Zego, a commercial motor insurance provider founded in 2016, operates across the UK, Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands and currently has 536 employees.
The business offers its staff a range of different health-related leave options, such as a sickness absence initiative that incorporates pregnancy sickness or loss; a sabbatical policy; and time off for transgender and non-binary employees for gender transitioning matters and counselling. It has also adapted an existing initiative to allow staff to take up to three months away from work in recognition of the circumstances that they have worked in during the pandemic.
Kingsley Macey, chief people officer at Zego, explains that the team decided to implement these policies in November 2021 as they believe the wellbeing of employees is of paramount importance.
“Offering a broad range of workplace policies allows us to express our gratitude for the professionalism which staff have consistently applied to their work during challenging circumstances over the last two years,” he says. “We have always listened to any concerns or feedback that our employees may have, and have responded by creating policies to capture gaps which existed in our previous welfare provisions.”
The primary means of sharing these changes to workers was through the organisation’s intranet, while informal and individual communications usually take place through Slack channels, which connect different teams and team members with their personal managers.
Macey says that since the roll-out of the policies, senior leaders have conducted many discussions with individual teams that have expressed a clearer understanding of what is being offered, with employees now clearer on any processes that might need to be adhered to in order to reap the full benefits available.
“We’ve made a conscious effort to ensure that our teams are given full ownership of decisions relating to their personal lives,” he adds. “As part of this, we have made clear that any use of these policies will remain subject to our unwavering commitment to employee confidentiality. These policies help reinforce the inclusive environment that we’ve worked so hard to create at Zego, one which promotes equality and diversity as core pillars of the company.”