Coronavirus Q&A series: Interview with Sam Fromson, Co-Founder and COO, YuLife

‘Being Physically Separate Has Underscored How Crucial It Is To Get Everyone Aligned’

The COVID-19 crisis has impacted various aspects of our lives - especially work. With remote working becoming the norm, employees and employers alike, especially the first-timers, are experiencing the ups and downs related to the situation.

On one hand, employees are worried about job security and the challenges of working as a team, on the other, employers are facing issues such as engagement and productivity drop, among others. It now falls upon the leadership to keep the team up and running.

How are the leaders handling the situation? HR.com interviewed senior-level executives from various organizations and asked them to share their lessons and insights.

Sam: As most businesses are experiencing, we are seeing a significant change in people’s priorities across the board, with personal and collective health and wellbeing coming to the fore and being of paramount importance. 

Individuals are re-evaluating what’s important in terms of financial security, finding new ways of exercising and staying mentally alert with digital solutions quickly becoming mainstream. At the same time, employers are looking for employee benefits that make a real difference to their employees’ wellbeing not just now but in the future too. Employers know that supporting their employees when times are tough will reap significant rewards in the long term.

All of these changes resonate with YuLife’s founding philosophy of transforming group life insurance from a highly commoditised employee benefit into a digital employee wellbeing experience which inspires everyone to live their best lives every day. We’re actively reaching out to HR professionals to understand their current needs, seeing strong demand from new customers and enhanced engagement for our existing customers.

Internally, we’ve had to adapt quickly. We’ve learned new virtual ways to collaborate as a team, support and motivate our people, engage with our customers and of course deliver on our business goals. The current crisis has emphasized the importance of the work we are doing to ensure people are able to be as healthy as possible at this time. 

Sam: We took the decision to start working remotely a week before the UK went into lockdown. There was a great deal of uncertainty about the true extent of the pandemic and we wanted to put the health and wellbeing of our people first. We were helped by the fact that we already had a flexible approach to home working, so the initial transition was relatively smooth.

As a technology business, we had already invested in a range of digital tools and software like Slack, Zoom and Notion to help with collaboration and creativity. That helped to overcome some of the initial teething problems around setting up equipment.

We recognised that employers need to give people the tools and equipment to perform to their best. We began to provide our employees with a budget to set up their own workspace, because we wanted home working to feel like a natural extension of the office setup which people had grown comfortable with. We made sure our teams had whatever they needed to feel comfortable, from physical equipment like backrests, extra computer monitors or top-end headsets to technological support. Employee feedback has been phenomenal, and we feel that it’s an investment that has already paid for itself many times over.

Sam: As an insurance provider, we have had to work closely with our underwriters to ensure that we have the right insurance policy terms in place. During these challenging times, especially where customers may look to furlough employees, we’ve gone to great lengths to reassure all our customers of the terms of their insurance cover.

Sam: Effective employee engagement is something that we strongly believe in, and we had invested in it long before the current crisis. Employee engagement programmes often cost a lot and yield little reward, and we sought to engage with what employees actually want, as opposed to initiating generic programmes.

We’ve kept up a weekly rhythm, from our Monday morning tick-off where we reiterate our mission and set the tone for the week, to our Thursday all-hands meeting where we start with shout outs, expressing appreciation for particular successes or hard work, and share company updates. We’ve had virtual socials, home tours, catch-ups over drinks and have a bingo night coming up.

It’s always a challenge to make a diverse group of people feel a common identity, share a collective vision and actually enjoy being together, but we know how lucrative the rewards are when you get that part of employee management right.

Sam: Emotional and mental health support is a vital part of the insurance package we provide as a company, and all of our employees have access to the YuLife app and coverage.

Companies who sign up to our Group Life Cover also get access YuLife’s gamified wellbeing app which opens them up to a range of wellbeing benefits and support services designed to help them with every aspect of their mental, physical and financial wellbeing. The app syncs with fitness and mindfulness apps and allows them to earn ‘Yucoin’ (our currency of wellbeing) by doing simple things like meditating, being mindful, walking or cycling. Yucoin can then be exchanged for vouchers from big brands like Amazon and John Lewis.

The YuLife app also offers a full Employee Assistance Programme providing a whole range of vital support services including 24/7 access to clinically trained counsellors, bereavement support, life coaching and expert advice on legal and financial issues. 

For our own employees, we’ve introduced a number of virtual wellbeing experiences to enhance wellness. These include daily ‘YuBreaks’, a chance for everyone to take 10 minutes out in the middle of every day to stretch, realign and refresh.  We also run weekly virtual meditation, yoga and Fiit sessions. We’ve also sent everyone a care package containing a thought journal, candles, herb teas, chocolates and soaps.

Focusing so much on employee wellbeing in the product we provide has enabled us to understand what works best for our own employees, and we believe the range of options we offer is helping our employees cope with these difficult circumstances and respond to the unique set of challenges they pose.

Sam: First of all, communication – even over-communication. As a leadership team we constantly remind the team of our mission, why we do what we do, our values and the part each one of us plays in our journey. If we can ensure that everyone stays aligned towards a common goal, and accountable for the part they have to play in achieving it, then we will succeed.

Ironically, when you are all physically in the same place it’s easier to kid yourself that we are all conceptually on the same page. Much of the time, that’s an illusion. You need to be able to ask every single person about what the short-, medium- and long-term priorities are and what the core values of the business are and get the same answer. Being physically separate has underscored how crucial it is to get everyone aligned.

Sam: Where we perhaps expected to see a downturn in productivity, we’ve actually experienced an uplift. It’s been amazing to see people working smarter and being more efficient with fewer distractions, something we definitely want to nurture going forward.

One of YuLife’s company values is around recognising each and every one of our employees’ vulnerability. Over the last few weeks, we’ve all probably experienced moments of vulnerability and it’s been amazing and genuinely touching to see the outpourings of support for those who have been unwell (myself included!), as well as those caring for or worried about family members. 

We’ve learned how to be adaptable and transfer our work to an environment that we would never have imagined being in just a few weeks ago. This experience will stay with us for years to come, and we hope that the positives will stay with us.