P2P lenders embrace flexible working conditions
PEER-TO-PEER lending has helped shake up financial services, but how modern are the industry’s approaches to the workplace?
Many P2P lenders are embracing flexible working, which can include part-time hours, the option to work from home and time off for family commitments.
A RateSetter spokesperson said the lender always seeks to accommodate flexible working requests from employees, offers shared parental leave and lets employees buy and sell holiday allowance.
Similarly, MoneyThing offers part-time hours, flexible hours and working from home.
Read more: Banks follow fintech to attract top talent
“All our systems are online and our operational people can log in securely anywhere there is an internet connection,” said Sophie Pearce, managing director of MoneyThing.
“Having our own bespoke technology and ability to work from anywhere means we can recruit the best people, wherever they live.”
Landbay said it has a handful of part-time employees and many work flexible hours.
“We don’t feel P2P is any different to any other business in this sense, obviously the cloud makes sharing information and documentation much easier for remote access,” a Landbay spokesperson said.
Some lenders, such as Crowd for Angels, even provide time off for education.
“We have a couple of employees who continue their educational endeavours and thus do take advantage of either part-time or flexible hours,” said Andrew Adcock, chief marketing officer at Crowd for Angels.
Read more: Do you need a degree to get into peer-to-peer?
“As a technology-driven business, we are able to access vital resources on the go via desktop, laptop or even on mobile phones. This ensures wherever a person may be, they can access what they need, when they crucially need it and allows the company to offer greater flexibility.
“ However, there is a recognition that staff are still needed in the office to support clients.
“We have built a collaborative culture that allows for a reasonable level of flexibility around personal and family commitments,” said Stuart Lunn, chief executive of LendingCrowd.
Read more: Is P2P lending here to stay?
“However, our clients are our top priority and in order to meet their needs, we believe that we have to appropriately resource each function on a full-time basis by staff that are based largely within the office.
“There are exceptions but part of building the can-do approach of a fast-growing business is to have the team bouncing ideas off each other and building relationships within the company both easily and through day-today contact.”
This article featured in the May edition of Peer2Peer Finance News, now available to read online.