People Management in a Post-Pandemic Environment
By Peter Sohl
The Stepping Stone, November 2021
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly two years ago, many actuarial employers have transitioned to a fully remote work environment. As we approach the end of 2021, many of those businesses have started to return to traditional offices with an understanding that the new normal for the industry will be some form of hybrid work environment. To better understand the managerial lessons learned during the pandemic and how they can be applied to people management going forward, the following interview was conducted with Rebecca Scotchie.
Rebecca Scotchie, FSA, MAAA,
is a principal and the Atlanta
office leader for the Actuarial
Practice of Oliver Wyman.
Rebecca has served as a principal and the Atlanta office leader for the Actuarial Practice of Oliver Wyman since August 2018. She has over 25 years of experience at both direct carriers and consulting firms and has 20 years of experience managing actuarial staff. She is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA).
Peter Sohl (PS): What is your background in people management? When did you start to manage actuarial staff and what are some of the lessons you’ve learned while doing so?
Rebecca Scotchie (RS): I started being a manager around the time I finished my actuarial exams. I worked at a consulting firm at the time, and all I knew about managing people was what I had observed in my own managers. There was very little in the way of explicit training; it was definitely a learn-by-example experience where I attempted to adopt the qualities I liked about those who had managed me.
After moving to an insurance company, my management style evolved, particularly as a result of two pivotal moments in my career. The first came following the resignation of my company’s CRO, when for the first time I found myself managing people with more experience than me. This really forced me to broaden my management style. Around that same time, my company implemented a coaching and mentoring course, which helped removed a lot of the “mystery” around people management. It made me much more comfortable managing people both upward and downward.
Throughout all this, I found myself developing a greater sense of empathy and understanding toward my direct reports. I realized the importance of recognizing people as individuals with their own strengths and weaknesses, and how effective management comes down to the ability to capitalize on those unique strengths.
PS: What are some skills that you personally believe make for an effective manager?
RS: I think it’s key to be able to empathize with your direct reports and to recognize them as individuals with unique skill sets and limitations. Understanding what energizes an individual as well as their personal limitations makes it much easier to capitalize on their strengths while respecting their boundaries.
In my opinion, a good people manager is almost like a chameleon. Rather than expecting those who report to me to adjust themselves to my way of doing things, I find it more effective when I’m able to adjust my approach to meet their needs. Every person has an instinctive threat response, that, when triggered, may lead them to shut down and no longer be willing to have an open dialogue. I think a good manager is aware of the behaviors that evoke that threat response and can modify their approach in order to avoid them.
PS: It’s been about 18 months now since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and many offices are transitioning to a fully remote work environment. What are some of the biggest changes you’ve noticed as a people manager during this time?
RS: The first thing that comes to mind is the difference between communicating with someone in person and via videoconferencing. Toward the beginning of the pandemic, shortly after our office went fully remote, there was an initial sense of discomfort when speaking to someone using a camera and microphone that I had to learn to overcome.
I think people management has also become much more scheduled during the pandemic. In a remote work environment, people can’t just “pop in” to have a quick discussion with their manager. Instead those conversations tend to be planned and scheduled in advance. I can remember times before COVID where I’d have the opportunity to get to know my direct reports on a more personal level while waiting for a flight or driving to visit a client. Since going remote, the opportunities for those impromptu conversations have been few and far between.
Now, obviously we have the tools to try and supplement that, like instant messaging or video calls, but I think there’s a persisting sense of, for lack of a better word, awkwardness that comes along with those mediums that managers need to make an effort to cut through. It’s my responsibility to ensure that the quality of the conversation I’m able to have with my staff over Zoom is close to the quality of the conversation I could have with them in person, and that they feel as comfortable speaking openly with me over the computer as they might in my office.
PS: Putting aside the interpersonal challenges that have been presented by a remote work environment, how do you feel about managing the productivity of your staff during the pandemic? Before COVID-19, I think many people would have said a certain stigma existed, that working remotely would inherently harm productivity. Do you feel that’s been dispelled at all?
RS: Absolutely. Before the pandemic, I agree there was a stigma around working from home. But here, 18 months in, I think a good chunk of that has been dispelled as it relates to productivity.
However, with that said, I’m not yet convinced that a fully remote work environment is sustainable.
PS: Is that because of the interpersonal challenges we’ve discussed?
RS: More than that, I think it’s because of the proximity that the pandemic has created between our work and our personal lives at home. It’s easy to forget about the impact that has on people.
I think a big part of the reason why our productivity has actually increased during the pandemic is because work is always right there and it’s that much harder to “turn off.” It’s ever-present if we let it be.
Now obviously there are plenty of benefits to a remote work environment. Having no commute, being able to work in a setting of your choosing, and having the ability to handle simple chores at home while you’re working are all positives. And there are many more.
But the thing that worries me the most is the normalization of the proximity of work to personal life. There’s something about turning your computer off, leaving your office and driving home that creates a natural boundary, helping the average person disconnect from work and do something else that makes them happy.
Compare that to working remotely, where work is always just a room away or sometimes even in the same room. Many people find it harder to disconnect in the way they did when leaving the office.
PS: That’s an interesting perspective. I’ve always considered the ability to “disconnect” from work to be more a function of someone’s personality than their work environment. But obviously your experiences during the pandemic make you feel otherwise?
RS: They have. My sample size isn’t huge, but I’ve spoken to enough people who have expressed that disconnecting is a challenge they either have had to work through or that they are still working through.
I think the average person may struggle to set that boundary, be it with their people manager or their project managers, to clearly delineate between their time spent working and their personal time, especially when work is always so close by. A lot of people may not even recognize that they have the option to do so.
PS: As a people manager, then, what do you think are effective ways to help your staff recognize the boundaries they need to set between their work and personal lives?
RS: One thing that I’ve encouraged my direct reports to do is identify their “non-negotiables,” the events they are not willing to let work interfere with. For me, my children are a perfect example. They had a cross-country race recently. The world wouldn’t have ended if I didn’t attend, but it was so important to me to be there, watch them run and cheer them on that I made it clear I wouldn’t allow work to prevent me from doing so. That’s a non-negotiable for me.
I’ve encouraged my staff to recognize that a non-negotiable like children is no more or less justified than any other. For some staff, it’s being able to watch their favorite sports team play, and for others, it’s being able to have company visit without interruption. It doesn’t matter what it is, because every person is going to have different priorities.
I think the remote work environment during the pandemic has allowed many people to lose sight of the importance of identifying your work/life boundaries and then sticking to them.
PS: It seems inevitable that our “new normal” as an industry will be a hybrid work environment where people have the flexibility to work in-office or remotely as the situation demands. Given the concerns you’ve highlighted with remote work, do you worry about what a hybrid environment would look like? Do you think the only solution to some of your concerns is to have people return to the office?
RS: I do worry about what a hybrid environment will be like and I look forward to the day when people can get back together. But I do not think the only solution is to have people return to the office.
If anything, I think the last 18 months have highlighted areas where we as a profession could improve in helping our staff balance work and their personal life.
PS: What are those areas for improvement? More broadly, what would you say we’ve learned about people management in the actuarial profession over the last 18 months? And how can we use what we’ve learned to preemptively avoid the potential challenges of a hybrid work environment?
RS: People management has always been important, and with a hybrid environment I believe managers will need to work harder to keep a finger on the pulse of their staff. And companies will need to be more aware of the culture they are projecting to their people.
When we remove the natural boundary created by packing up and leaving the office for the night, managers will need to proactively empower their direct reports to create that delineation in other ways. Whether you work in consulting or with an insurer, I think the demands of the actuarial profession are such that this delineation becomes essential.
At the same time, individuals must be responsible for identifying “non-negotiables” and then managing expectations. Say an individual buys tickets to a baseball game. After doing so, they should let their manager know that they’ll be unavailable during that time, maybe even by putting a reminder on their calendar. As the game approaches, remind managers again. By managing expectations for availability during that time, it becomes easier for the individual to assert their boundaries and ensure they can attend the game.
I feel strongly that working from home with greater frequency creates a work/home life blending that then makes it difficult for people to disconnect from work. Both companies and managers need to be mindful of the impact this has on their people. Staff should also be encouraged to see the value in understanding their personal limitations and in communicating them to their managers. They should be encouraged and empowered to develop a skill set to manage expectations and boundaries.
Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the newsletter editors, or the respective authors’ employers.
Peter Sohl, ASA, MAAA, is a consultant with the Actuarial Practice of Oliver Wyman and is based in Atlanta, GA. He can be contacted at peter.sohl@oliverwyman.com. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterksohl/