Progeny is to hire not fire in lockdown

The Leeds-based financial, legal and tax advice firm has recruited or advertised for 18 new team members since lockdown began.

It has accelerated plans to expand the business and to increase capacity so it can help new and existing clients whenever and on whatever platforms they require. It said the 18 new staff members will help it achieve this.

While many businesses have gone to ground or pulled up the drawbridge during the coronavirus pandemic, Progeny said it is doing the opposite.

The firm said it has taken positive action across the business throughout the lockdown, aiming to emerge as a firm that can better service clients, create jobs and support its staff, communities and charitable causes.

Neil Moles, chief executive of Progeny, said: “While many businesses are furloughing staff, we are doing the opposite. We are increasing not reducing the size of our team and accelerating rather than pausing our plans to improve the business."

He said the firm has used the lockdown period to speed up the adoption of technology so it can better connect with clients.

"The last month has shown us that we can continue to communicate effectively and meaningfully in a virtual way," he said.

"We have introduced video conferencing for clients, which eliminates the need to travel to and from meetings, guarantees end-to-end security and simplifies the logistics of juggling multiple diaries.

“This is particularly useful for us and our clients at Progeny as we are the only firm in the UK to bring together independent financial planning, asset management, tax, HR and private and corporate legal services. Video conferencing helps us bring all a client’s advisers together easily in one ‘virtual’ room at the same time. We have also produced a guide to assist clients with access to the platform and trained our PAs to offer technical support where needed."

All of progeny's client and team meetings have been moved onto video conferences or calls. The firm said staff have embraced this new platform, conducting 40,000 minutes

of video conference meetings so far during the lockdown.

Progeny team members have also raised £6,000 for their chosen charity, Martin House, which provides hospice care for children and young people across West, North and East Yorkshire.

This year the firm made a pledge to become carbon neutral and it said it is making good progress towards this goal. The coronavirus lockdown has reduced printing across the business, resulting in 75,000 fewer printed pages since lockdown began.

Progeny’s eight sites across the UK went into lockdown a week ahead of the Government’s guidelines and it moved its 150 team members to secure, remote working in two

weeks.

It has also rolled out a programme to promote mental wellbeing amongst the team and supported them fully in working from home. The firm has gathered feedback from all staff on their new working arrangements and analysed and acted on the results at board level.

Mr Moles said: “Being more connected will improve client experience, enabling us to communicate with them in a more personalised way and allowing them to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently.

"These new ways of working will become permanent features of our relationships with our clients going forward.

“We have taken the initiative to do what we can within our field to make a positive impact – for our clients, our team members, our communities and society. Our aim is to emerge with a firm that can better service our clients, create more jobs and support our communities and charitable causes more effectively.”