Understanding people’s lives “beyond the desk" can help to improve their work, Hodge's retail managing director, Christie Cook, has argued.
Recounting her experience of moving to London for one of her first jobs, Cook said: “When I started 30 years ago you couldn't really have a personal life.
“You were at work from nine until five and it could be incredibly stressful, particularly when working in London and you have a child, as childcare couldn’t start before 8am and it had to finish by 6pm.”
As a result of this, Cook said it was difficult for her when initially joining the industry but added that this situation has changed since then.
“It’s crazy that it’s taken a global pandemic for us to actually be more flexible with the way that people work but it’s definitely needed.
“Back then, I couldn’t really talk about my personal life, whereas now you talk about your whole self far more than I ever did and I encourage people to do so.”
Progress
Cook also spoke on the difficulty of adjusting to the industry: “When I started my career I think gender equality and social mobility just wasn’t there and so it was quite difficult to come from another background.
“There wasn’t really any career progression for people such as myself who were ambitious but didn’t have the formal education.”
Cook acknowledged that, while she still sees this as an issue, it has improved over the years.
She explained that many gendered issues, such as the gender pay gap, may have been addressed by promoting stories of diversity throughout the industry.
“The fact that we are much more focused on showing the success of things like diverse boards and promoting the idea that it’s healthy to have different points of view has helped in this area.”
However, Cook acknowledged: “There is always more to do”.
Career progression
Cook went on to emphasise the importance of allowing for career progression, stating: “I think that career pathway and succession planning is very important”.
She added this is not something she has always seen within the industry: “It’s so disappointing that I’ve walked into businesses where we don’t make people feel valued until they’re already at the door.
“People should be made to feel valued everyday and employers should be listening to them, developing their confidence and providing them with physiological safety.”
Cook also outlined previous times during her career where she worked towards career progression for those in her team.
“When I managed a team full of underwriters and administrators I was able to devise training programmes to allow others to progress.
“We did a lot of mentorship programmes and a lot of different kinds of training with people that were not a part of their official training.”
She added that she “loved” this part of her job and that it compelled her to manage more people to help others progress further in their desired careers.
“To be able to give people opportunities, that’s the part of the job that I absolutely loved.”
Professional journey
Cook has always worked in financial services but in many different roles across sales, marketing, product, relationship, and operations.
However, despite spending so much time in the industry, she stated that she was not familiar with anyone in the industry before joining.
While her first financial services position was “a job to pay the bills” there were certain aspects of the industry that she found appealing.
“It was only once I was in the industry that I actually realised the opportunities.”
One of these opportunities mentioned by Cook was being involved in the process of buying a house which she described as a “really emotive process” that lenders and brokers have the solutions to.
“People want to be able to buy their house outright and live the life they want to, so that’s what really interested me and got me stuck in the industry. Once you’re in you’re always in.”
Taking action
Looking to the future, Cook said that, while the industry is currently better at supporting people in entry level positions than it was when she first started, this level of support is not consistent across all positions.
“The good work slightly goes askew around the middle of people’s careers when some of the female workforce leave to have children and find it harder to pick up their careers when they come back.”
Cook also called for more opinions to be collected saying: “We need to hear from those people who are in difficult situations at the moment.”
One way Cook suggested this could be accomplished was having forums which would allow for people to heard.
She also suggested an industry wide “temperature check” to understand the bigger problems that people find themselves at the moment.
Cook emphasised this understanding component as being important due to the challenging nature of the industry.
“Financial services is a really challenging industry and there are times when colleagues that I’ve spoken to have thought of walking away because of how challenging it is.
“The important thing is asking how we can be more supportive in times like that.”
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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