Q&A with Allison Whittington, Head of Housing at Zurich Municipal
08/08/2022
What is your role and where do you work?
Allison Whittington, Head of Housing at Zurich Municipal.
Is there a particular aspect of your work that you are passionate about?
I love the way Zurich Municipal has got that real proximity to our customers and the markets we support with our insurance. I always talk about ZM having one foot in the public sector and the other foot in the private sector. It feels like a hybrid of the two because of how close we are to our customers.
Specific to my role, what I love is the latitude I have to get involved and truly make a difference. Within insurance, we’re in a privileged position that we see where things go wrong. Almost every other industry is involved where things go right, but the insurance industry deals with when buildings have fires and floods for example. It means we have great insight we can use to make things better for everyone.
How did you get into the insurance sector?
I finished university and had a PhD place lined up, studying astronomy at the University of Sussex. I got a summer job which turned into an offer of a permanent role. I found I liked working, so I turned down my PhD. At the time it didn’t feel like a big decision but now, looking back, it was a massive one.
I carried on with that company, a small fleet management company, for three years before I got a place on the graduate scheme at, as it was then, Eagle Star, working in the finance team. This year will be 24 years working in Zurich.
What have been your career highlights?
I’m glad you put that in the plural! There have been numerous highlights.
When I worked in a global role in Switzerland, that was truly eye-opening. The opportunity to work in a different country was incredible. There would be twelve of us around one table with eleven different nationalities! The insight into different cultures, different ways of doing things as well as getting that helicopter view of how Zurich looks across the globe was amazing.
Then more recently, I was at the British LGBT Awards, having been nominated and then shortlisted in the Business Ally category. That was a massive highlight, and the recognition was wonderful, but I think that’s what should be expected from any senior leader in an organisation. We all need to step up.
What topics and trends are you seeing emerge in the housing sector?
There are quite a few major trends arising currently. There's the need for housing associations to remediate their properties, not just to hit the government guidelines and to have appropriate cladding and structural adequacy. Our customers are spending a lot of money on fire safety remediation, it has been a big theme throughout the whole of the housing sector.
There's also the requirement for housing associations properties to be net-zero in the future. If you have new builds, that's easier - not easy, but it's easier. If you've got to retrofit the property, that can be very expensive, so organisations need to find all the resources to do that, not just economic ones. It's a real challenge that housing associations are currently facing, but we’ve got a really good conversation with our customers, with the work we're doing on sustainability.
How do you keep ahead of industry developments?
I read a lot, I keep up to date with the press, and I love to talk and listen to our customers.
I am also on the board of a housing association based in Leatherhead. That really helps me to keep up to date with developments and concerns. We’re always looking at the next six months, year, two years, five years, thirty years. I don’t think I’d be as effective at my job in Zurich if not for my board membership.
What is the top lesson you’ve learnt?
One big learning for me was a conversation I had with someone when I was outgrowing my role. They said, “Well, you do know you've got to manage your career, don't you? You've got to make yourself known and you've got to look for positions, it is not up to anyone else to do it for you. And for those roles that are higher up, you'll have to do a number of lateral moves to get the breadth of experience you can then build upon”.
I was very fortunate in my early career as I got moved from role to role because the opportunity arose. It just hadn't dawned on me that I needed to manage my career and move laterally in order to move up. That was an important conversation, as since then I’ve absolutely managed my career.
What one thing would people be surprised to know about you?
I have recently taken up pottery and I absolutely love it! I’ve wanted to do it since I watched The Generation Game as a young child in the 70s where the contestants made a real mess of it. I just love getting a clump of clay and throwing something. You’ve got to have that complete focus – a little like mindfulness, with complete attention on one thing. I’m not good enough yet to make the clay what I want it to be, it always turns out as what the clay wants. I love the way it needs to be done slowly, thoughtfully, carefully, and it’s continuously evolving.
What would you do if you weren’t working in the insurance industry?
I think I would have been an accountant in another industry and then moved on to something more commercial within that industry. I love the discipline, critical thinking, and curiosity that Finance teaches you and how these are great skills to use elsewhere. I find it really satisfying to stick my brain into a problem, getting it to crack open, and asking myself: how do I fix this? How do I understand that more? How do I progress it a bit more?
What do you love about working at Zurich?
Well, that’s a very long list but I think it’s the people. I feel like I work with a bunch of friends, ones who push and challenge me but are very well-intentioned. I believe that we're a very ethical organization and that fits with me. I couldn't work for a company that didn't have strong ethics.
I also love the opportunities available. I think that the willingness to move people around the organization and take a few risks, but support people in their development is fantastic.
