense, Insurance Insider’s research shed light on employees’ preference for hybrid working, reporting flexibility as the most important part of their current working models. Some also expressed concerns regarding risks of hybrid-remote settings being abolished for good.
One of the survey’s respondents said: “Stop the pressure to return to office for non-market staff, find other ways to train people!”, with many more emphasising the pressure they felt to return to the office.
This clearly shows the clash that exists between employers and employees, and that employees are willing to look elsewhere if their current firms refuse to offer hybrid settings and flexibility anymore.
The reasons why working entirely remotely within the insurance market is complex and challenging are multi fold. While some company in the industry might allow that, there is still at least a level of in-office presence, even if it’s monthly or quarterly. Below we expand on the main challenges around a 100% remote working model in insurance:
In essence, insurance is a heavily face-to-face, relationship building industry, and collaborating with colleagues can be extremely siloed if everyone is working remotely. But particularly, the extensive regulatory law in place makes it almost impossible for teams to work remotely, either from home or anywhere in the world. In fact, some firms even refused to consider candidates who want to work only remotely, emphasising the importance of in-person networking and team development.
2. Career Development
Taking fully advantage of career opportunities can be particularly different when entry-level employees start a fully remote role with no in-person meeting. The London market specifically relies on face-to-face networking, tailored events and meetings with experts to gain specific experience and knowledge to advance in the sector. Moreover, many of the younger employees tend to also work through shadowing their managers and other insurance leaders through observing their work and learning from the most experience, and this becomes almost impossible if younger employees work fully remotely. This could result in missing crucial career development opportunities such as promotions or taking on more self-developing responsibilities.
Although the idea of working fully remotely is appealing and can be done easily in some other industries, it can particularly feel lonely for an insurance professional, especially as the insurance market in London is vibrant and promotes face-to-face and social interactions both during and after work where career aspirations, market trends and many other industry specific information is shared. As insurance professionals thrive on collaboration, sharing insights and building relationships, communication can be extremely limited when it’s carried out virtually alone. Also, remote work may create a disconnect from company culture and team dynamics, making it harder for individuals to feel engaged and valued within their organisation.
Working exclusively remotely is challenging and can be detrimental to both the insurance sector and employees in the long run, while attending the office every day is also counterproductive in the sense that there are some tasks and meetings that could be completed or held from home. This is why meeting in the middle, allowing flexibility and working in a hybrid manner, gives the sector access to the best of both worlds.
Hybrid working has reshaped how the insurance market operates without sacrificing the collaborative element that the market has always relied upon to carry out successful business. At the end of the day, insurance thrives on building long-lasting relationships, which is practically impossible if everyone worked from home five days a week.
According to an Accenture and Munich Re Specialty Group survey, 96% of brokers reported that face-to-face contact is crucial for trading with underwriters and other key partners, with 34% stating that this is extremely important and business has to be carried out in person at all times.
This is the reason why hybrid working creates a fair balance without sacrificing in person collaboration and business critical decisions, allowing insurance leaders and employees to carry out their usual tasks from home.
The benefits of working in a hybrid way are multi fold and support a work-life balance system better, allowing colleagues to meet in person when necessary (i.e.: Important strategic and brainstorming meetings) and work from home to focus on major tasks that can be done from anywhere.
Hybrid working also allows more freedom, but with access to social life and face-to-face business meetings when needed, creating a work environment that attract many younger individuals that want to join the insurance industry.
Moreover, technology facilitates working in a hybrid way; from stronger security systems to communication and collaboration channels such as Teams, Slack, Skype and much more. However, it’s important that employees are engaged during meetings and calls, leaving their cameras on and actively engaging with the rest of the team. Otherwise, working from home becomes obsolete and could impact team bonding.
According to a survey conducted by Zoom, 83% of employees reported that they are more productive when working in a hybrid way. And increased productivity means happier and satisfied employees which translates into higher retention rates. It also means companies will be able to attract top talent that is looking for a flexible work setting.
Additionally, another research found that 69% of employees in the insurance and finance industries are working either hybrid or fully remote, with only 31% working in-office full time.
Hybrid and flexible working also open doors to a wider talent pool, accessing talent from different cities and regions, whether that’s in the UK or abroad. While this is beneficial for the business to be able to attract top-notch talent, it also creates job opportunities for people that live further away and want to build their careers.
The chances that all companies go back to pre-pandemic work models that are mostly held in offices are unlikely – with hybrid work continuing to be the favoured working model by many insurance and financial services professionals.
In 5 years’ time, it is likely that hybrid work will prevail, with a handful of insurance firms going back to full time in-office attendance.
With all the economical, technological and geopolitical changes that happened in the last 5 years, is a return to the office full time the best bet for the insurance industry? The answer is that time will tell – and while we roughly know what the future of work looks like in insurance, no one can predict the future fully.
Hybrid work models are emerging as a popular solution, allowing employees to enjoy the flexibility of working from home while still maintaining a connection to their offices and their colleagues.
This shift not only enhances job satisfaction but also attracts top talent seeking a better work-life balance.
Insurers are now faced with the challenge of adapting their operations to accommodate these new preferences while ensuring productivity and collaboration remain intact.
Understanding the implications of remote versus office work is crucial for leaders in the insurance industry as they strategise for a future that embraces both innovation and employee well-being.
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