About Admiral Group

Their story is one of innovation and organic growth. When they launched in 1993, Admiral Group had one brand, zero customers and 57 employees. Now they're the largest car insurance provider in the UK, with businesses all over the world. They are a very proud Welsh company with headquarters in Cardiff as well as offices in Newport and Swansea.

You may know them in the UK from their insurance brands Admiral, Elephant, Diamond, Gladiator and Bell. They also own Confused.com, the UK’s first price comparison website and their aim is to give great service and value for money to as many people as possible. They're not just in the UK though, they have businesses in Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, USA and Mexico and offices in Canada and India too. Despite being a large company, they have kept the unique culture of a much smaller company and they are proud to have won several awards for being a great employer.

Their staff are their greatest asset and their philosophy that people who like what they do, do it better means they go out of their way to make working for Admiral Group as rewarding and enjoyable as possible. This means their staff will give their customers the best possible service and the business can continue to be a success.

What is it like to work for Admiral Group

Leadership

85% of staff agreed:

This organisation is run on strong values / principles

David Stevens became the new Admiral Group CEO in May 2016 and he has continued where Henry Engelhardt left off, championing the four pillars of the culture in Admiral and continuing Henry’s legacy of “People who like what they do, do it better.” He has brought positive changes to the senior management structure, has encouraged continuous innovation and is a champion of the customer. Continuing Henry’s tradition, David meets all new starters in their business and gives them a jigsaw piece. This has a significant impact on their employees at the start of their Admiral career.

David leads by example in supporting their culture of open and honest communication by filming regular business update videos for Admiral TV giving a round up of performance and new initiatives. He holds quarterly business update presentations with operations managers and participates in unmoderated Online Chats with staff at their full year and interim results announcements, where staff can ask anything about the business. They also have an “Ask David” tool on Atlas as part of their Have Your Say scheme where employees can ask him anything and he gives a personal response to all questions. Following a recent suggestion, they have introduced multi-faith rooms for persons of any faith (or none) to spend time in prayer in a private space.

85% of staff agreed:

This organisation is run on strong values / principles

My Manager

89% of staff agreed:

I feel that my manager talks openly and honestly with me

All managers at Admiral go through their Managing Performance Programme (MPP). This consists of online courses, classroom sessions and practical on-the-job training completed with the support of a mentor. These include completing an ‘expectations’ exercise with their team, or spending time in a different part of the business. The programme ensures all managers understand what is expected of them. File noting, objective setting and dealing with difficult situations are an everyday task for a manager so the programme has been designed to be practical and interactive.

At the end of 2018 they ran a series of Good Manager Courses. Organised by their Head of Group Communications, these are sessions for members of Admiral Business Club (ABC) to share knowledge and best practice and inspire them to be the best managers they can be. Sessions have included Good Management ain’t easy with previous CEO Henry Engelhardt, Decision making at Admiral with UK CEO Cristina Nestares, Failure to Success Case Study with Head of Group Communications Louisa Scadden, My Journey with Head of Claims Lorna Connelly and Managing Intense Projects with Head of Renewal Emma Enos and Head of New General Insurance Products and Telematics Charlotte Bennett.

89% of staff agreed:

I feel that my manager talks openly and honestly with me

My Team

91% of staff agreed:

My team is fun to work with

All teams in Admiral have regular away days to build team spirit and support their fun culture. Departments have a budget of £110 per head per year for fun money which can be put towards team afternoons out. Examples in the last 12 months include a circus skills workshop, escape rooms, wreath making and many more. Some teams use their away days to volunteer for charities and organisations, including dog walking at Many Tears or making items to be sold at a charity shop.

They have taken inspiration from social media platforms to create tools for Atlas, their staff intranet, to enable their staff to interact. These include creating a profile page, searching for colleagues contact details via a quick search tool, leaving comments on news stories, saving content to your ‘favourites’ and sharing content with colleagues. They host regular unmoderated online chats with different departments, senior managers or special guests such as Welsh rugby players and staff can chat on their various online forums, send them news stories for Atlas, suggest ideas for and take part in videos on their in-house TV channel, Admiral TV and submit photos of staff events to their PhotoGallery.

91% of staff agreed:

My team is fun to work with

Learn more about the 8 factors of workplace engagement here

Benefits:

Gym

Companies offering either free gym/ sports facilities or subsidised gym membership for all employees
Pensions

Companies offering a final salary scheme to all employees, or one in which the employer's contribution is at least 5%
Long Service

40% of employees have more than 5 years' service
Maternity

At least 10 weeks’ full pay or generous alternative