The insurer has made it possible for many employees to work from home even after offices fully open.
Nationwide has announced its intention to permanently transition into an operating model that functions as a hybrid between in-office and remote insurance jobs.
The employees who will be heading to the office will be those at the four main corporate campuses.
The insurer will keep the in-office workers primarily at its four main corporate campuses. That said, it will keep its remote insurance jobs in place for the majority of other locations. Nationwide stated that it plans to step out of most buildings aside from the central four by November 1, 2020. The associates who have been working at those various locations will transition into at-home working positions.
“We’ve been investing in our technological capabilities for years, and those investments really paid off when we needed to transition quickly to a 98 percent work-from-home model,” explained Kirt Walker, Nationwide CEO. “Our associates and our technology team have proven to us that we can serve our members and partners with extraordinary care with a large portion of our team working from home.”
This shift toward permanent remote insurance jobs may start trending across the industry.
Other employers inside and outside the insurance industry may also make similar moves for working from home, according to Forrester Research financial services technology analyst, Ellen Carney. Though this strategy will be temporary for many employers, others see this as an opportunity now that they’ve invested in the technology and built the strategies necessary to make it happen.
“This shift will stick, thanks to subsequent waves of the virus and if the inevitable recession is U —not V— shaped,” said Carney in a recent report. Employers of all sizes are deciding whether it makes sense to keep their current real estate or whether they can either downsize it or skip it altogether.
While Nationwide will be broadly implementing permanent remote insurance jobs, the four campus locations that will be remaining in-office will include central Ohio, including both 
Grandview Yard and downtown Columbus; Scottsdale, Arizona; Des Moines, Iowa, and San Antonio, Texas.
