People – Wellbeing and Education
APR is a people business. Attracting and retaining high quality people is a fundamental for us to deliver great value to our clients, so we invest a lot in our people – present and future.
It is an underlying philosophy of our business, manifested in our We Excel, We Nurture and We Care values, that we recruit talented people based on their potential to succeed, and then support them throughout their APR careers in making the most of this potential. This takes the form of both skills and professional development, and also providing career development opportunities, which benefits our staff, our clients and APR. Indeed the ever-evolving nature of the markets we serve and the rapid pace of change means it is vital for APR that our people keep developing their skills.
Professional development plays a large role, and staff are supported to achieve a professional qualification, with time to study, funding for materials and memberships fees paid. Some insights into our students’ outstanding performance in the most recent set of actuarial exams can be found at:
After initial progress through their professional qualifications each staff member has an allocated training budget and can determine how to spend it annually. We are implementing a process to track the amount and type of training our people undertake so that we can relate training activity to staff engagement and job satisfaction, to achieve the right balance for everyone. These articles illustrate our approach to training, both for our new recruits and to promote ongoing staff development:
Working closely with our clients to get and give good feedback to our people is a key factor in looking after their wellbeing. We have invested in our management team and a SAAS platform to improve interaction, enable frequent check-ins and promote recognition.
The increasing trend towards more flexible working has brought benefits to many staff, but we recognise it also introduces a risk of excessive or unhealthy working hours for some. We measure and assess working hours and intervene where such risks are identified.
Our wellbeing monitoring is backed by our trained mental health first aiders and a proactive health & wellbeing communications plan.
This continues to evolve as our Health & Wellbeing Team get feedback on what is valued, and is supported by providing mental health training to managers.
To encourage greater diversity in the actuarial profession, and access a wider pool of talent, APR were strong supporters of the Certified Actuarial Analyst qualification aimed mainly at school-leavers. Unfortunately this qualification has recently been discontinued, but we remain convinced that recruiting and supporting staff at this level will provide great benefit to APR and the profession. More information about our thoughts and intentions in this area are at:
The End of the CAA Qualification – What does the future hold?
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