News

With lockdown beginning to ease, many employers are now need to begin planning for what is likely to be a staged return to the workplace. 

If you’re among them, we’ve published a full guide to creating your ‘Return To Work’ action plan. No time to read the guide yet? We've prepared a summary of the key areas it covers:

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it's that if a business is to ride out a major crisis and continue trading, it needs a risk management plan.

That's not to say that a risk management plan is a silver bullet. But without one, you can't hope to understand how your business might suffer and, crucially, how it might adapt and respond to minimise disruption to its operations.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the safety of CLEAR’s staff and clients has been of paramount importance.

As the lockdown has continued to evolve, we wanted to take the opportunity to provide an update on how we are continuing to support both.

CLEAR are pleased to announce the board appointments of Tim Money as Chief Financial Officer and Nick Gallimore as Group Operations Director, both subject to FCA approval.

COVID-19 has affected all elements of business practice, and onboarding is no exception. 

With remote work now the norm in many sectors, business owners must refine their onboarding strategy to provide new employees with a comprehensive overview of the business, its challenges and its opportunities - and all while cultivating a feeling of belonging.

Achieving this at a time when new employees might not meet a colleague face-to-face for many months is difficult, so onboarding should begin at the moment an offer is made. 

Here are our best practice guidelines to help you in this new process: 

Protecting key staff who are both crucial and influential is of paramount importance to any business. Key persons normally possess special skills, intellect, knowledge, experience and/or have valuable contacts, or they could be a person whose loss or replacement attracts significant financial expense. Examples might include an IT manager, an Account Director, or indeed COO and CEO’s.

Avoiding ergonomic injuries is one of the difficulties associated with working from home that is most often overlooked. 

The outcomes of poor ergonomics – sitting with bad posture, having only a limited range of movements, having to bend or reach repeatedly – may seem fairly innocuous, but over the long term it’s possible they can lead to a range of issues that may have long-lasting effects, including damage to muscles, nerves, blood vessels, ligaments and tendons.

Many factors that feed into good ergonomics are taken for granted in an office but can be lacking in a remote workspace. For example, while at the office, you likely have access to a suitable desk and chair, but at home you might not have an optimal setup.

To transform a section of your home into a suitable workspace, consider the set up of the following: 

The idea of working from home may initially sound appealing – no commute, more time in bed, access to your own kitchen – but remote work is a double-edged sword. 

For people who are not used to working from home, distractions and a lack of structure can limit productivity and drive. On the other hand, you may find yourself continuing to work long after you would have normally finished for the day because you are not leaving your work environment.

For these reasons, it is vital that you plan ahead and create a healthy, sustainable routine that you can follow on working days, and that you prioritise your work effectively. 

Here are four things to bear in mind when you are designing your day:

In this difficult time, CLEAR’s priority has been to do as much as possible to protect our staff’s wellbeing while ensuring our customers receive the service they rely on.

To this end, we are rigorously implementing Government guidance, enabling our staff to deliver for customers while working safely from home.  

We are hugely proud of them - below, a few details on how they’re supporting our clients, as well as each other:

The current crisis is having a significant impact on businesses everywhere. But for some business owners, a short-term slowdown in activity can provide the opportunity to implement optimisations for long-term improvement. This can mean executing tasks that have been in planning limbo, establishing better internal infrastructure or implementing more efficient processes. 

In light of the challenging times we are experiencing, we have temporarily closed our physical locations and moved our staff to continue their services working from home. Here is some information about how each branch is affected and how we are dealing with your post:

We recently touched base with Martin Hall, Regional Development Director here at CLEAR, to discuss his experience of working remotely - how his work life has changed, and how he has managed to adapt.

Here's an insight into Martin’s working schedule (and some top tips, too):

Howard started CLEAR in 2001. He has always worked in insurance; having previously run a family insurance broker, before a stint with a city broker where he learnt how to grow a business through acquisitions.

As a result of the distancing measures that have been implemented by the Government, we are aware that a large number of our clients will be in the situation where their property/properties may have become unoccupied.

As we are receiving varying advice/recommendations/requirements from all insurers, we have compiled a list of our key insurer's resources linking to their current stance on unoccupied properties. We felt that this would be an easier way of communicating than listing all of the insurers stances on one page.

Following an update from the government, if your car, motorcycle, light van or other light vehicle MOT expiry date is on or after Monday 20 March 2020, it will automatically be extended by 6 months.

We are all being bombarded by non-stop news, complex information and advice that can appear overwhelming. At the same time, we are all trying to keep our families and colleagues healthy, and to ensure that our clients are well looked after.

In light of the UK Government’s various briefings, we thought it important to clarify some key points surrounding business insurance and the likelihood of cover being in place for COVID-19 coronavirus-related business interruption costs.

Coronavirus shows no signs of slowing. It’s beginning to affect businesses all around the world, and UK business owners now need to consider how they are going to manage the impact. Balancing staff safety concerns against those of business continuity is an especially difficult part of this. 

With so much in the press and on social media about the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we decided it was a good time to provide some useful links to authoritative information and advice on the disease. 

We've kept this brief as the crisis is so fast moving, but we will continue to share useful information on our website as it emerges.

If you are planning to travel abroad, you should check UK government advice before you travel.

You should also look at your travel insurance to see what provisions it makes regarding infectious diseases. 

If you are a UK citizen and you are visiting a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), you should carry a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), as this entitles you to free or discounted medical treatment.

For more information and guidance on COVID-19, visit: 

UK government travel advice: coronavirus (COVID-19)

NHS advice on coronavirus

Association of British Insurers (ABI): coronavirus Q&A

General advice when travelling abroad

Remember, we’re here to help. So, if you have any insurance queries related to the coronavirus, please speak to your usual adviser. 

Every year the CLEAR awards celebrate staff excellence across the business. We are now delighted to announce the winners of these prestigious annual employee awards and are tremendously proud of their exceptional contributions to the business.

If you keep an ear to the ground in the insurance broker market, you'll know that CLEAR has been acquiring other brokers almost since its inception. It's a strategy that's worked very well for us, and for the owners, employees, and clients of the businesses that we've acquired over the years.

In this blog – the first in a series that we hope will shed light on CLEAR's approach to acquiring a business – we will explain how we go about the acquisition process, by breaking it down into four steps.