First Central named Best Insurance Employer at the British Insurance Awards
First Central, the insurance and data driven technology group behind the 1st Central brand, last night collected the Best Insurance Employer award at the 30th British Insurance Awards, held at the Royal Albert Hall.
The award recognises First Central’s commitment to growing a culture of individual growth and team development, across its four sites in Haywards Heath, Salford, Gibraltar and Guernsey and for its population of remote colleagues, which has been key to First Central’s business success.
The business is committed to the diversity of employees, with a particular focus on working towards ensuring senior leaders are representative of employee backgrounds. First Central operates a ‘Women in Leadership’ network, which focusses on attracting, retaining, and developing female leaders. Since 2023, the number of women in senior leadership positions has increased by 15%.
First Central also invests heavily in offering its employees learning and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring courses and sessions to discover and nurture aspiring leaders. The business also runs regular skills workshops to help employees ‘level up’ their soft skills.
First Central’s commitment to employee experience is recognised by colleagues: the business has one of the highest Glassdoor scores in the industry at 4.4 out of 5 and was ranked 22nd in Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list in 2024. The businesses latest employee Peakon scores – a tool for measuring employee satisfaction - puts First Central it in the top 10% of companies in financial services and the top 5% for employee health and wellbeing.
Jo McGowan, Chief People Officer, said: “At First Central, we are firm believers that positive culture drives an excellent customer experience. We have seen the benefits of high colleague engagement, through our ability to attract and retain top talent, and, most notably, the effort and passion of our colleagues to deliver and exceed our business goals.”
“We are dedicated to learning and development not just on building training programs, but through a culture of supporting people to grow their careers in a way that works for them. Our company isn't just about providing insurance, it's about investing in the growth and development of our people, because we know it’s our people that drive our success.”
Michael Lee, Group CEO, added: “We’re proud of our collaborative culture. It is key to our business success, and just as importantly means that the experience for our colleagues is a positive, fulfilling and supportive one. Our growth is founded on a combination of our people-first ethos and our industry-leading use of data to drive excellent customer and business outcomes.