Diary of an Insurer: MS Amlin’s Gemma Lines

Monday

Monday starts with a 5.30am wake-up call. I’m making an effort to swim twice a week because I am woefully unfit, so after ensuring my 11-year-old daughter is up for school – my 16-year-old son, fresh from his GSCEs, is still asleep. I’m out the door by 6am.   

After my swim, I head to the City to meet a senior woman we would love to hire.  Like many female executives, she’s caught in a flexibility trap.  

It can be incredibly hard to persuade senior women to move when they fear losing the work-life balance they’ve built up. To address this, we’ve adopted a bespoke hiring process and I’ve really got my fingers crossed for this hire – she would be brilliant at MS Amlin.

In the office, we gather for the Monday HR business partner meeting. 

We aspire to be the best HR team in the London market, and pride ourselves on being very commercial so we always start by looking at the numbers: Where are we against plan? What do we need to do to support the performance of the business?  The HR team here are genuinely a joy to work with.

After a series of meetings with colleagues in underwriting, claims and risk, I wrap up the day with a mentoring session. I’ve got two mentees, including one at a competitor firm, highlighting the collaborative nature of the London market – something I love about working in insurance.

Tuesday

Our CEO, Andrew Carrier, holds his executive committee meeting every Tuesday. I’m fortunate to work with an incredibly strong and focused leadership team, that has evolved over the years with some of my peers moving to lead businesses in other parts of the group.

Next, the recruitment team and I meet with a potential new search firm pitching for business. We outline our hiring philosophy, and the importance of working with search partners who don’t just reach for their little black book when hiring, but who provide creative and diverse longlists for senior roles. This way you get a true picture of the talent out there.

Lunchtime is spent with colleagues looking at our corporate strategy for the next three to five years while the afternoon brings a sustainability committee meeting, the highlight of which was a broker presentation on renewable energy.

I make sure to leave on time for my godchild’s fifth birthday party, where I eat a lot of florescent cake and do a lot of colouring in, with a large glass of rosé.

Wednesday

I drop off my daughter early – she’s in her final year of primary school – for her last-ever school trip to Joss Bay, then head into the City.  

I always use my commute to catch up on overnight emails but I can’t resist a number of word puzzles too, which I find relaxing – New York Times Connections is my current favourite. I am really just a big nerd.

First on the agenda is an excellent conversation with the London Market Association. Being relatively new to insurance I learn so much from those sessions. This is followed by my one-to-one with our CEO, where we run through our laundry lists of ongoing things we need to deliver. 

We also get the chance to discuss my upcoming trip to head office in Tokyo for our annual global HR conference, which will be focused on global mobility. An intriguing meeting about supplementary artificial intelligence follows: we’re thinking about a series of lunch and learns on Innovation so this was good food for thought.

The day ends with a business critical appointment at the hairdresser, as I’m starting to look like a badger. I’m in the seat at 6pm, and not out until 8.30pm, during which time I catch up on emails and admin, and put the world to rights with my hairdresser who, as always, has a great perspective on different generations working together (not always smoothly). 

Thursday

Another early morning swim, then a meeting with our Japanese shareholder (MS&AD) about global talent rotation to prepare for the upcoming conference. 

Next, with our head of talent and learning, I meet with a company that uses an innovative virtual reality solution for personalised mental health journeys – it’s a slightly unconventional, but potentially game-changing benefit to fuel performance, which we’re curious about.

I then have my HR leadership team meeting and a progress catch up with a consulting firm, who are helping us with a culture programme for our senior leaders around supporting high performance.

After work the MS Amlin HR leadership team and an HR director from our sister entity MSIG UK head out for some summer drinks – we had a brilliant time in the sunshine.

Friday

Friday is a mix of emotions as it’s my daughter’s last day at primary school before she starts “big school” in September. 

We have breakfast together – as we do every single Friday – before I head home – like most of us I tend to work remotely on Fridays these days.  No sign of my sleepy teenager yet.

It’s a busy series of meetings right through to 4pm. I update the chairman on some ongoing projects; share career advice with a former colleague over coffee, and catch up with some of my team one-on-one, including my wonderful assistant without whom I would be lost. 

With one of our business partners and senior leaders in underwriting, I think through how we want to run some upcoming team sessions.  

It’s one of the capabilities that sets our HR team apart I think – we have skilled facilitators and coaches who can partner with the business, helping teams to perform better and work together more effectively.  It’s a productive session – and a great way to wrap up the working week.