The goals of the organisation are to earn profit in the form of brokerage, meet our client customer needs, comply with legal requirements and regulations set by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and meet the obligations of the insurer under the policies we sell.
The main focus of the organisation is the customer. This focus brings with it a high expected level of responsibility. We strive to become the market leader and to possess a reputation of providing a fair and honest service, with high quality products and services to match.
The products and services that we offer are:-
• Motor insurance
• Home buildings and contents insurance
• Landlords insurance
• Gadget insurance
• Travel insurance
• Specialist insurance for graduates and teachers
• Student insurance
• Financial advice for mortgages and lifestyle protection
As detailed above there are a number of different products aimed at different areas of the insurance market. Our student insurance packages provide cover for contents in a shared house or halls of residence. Student can then add niche packages for specified items like musical instruments or high valued computer equipment. These polices are available for the period of study and can then be extended to the first year after graduation. This allows us to continue to offer a competitive price and a great service with no interruptions.
Due to the organisation being established by students for students this has been the company’s main focus since 1965. However in the last 20 years the company has expanded to now offer insurance policies for everyone including policies for their house, car, mobile phone and many other areas of the insurance market thus making Endsleigh one of the most competitive and established insurers in the market.
There are a number of external factors which impact on the business activities of the organisation. These include environmental factors, our competitors, regulation and hard and soft markets. To understand this further see below a SWOT analysis of each external factor:
Environmental
Strengths – The Company has adopted a ‘Green’ culture where it is essential to recycle paper, drinking cups, cardboard and any other material which will reduce the organisation’s environmental foot print.
Weakness – The environment itself i.e. the weather, can also impact the business. If there continue to be freak weather events and climate change this could increase the volume of claims. As a result of this more employees are required to service.
Opportunities – Could more policies be sold in the event of continued global warming events? The company could look to capitalize on the previous flooding to offer niche polies for areas which are affected predominantly by flood, higher risk, and higher premium policies.
Threats – If too many claims are made insurers might cease to do business if they become solvent. This could be a factor if larger areas of the country are being affected by flood or storm damaging their properties which wasn’t considered when pricing insurance policies.
Competition
Strengths – We are the market leader within the student insurance sector, we offer the most competitive polices direct to the universities and their students. We have also now become competition for all other products within the general insurance market.
Weakness – Complacently. Need to ensure we keep up to date with current market trends, know our core market customer.
Opportunities – Learn from other insurers. What are they doing differently? Could we adopt any of the policies or procedures they adopt?
Threats – Saturation of the market. With new insurers the market is more competitive which means more niche products are offered to retain people’s custom. This could also mean that we lose customers by other insurers undercutting our costs.
Regulation
Strengths – The main strengths of being a FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) regulated organisation is financial stability, reduction in financial crime, market confidence and most importantly consumer protection.
Weakness – Visits which can put a lot of stress and pressure on employees, insuring all relevant records are up to date.
Opportunities – Improve company procedures to strengthen our processes as per the FCA standards, adopting their advices.
Threats – Could impose fines if the company isn’t working to their standards.
Hard and Soft Market
Strengths –Broader coverage, higher insurance premiums, less competition.
Weakness –Lower insurance premiums, more stringent underwriting criteria, increased competition, and Economic downturn.
Opportunities- The way we interpret the data has changed as technology has developed, reporting and interpreting reports become part of company strategic planning.
Threats- Unexpected changes like climate change will affect the market, rapid growth.
The structure of our organisation follows a divisional organizational structure, this is where our business functions are separated and managed by a specialist in that field. For your information you will find a copy of a structure chart in the appendix.
The main functions of the organisation are Claims, Underwriting, Customer Services and People and Development (HR). These areas of the business all work together to ensure the company is achieving their goals.
The Claims Department and customer service work with tech-ops to ensure the FTE (full-time equivalent) is correct in order to service customers effectively and achieve SLAs (Service level agreements). They also produce customer feedback that we get from surveys which helps us to make changes in how we run things to benefit the customer (as they are at the heart of our organisation). The training teams also fall in to tech-ops responsibility so they support claims and customer service by providing job specific training.
P&D support all areas of the business by offering generic training to all areas. This training also provides an opportunity for colleagues from different areas of the business to meet and network. They also run induction training where they integrate and support new starters form different business functions along with their supporting managers. This involves all areas of the organisation.
The Claims department and customer service work together to prevent complaints from customers. At claim stage we can find out if there are issues in the way the policy is sold and provide feedback to make changes to improve the customer journey. This also involves the Underwriters as if there is a reoccurring problem with a certain policy or the way it is worded this relationship ensures changes are made.
Communication of these departments is imperative to ensure the business develops and remains competitive. It is essential that L&D oversee all activity and changes to documents and to make sure it complies with the relevant laws.
One of Endsleigh’s main cultures is Treating Customers Fairly (TCF). This is integrated in to the culture of the organisation and therefore affects every part of the business.
There are six TCF principles in total however only five affect Endsleigh, these five outcomes are:
• We sell products and services which are specifically designed to meet the needs of our designated customers.
• We make it easy for our customers to change a product, submit a claim or make a complaint.
• We deliver products and services which do what we say they will.
• We provide our customers with clear information and keep them properly informed before, during and after they buy.
• We make customers confident that fair treatment is central to our corporate culture and business ethics.
This culture is designed to bond with our employees on an emotional level; our culture inspired the attitudes, abilities and behaviours of our employees. This is essential to deliver a powerful and market-leading sales and claims experience.
TCF is marketed within the company as “what good looks like”, this is a digestible way for TCF to be understood and implemented day to day. Culture effects our operations by improving our processes, personal accountability of our employees and practical problem solving needed to continually be market leaders in the Insurance market. This shows in our continued ability to retain our existing customers and see an increase in sales with new business.
Our Human Resource department is a fundamental part of the business function. Through recruitment and selection, learning and development and performance management they actively support the organisations strategy.
One of the most important roles is recruiting the right people. This involves setting up assessment centres, reviewing CV’s and advertising for the positions. This requires HR to support the divisional managers and understand the needs of each team. They also need to fully understand the divisional functions to make sure the people who come for interview will be suitable. This process also includes generating interview questions and tests, being able to be part of the selection process and giving feedback for the unsuccessful applicants.
Learning and development is also imperative to maintain a success organisation. As the business is subject to many changing factors it is vital we train and develop our employees. This is more than for regulation purposes; it keeps our staff motivated and inspires them to develop their abilities within the industry. The way HR support this strategy is by running inductions programmes for new starters. This introduces them to the company in a controlled environment which covers important factors like our culture and values.
Specific training and workshops are also offered which can tailor the knowledge of our employees in different areas of the business. This could be a course on how to manage a difficult customer for our complaints department to managing your own workload for our claims team. Balance scorecards or appraisals are another way training needs and coaching is logged, this is something each employee has and is monitored by the HR department.
The balance scorecard is also used as part of the Performance Management procedures to support the organisation. It’s an effective tool to set, measure and evaluate an employee’s performance. It is also a good exercise to maintain relationships, impact positively on staff morale and in turn retain our employees. This can optimise performance and keep in line with business objectives.
The Human resources team also play a key role in supporting line managers. This could involve: supporting with conduct and capability procedures, advice and guidance on precedents set, information on how to complete investigatory meetings/issue warnings, a discussions around absence procedures/long term absence, occupational health, support on writing performance improvement plans and producing help guides for line managers on how to deal with these issues.
Career coaching is a support function for all line managers. It provides the opportunity to have an independent discussion with a member of Human Resources, to talk through what options they might have, given their skills, knowledge and behaviours. The sessions run on a 50/50 basis, with colleagues completing pre-work and being open to discussing their previous career experiences and future options, from reviewing their current role structure through to looking at a career path in a new area. The sessions are confidential to the colleague and the member of HR involved, unless the colleague wishes it to be otherwise. This will enable the colleague to have candid discussions about their skills, knowledge and behaviours so that we can truly provide the best level of support.
Conflict Management is another area of support for line managers as this can be a daily part of business and can become a problem if not handled effectively. The ability to identify and address tensions is the best way to reduce conflicts within a team. The HR team is able to support this by setting clear behaviours and expectations at the commencement of employment, though monthly appraisal which the line managers conduct and our culture. HR are also able to act as mediators and offer coaching on conflict management to equip managers with positives skill for this scenario.
Health and Safety is another area where HR offer direct support to line managers. This is important as the entire organisation needs to comply with Health and Safety Law. The HR department provide training to staff to make them aware of company policies this can also include giving advice about absence and occupational health concerns.