The parachute of the organisation
Jo Jones , deputy chief of staff at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries ( a Royal chartered professional membership body dedicated to educating , developing and regulating actuaries internationally ), isn ’ t just our new career columnist – she ’ s an Executive PA Media award winner , too . And it ’ s time to get to know her a little better …
How did you know an EA was the career for you ? I have , slowly and steadily , worked my way up , experiencing different organisations and industries and I think I knew that I wanted to make a difference . Just doing a 9-5 and switching off didn ’ t cut it for me . My motivation is knowing that I ’ m adding value to the greater good and I ’ ve always wanted to be doing this – I just didn ’ t know what this was called back then . Without really knowing it , I was working towards a career in senior administration .
What has been your career highlight so far ? I was fortunate enough to be recognised as the UK ’ s number one EA in 2017 through Executive PA Media and that moment will forever be the highlight of my career . I think I mentioned in my speech that all the long days and late nights were guiding me to that moment , and being awarded meant I got to meet some extraordinary EAs and PAs too .
Did you implement any changes or feel a new zest for work life as a result of your award ? I felt that the award went a long way in putting professional administration on the map , certainly in my own organisation at the time . From then on , it has given me the additional confidence to speak up on behalf of my peers , helping them recognise that being a professional administrator is a really rewarding career path . We are pinnacle in ensuring our organisations are successful and let ’ s face it , there ’ s a reason why leadership is rolled out ‘ polished ’, right ? That doesn ’ t just happen – it ’ s what we do behind the scenes and I recognise that without doubt now .
What are your main responsibilities in your current role ? My main responsibility , in a nutshell , is stakeholder management – ensuring that my colleagues , our members and the senior volunteers that I work closest with have a positive experience interacting with IFoA . I ’ m often referred to as a parachute as I ’ m frequently ‘ dropped ’ into an area of the business to either kickstart a project that has stalled or explore why initiatives are not progressing as they should .
How does your organisation show appreciation for staff ? In lots of ways . We have a great benefits package , additional days off , celebration of success vouchers , an annual in-person away day with dinner and entertainment in the summer and , more recently , a financial award ( to all colleagues except the executive leadership ) to help address the cost-of-living crisis . The latter was particularly appreciated and welcomed by all .
What is the working environment like ? We ’ re hybrid and are trusted to make our own decisions about where we work . So , we have the choice to work from home , go into the hubs ( we no longer say office ) or we can do a mixture of both . I choose to join colleagues in the London hub as often as I can – being very much a people person , I need regular human interaction !
Can you tell us more about your ‘ hubs ?’ Post-pandemic when we were looking at our colleagues ’ wellbeing against the future property strategy , the priority was connectivity . And , following UK government guidelines of course , we had to limit the colleagues returning to a physical space on a daily basis . Thinking about the space we needed to come back together and reconnect , the term ‘ hub ’ felt more appropriate – ‘ office ’ didn ’ t seem right for so many different reasons . When I think about the word ‘ hub ’, it means the ‘ heart of ’ and it works so well for me and for so many of us .
What ’ s your office Christmas party like ? It no longer exists in my organisation – we take the opportunity to use the summer annual get together for real celebration and connection . The end of the year is marked with a virtual get-together with a bit of business and some organised fun – we had chocolate-making one year and a taskmaster game show last year !
Do you do anything different to the norm when a new employee joins ? The onboarding of a new colleague is tighter and more
22 Executive PA | Winter Issue 2023