Georgina Roberts has been appointed as Head of HR at Hiscox London Market. Georgina tells HGI what she’s done up to now and how the talent spotting initiatives she’s responsible for within the Group are bearing fruit.
How long have you worked at Hiscox?
I’ve been here for six years.
What did you do before?
I moved here from across the road from the Gherkin, where I used to be an HR Business Partner at Swiss Re.
What did your previous job at Hiscox entail?
Providing HR support to Claims, Finance and our Guernsey office. I am also responsible for talent planning across the Group.
What is your number one priority in your new role?
Hiring people to join London Market, plus technical product training and underwriter development (our U1 programmes) – sorry, that’s two or three priorities!
What attributes do you look for in a potential Hiscox employee?
Courage and drive, someone who knows their stuff and has a good brain.
Describe an ideal Hiscox employee in three words.
Smart, challenging and professional.
How do you track talent through the organisation?
We have succession plans for key roles at Hiscox and track the progress of employees using these. Twice a year, HR holds discussions with managers about their teams, looking at people’s readiness for a new or broader role and reviewing their performance. We have a much better awareness of people’s strengths, weaknesses and career aspirations as a result of talent planning. Mid and senior level vacancies are filled using internal talent where possible while we hire people from outside for the more junior roles.
What results has talent planning got within the company?
When I joined Hiscox in 2007, only 15% of senior roles were filled from within. This figure is now over 40%. There have been six internal appointments to the business unit management teams in the past six months.
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