Climbing to success

For many of us, it’s just insurance – safe, predictable; dependable. But for David Hope, Regional HR Director, Aviva, the industry is so much more than that. Contrasting with some popular stereotypes, he says his organisation provides “prosperity and peace of mind” to its insurance customers, often during times of stress or crisis in their lives. “That’s a pretty engaging and compelling thing to be doing in life,” he tells HRM. And just as importantly, it makes for an engaging and compelling employment offer for the more than 12,000 Aviva staff across the Asia Pacific region that he oversees.

Based in Singapore, Hope has been in the regional director’s role for just over nine months. It’s the height of a 13-year career with the Aviva (formerly Commercial Union) Group – which has seen him take on a number of HR and strategic roles in both the group function and various business units. His previous role, as Group HR Strategy Director, was purely strategic but Hope says the regional job is a combination of both disciplines. “It has some strategic aspects but also a significant operational side to it as well.”

40% of the world

For Aviva, the Asia-Pacific region, overseen from Singapore, covers eight distinct and still emerging markets: Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea.

But of these, the most exciting are the billion-plus populations of China and India – representing some 40% of the world’s total population between them. In both countries insurance is a relatively new concept with plenty of room to grow in popularity among the rising middle classes. “These are rapidly growing markets, currently with nothing like the penetration of insurance and life insurance products that you’d see in a developed western economy,” Hope says. “They are really important markets that we want to have a significant presence in.”

Both giants remain home to the bulk of Aviva’s 12,000 staff in the region, but that’s not to say further expansion is unlikely. Hope says the group is constantly evaluating other markets and opportunities for signs of similar growth potential – economies such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam are under regular surveillance. “These are the types of things that we look at regularly – we have to ask ourselves do we want to go further and deeper?”

Finding true talent

But whether it’s China, India, Singapore or indeed, anywhere else in the world, getting the right number and quality of talents is always a challenge. “Over 50% of my time is spent on the talent agenda.” Hope says one challenge is finding those insurance-specific skill sets in markets where the industry is still developing. “Wherever you are in the world; getting the right talent is a challenge,” he notes. “But here in Asia, some of the insurance-specific skills that have been around in developed countries for a long time – actuarial skills for example – are less developed. It can be more challenging to find those types of industry-specific skills.”

While this would normally entail an importing solution – bringing those key skills in from more developed markets, Hope says that should only be a last resort strategy. “I’m a great believer that where you can, you should be looking to find your talent in the markets in which you operate,” he points out. “You want to have local people running your local markets – because they’re the people who will know it best.”

To this end, Hope concentrates looks to outside talents (from within the Aviva Group but outside the Asia region) primarily as knowledge-sharing tools. “From a group perspective, you’re always going to want knowledge transfer and some movement of senior people to give them experience.”

Another recruitment challenge for Hope and his team centres on the diverse nature of the Asia-Pacific region. “There are a number of things in common between India and China but also there are some huge differences,” Hope says. “There are different economic motivators, and you have to be prepared to put the effort in terms of finding people and moving quickly.” That has meant changing recruitment strategies to ensure offers can be made in the shortest possible time, ensuring good talents are picked up by rival organisations and industries.

“If you spot and meet good talent, you can’t afford to spend a month showing them around to a lot of people asking ‘what do you think?’,” Hope says. “Because they’ll have another three offers by that time.”

Development challenges

The talent agenda is not just about finding and “buying” new talent; organisations like Aviva also need to “build” skills from within their existing workforces. Hope says training and development programmes provide an important long-term solution to the shortage of insurance skills – particular those in actuarial and accounting disciplines – in this region. “You are looking to put people through structured learning so that they can get the recognised qualifications,” he says. “The organisation will support people through this sort of professional development.”

But beyond building the industry skill base in its key Asia markets, Hope says Aviva’s “holistic” view of development demands that all staff have access to learning opportunities no matter what level or function they are working in. The HR team adopts a “70-20-10” model, whereby the majority of an employee’s development takes place in real-life working situations.

“I put a lot more emphasis on what they are learning on the job and how well they are being managed and mentored and coached,” Hope says. “That’s where you get more impact long term.”

Feedback and rewards

On-the-job training places a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of line managers throughout the Aviva organisation. But the HR team still takes on overall charge of development issues. Hope says it therefore relies heavily on direct feedback from both individual staff members and their direct supervisors.

“You can never guarantee all line managers are doing everything you’d ideally want them to do,” he says. “But we do track that in a number of ways.” Probably the most informative and comprehensive tool for this is the annual Employee Climate survey.

This involves a range of carefully targeted questions – focusing on rewards, leadership, staff culture, development, teamwork and the actual job each employee is involved in. Hope says the survey has a history of direct and honest feedback. “Employees aren’t shy about telling what they’re experiencing,” he notes.

Those comments feed directly into the pay packets of the leadership group within Aviva. “Every senior manager has 10% of his bonus at risk depending on customer feedback and 10% based on employee feedback,” Hope says.

As well as the Employee Climate survey, Hope has instituted the concept of “Talking Talent” within the Asia-Pacific region. This calls on managers and their staff to have continual and regular communication about the employment relationship, ensuring there are no surprises when those official end-of-year feedback and appraisal interviews are conducted.

A culture of success

Hope says this is all part of the Aviva culture that is earning it strong support among both its current staff and potential recruits. It is based on four core values:

• Integrity: “For any insurance company, trust and ethics are of prime importance”;
• Performance: “We do want people in the organisation who will deliver”;
• Progressivity: “We are constantly searching for better ways of doing things and sharing concerns about what we are delivering to customers”; and
• Teamwork: “We put a lot of emphasis on the quality of interaction staff have with their teams.”

Each of these values works to create a culture that breeds further engagement and success, Hope says. And that culture, in turn, creates a compelling message for both customers and Aviva’s staff. “It reminds everyone that we are in the ‘prosperity and peace of mind’ business,” Hope says. “And that’s what I sell to people when they come to work for us”