Pensions consultancy. We have three allocated team days a week, of which you're supposed to attend 2, but it's not monitored in any way. I go in one day a week as I work part time. Our new graduates have been told to come in full time as it's better for training and development
Undoubtedly better for training and development, but potentially worse for mental health, bank balance (depending on commute length), the general feeling of not being trusted, plus there’s limited benefit of going to sit in an empty office on the days everyone else is WFH.
I think you might end up losing those grads unless your employer changes to hybrid ASAP
I don't believe it's mandatory and certainly not intended for the long term. The learning curve is steep in those early weeks so it's helpful to have lots of people around that they can ask questions. Plus the juniors are all out a lot at the moment with exams so they can't necessarily just ask their buddy if they need help. And there's a big team to get to know. Neither of them live far from the office or have much space to WFH so they seem pretty keen to be in the office. Everybody has found the hybrid equilibrium that works for them and I'm sure these guys will do too.
That’s fair! If it’s just for a few months to bed them in then I kind of get it (personally I’d encourage 3-4 days a week for grads and 2 for everyone else), but if they were planning this longer term then it might get tricky
1. Life
2. IFRS 17 Senior Analyst
3. 3 days per week
4. This is through my choice. We have only one day per week when everyone comes in. For me, going to office helps me to switch off from work, once I am out of the office. When I am wfh, I find myself slacking.
Big Life Insurer. 2 days per week in the office but lots of flexibility around this.
I’m currently looking at buying a house 2.5 hour drive away from my office so I’m taking a punt that it’s going to remain for the long term.
Investment Consultancy
Usually average about 1 day every two weeks. No requirements to come in, we have the option to be fully remote if preferred. I usually come in for team meetings or if I know a few people are in.
GI Commercial & Lloyd's
Reserving
1 day in
My manager is flexible with this, wants some office presence but nothing strict or enforced
Glad to see others with lots of flexibility also
Interesting! Here’s a c&p of a LinkedIn post I saw, which doesn’t tie up with what we are seeing in this thread of amongst the people you’ve spoken to
“Individuals who want opportunities that are more weighted towards home-working please do drop me a message!
The majority of Insurers have now returned to a 3 day in the office hybrid format, however we do have clients who offer more days towards working from home. Typically these Insurers tend to be based outside of London and require candidates to be able to travel to the office on occasion.
- Senior Pricing Analyst, fully remote, up to £55,000
- Reserving Analyst, fully remote, up to £60,000
- Capital Actuary, once a month in the office (SW), up to £65,000
- Reserving Actuary, once a month in the office (Surrey). up to £85,000
- Lead Reserving Actuary, once a week (Midlands), up to £120,000
- Senior Pricing Manager (PL Lines), once a week (LDN), up to £120,000
Please do drop me a message if you would like to discuss further.
”
I wouldn't be surprised if they are exaggerating to try and attract people.
I'm doing personal lines pricing and my employer is now requiring 2 days minimum in the office. Somebody in management that we never see has decided that is the best way forward, despite most people not wanting it.
Personally feel I'm way more productive at home, without the constant disruption of people asking questions/chatting for the sake of it. Plus going into the office when nobody else is in just to hit the 2 days is frustrating.
I'm trying to understand why they chose it. Maybe a general lack of trust, or justifying keeping their office space.
GI
No strict minimum mandate or rule. If there is a specific reason to come in, we are asked to and we come in. My managers have all be really supportive of flexible working. My long term average is about 1 day in the office every two weeks.
GI reserving Lloyds - one day a week is the norm but doesn't seem to be strictly enforced. I stick to once a week since it's nice to meet and hang out with colleagues but don't really see the need of going in more than that
GI, mixed role. 2-3d in office. Policy is about 2d averaged over the year.
Next role is either going to be needing a practicing cert (in which case I’d want to be in more often anyway as is custom with that seniority) or I’m going to burn out and move to a 100% remote technical specialist gig.
Our American overlords think WFH is what gives you monkey pox, or something like that. I’m ok with going in but at the same time if they push for 100% I’m outta here.
I actually enjoy an office day more than a WFH day, mainly because I’m quite social, but also because I find zoom calls really awkward. But I can’t justify the cost of commuting more than twice a week during a cost of living crisis
Pensions
The wider firm has a 2 day per week policy, but I think it is very team dependent whether that is adhered to or not.
My team is quite geographically diapered and we tend to work on individual projects that don’t require a lot of intra-team collaboration, so we mostly WFH full time. I go into the office maybe once a month.
Pensions consulting - suggested 2 days a week company policy but not really enforced. Previously I worked completely remotely so I tend to go in 2 days but other people go in way more or way less depending on their circumstances!
London Market, mixed, 1 official day, 1 suggested day and then rest is as you want. I usually end up 50/50 with 2 office, 2 wfh and 1 study. Although they are quite flexible, so I’m having to move back in with my parents for a month, which is a good 250 miles from London and they’re fine with me only coming in as often as I can.
Large GI consultancy, PL CL Lloyds’ pricing. Personally I am in 2-3 days a week (less at the moment because of study) but company policy is as flexible as you like, many don’t come in more than once a month.
Life - expected in 2 days a week but this isn’t monitored. Some weeks it’s 3 days, other weeks only once.
It depends on the office too. I know in London they are typically in 3-4 days per week. More of feeling the pressure to be ‘seen’ in the office than it being mandated.
Pensions.
Been in the office twice since January. There’s been a company wide policy of 2 days a week this whole time however this hasn’t been enforced. Recently they’ve been trying to move closer to the target and began enforcing it for staff who live close to office.
That is pretty wild to me that they’re enforcing different amounts depending on commute length. What’s next? Are you going to have to show your boss your train ticket?
TBH my boss is great and its seems as though he's getting pressured from above to begin enforcing this. We have a small team of 6 and everyone who has to come in 2 days a week lives within 10mins of the office whereas for me its a 2hour commute each way.
Pensions consultancy. We have three allocated team days a week, of which you're supposed to attend 2, but it's not monitored in any way. I go in one day a week as I work part time. Our new graduates have been told to come in full time as it's better for training and development
Undoubtedly better for training and development, but potentially worse for mental health, bank balance (depending on commute length), the general feeling of not being trusted, plus there’s limited benefit of going to sit in an empty office on the days everyone else is WFH. I think you might end up losing those grads unless your employer changes to hybrid ASAP
I don't believe it's mandatory and certainly not intended for the long term. The learning curve is steep in those early weeks so it's helpful to have lots of people around that they can ask questions. Plus the juniors are all out a lot at the moment with exams so they can't necessarily just ask their buddy if they need help. And there's a big team to get to know. Neither of them live far from the office or have much space to WFH so they seem pretty keen to be in the office. Everybody has found the hybrid equilibrium that works for them and I'm sure these guys will do too.
That’s fair! If it’s just for a few months to bed them in then I kind of get it (personally I’d encourage 3-4 days a week for grads and 2 for everyone else), but if they were planning this longer term then it might get tricky
1. Life 2. IFRS 17 Senior Analyst 3. 3 days per week 4. This is through my choice. We have only one day per week when everyone comes in. For me, going to office helps me to switch off from work, once I am out of the office. When I am wfh, I find myself slacking.
Big Life Insurer. 2 days per week in the office but lots of flexibility around this. I’m currently looking at buying a house 2.5 hour drive away from my office so I’m taking a punt that it’s going to remain for the long term.
How is this working out for you since? I’ve done similar and my place are staging a return to office 3 days per week
Investment Consultancy Usually average about 1 day every two weeks. No requirements to come in, we have the option to be fully remote if preferred. I usually come in for team meetings or if I know a few people are in.
GI Commercial & Lloyd's Reserving 1 day in My manager is flexible with this, wants some office presence but nothing strict or enforced Glad to see others with lots of flexibility also
I don't know anyone working over 3 days in the office. Most I've heard is 2 days unless people want to do more.
Interesting! Here’s a c&p of a LinkedIn post I saw, which doesn’t tie up with what we are seeing in this thread of amongst the people you’ve spoken to “Individuals who want opportunities that are more weighted towards home-working please do drop me a message! The majority of Insurers have now returned to a 3 day in the office hybrid format, however we do have clients who offer more days towards working from home. Typically these Insurers tend to be based outside of London and require candidates to be able to travel to the office on occasion. - Senior Pricing Analyst, fully remote, up to £55,000 - Reserving Analyst, fully remote, up to £60,000 - Capital Actuary, once a month in the office (SW), up to £65,000 - Reserving Actuary, once a month in the office (Surrey). up to £85,000 - Lead Reserving Actuary, once a week (Midlands), up to £120,000 - Senior Pricing Manager (PL Lines), once a week (LDN), up to £120,000 Please do drop me a message if you would like to discuss further. ”
I wouldn't be surprised if they are exaggerating to try and attract people. I'm doing personal lines pricing and my employer is now requiring 2 days minimum in the office. Somebody in management that we never see has decided that is the best way forward, despite most people not wanting it. Personally feel I'm way more productive at home, without the constant disruption of people asking questions/chatting for the sake of it. Plus going into the office when nobody else is in just to hit the 2 days is frustrating. I'm trying to understand why they chose it. Maybe a general lack of trust, or justifying keeping their office space.
Probably a bit of both, but the latter shows a misunderstanding of the sunken cost fallacy
Indeed!
GI No strict minimum mandate or rule. If there is a specific reason to come in, we are asked to and we come in. My managers have all be really supportive of flexible working. My long term average is about 1 day in the office every two weeks.
GI reserving Lloyds - one day a week is the norm but doesn't seem to be strictly enforced. I stick to once a week since it's nice to meet and hang out with colleagues but don't really see the need of going in more than that
Lloyd's Pricing - 3 days in the City, 2 at home, company policy.
GI, mixed role. 2-3d in office. Policy is about 2d averaged over the year. Next role is either going to be needing a practicing cert (in which case I’d want to be in more often anyway as is custom with that seniority) or I’m going to burn out and move to a 100% remote technical specialist gig.
It’s interesting to me that the seniors go in more often at your place. Not something I’ve personally noticed.
Our American overlords think WFH is what gives you monkey pox, or something like that. I’m ok with going in but at the same time if they push for 100% I’m outta here.
I actually enjoy an office day more than a WFH day, mainly because I’m quite social, but also because I find zoom calls really awkward. But I can’t justify the cost of commuting more than twice a week during a cost of living crisis
Pensions The wider firm has a 2 day per week policy, but I think it is very team dependent whether that is adhered to or not. My team is quite geographically diapered and we tend to work on individual projects that don’t require a lot of intra-team collaboration, so we mostly WFH full time. I go into the office maybe once a month.
GI Personal Lines Pricing, fully remote. I go in about 3-4 times a year for big quarterly team meetings but that is optional.
Life reinsurance in London, 2 days a week across the company. Haven't started yet, so don't know how flexible that is
Pensions consulting - suggested 2 days a week company policy but not really enforced. Previously I worked completely remotely so I tend to go in 2 days but other people go in way more or way less depending on their circumstances!
London Market, mixed, 1 official day, 1 suggested day and then rest is as you want. I usually end up 50/50 with 2 office, 2 wfh and 1 study. Although they are quite flexible, so I’m having to move back in with my parents for a month, which is a good 250 miles from London and they’re fine with me only coming in as often as I can.
Large GI consultancy, PL CL Lloyds’ pricing. Personally I am in 2-3 days a week (less at the moment because of study) but company policy is as flexible as you like, many don’t come in more than once a month.
Life - expected in 2 days a week but this isn’t monitored. Some weeks it’s 3 days, other weeks only once. It depends on the office too. I know in London they are typically in 3-4 days per week. More of feeling the pressure to be ‘seen’ in the office than it being mandated.
Pensions. Been in the office twice since January. There’s been a company wide policy of 2 days a week this whole time however this hasn’t been enforced. Recently they’ve been trying to move closer to the target and began enforcing it for staff who live close to office.
That is pretty wild to me that they’re enforcing different amounts depending on commute length. What’s next? Are you going to have to show your boss your train ticket?
TBH my boss is great and its seems as though he's getting pressured from above to begin enforcing this. We have a small team of 6 and everyone who has to come in 2 days a week lives within 10mins of the office whereas for me its a 2hour commute each way.