Briefing: Office vs remote working – does in person working really foster innovation?

When Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy announced that all employees had to return to the office five days a week from the beginning of 2025, my first thought was whether this would affect insurtech’s working practices.

While insurtechs have been championing the remote and hybrid working cause for a long time – with many having implemented flexible working patterns before the Covid-19 pandemic, when the rest of the market caught up – I wondered whether a giant tech company like Amazon would have any influence on changing working models for smaller tech firms.

In my experience, many insurtech bosses have developed a view that in-office time is an opportunity to collaborate, while working from home presents an opportunity to engage in deep work,

This debate has become especially pertinent after the Labour government last week (10 October 2024) unveiled that flexible working is to become the default for all employees under a flagship workers’ rights package.

I recently caught up with Andre Symes, group chief executive at Genasys, who told me that he thought innovation was always better in person.

Genasys was one of the first insurtechs to deploy a hybrid working strategy – comprising two days in the office and three days per week working from anywhere – back in 2022, on the proviso that objectives were met.

At the time Symes, noted: “Genasys will never be a fully work from the office business ever again.”

He also previously ran a thought experiment on LinkedIn, asking whether people would prefer to work a four day week in the office or three office days under a hybrid model. Many respondents favoured the opportunity for remote work, due to factors like being able to enjoy more family time.

‘Interesting paradox’

While Symes said he absolutely believes in the benefits of in person collaboration, he also emphasised that this must be balanced with deep work.

He said: “With time spent working from home, productivity goes up, but the level of innovation drops. If you are trying to invent new things or come up with ideas, you must put people together.

“It’s an interesting paradox – you want people to have flexibility, but you also don’t want to lose your edge – competitive advantage is being innovative.”

Genasys operates a Monday and Friday in office model, with the three days inbetween spent at home. Many insurtechs also do the same thing.

For example, Hyperexponential (Hx) operates the same schedule, starting and ending the week in office so that staff can collaboration. 

Hx co-founder and chief executive Amrit Santhirasenan found that, after the birth of his first born, there was little to no information for new fathers working in c-suite positions and he struggled to juggle both corporate and familial responsibilities. 

He explained: “I was working 90 hours a week before my daughter was born – it was absolutely brutal. When she was born, I thought ’I must learn how to be a parent’, so I looked on YouTube for podcasts, there were very few. Five years on, there’s a tonne of literature.”

Santhirasenan launched the Startup Dads podcast in January 2021 to discuss the challenges of entrepreneurship and parenting, on which he praises the benefits of flexibility.

Likewise, Symes spoke on The Risky Mix podcast in 2022 with his wife Nikita, head of operations at software firm Carebit, about sharing childcare

He added: “I know what being a parent is like, how much work it is looking after a toddler when you are at home with them on a work day.”

While ensuring that work tasks are completed is vital, flexible working arrangements can make other important domestic responsibilities – such as childcare – that little bit easier

Flexibility equals innovation

For that reason, and others besides, I welcome Labour’s flexible working policy.

Firstly, it benefits those with caring responsibilities and opens up a bigger talent pool for recruiters, which could help tackle underrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities in c-suite roles.   

Vermelo’s UK Insurance working policy report 2024, which surveyed 116 UK insurance professionals in association with Insurance Times, found that companies which expected staff to attend the office for three days or more were having a potentially detrimental impact on productivity.

The report found that 40% of surveyed professionals believed that there would be a decrease in employee wellbeing if staff were asked to attend the office for three days or more. 

Innovation is all about bringing new ideas into practice, so it is important for the industry to continually review its working models. However, it must balance this by also thinking practically, 

As technology continues to raise the bar for what consumers expect, it is important for firms to have the space to be innovative – both in person and virtually. After all, flexibility is a catalyst for innovation.

Those companies without flexible working practices run the risk being of left behind.