In this engaging interview, Rachel Meadows, Managing Director of IFGL Pensions, shares her journey from early jobs to leadership, discusses the importance of financial literacy, and explores how industry awareness can inspire more women and young people to pursue careers in financial services.
Summary
In this engaging interview, Rachel Meadow, Managing Director of IFGL Pensions, shares her journey from early jobs to leadership, discusses the importance of financial literacy, and explores how industry awareness can inspire more women and young people to pursue careers in financial services.
Reach Rachel on:
www.ifglpensions.com
Key topics
Rachel Meadow's career progression
Importance of financial literacy and early pension saving
Industry awareness and attracting talent to finance
Work-life balance and mental health in leadership
Motivation and drive in professional growth
Sound bites
"The sound of waves relaxes me."
"Squeaky tape guns drive me insane."
"I would love to be a party planner."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Rachel Meadow and Her Journey
05:53 Early Career Experiences and Work Ethic
10:46 Balancing Work and Family Life
12:40 Motivation and Ambition in Leadership
16:55 Raising Awareness in Financial Services
20:31 The Importance of Early Pension Planning
25:36 Navigating Pension Options for Self-Employed Individuals
28:34 Finding the Right Financial Advisor
30:39 Resources for Pension Guidance
32:37 Building Supportive Teams in the Workplace
35:46 Mental Health Challenges in Leadership
38:31 Personal Insights and Fun Questions
42:43 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
The Priority Lane (00:05)
Welcome again to the Priority Lane podcast.
I'm Lawrence Daunsey. This is the show where we discover how to work smarter, not harder, but not just that. We like to see how the human element crosses over into business life too. So I'll be asking my guests today a few human element questions, nothing too difficult to answer. My guest today is Rachel Meadow. She is Managing Director of IFGL Pensions, the pension arm of IFGL.
⁓ financial powerhouse, savings, investments, protection etc and Rachel is with me with me now so hi Rachel very nice of you to join me thank you very much
Rachel Meadows (00:49)
Hi Laurence, thanks
so much for the invite, it's a pleasure to join you.
The Priority Lane (00:55)
Great, thank
you. Listen, I'm gonna start to kick it off straight away. As I always ask the guests, as I did when we spoke a couple of weeks ago about previous roles, when they first started their career. And as I understand it, not only are you a, I suppose, a master Pasty maker, but you're also a mobile phone expert and you can load lorries, is that correct?
Rachel Meadows (01:22)
Yep, I'm a lady of many talents. yep. My very first job was at Sayers, which is a bakery chain in the North West. So was making and serving pasties, I think £2.35 an hour might have been my original salary.
The Priority Lane (01:38)
I mean,
that's, that's a far cry from what it is now. I think mine was, I agree. Mine was sub £3 an hour, but I remember at the end of the week, I think getting £24 and thinking I'd made it, you know, so did you get paid in the little, the little brown packets? Did you get those? I love those things. It's just, we wouldn't work anymore. So yeah.
Rachel Meadows (01:43)
as an insight into my age, I think.
Absolutely.
I did, I did, yeah.
It's very
visual though isn't it? There's something quite nice about being handed your pay for the week which is lovely.
The Priority Lane (02:06)
Thank you.
Exactly, that's the you again, you just touched on the human element, the one of the main, you know, the five senses is touch and you have that in your hand. Whereas now everything, everything is electronic and you just look at your phone go, okay, that's good. But, but yeah, that's great. So you started, did you make pasties or were you, were they homemade? ⁓
Rachel Meadows (02:32)
Well, I think they came partly made. So we were warming
them and serving them to people at the bakery in the cafe. then, so I did that somewhere I was 16 when I left school, at all my levels. And then...
The Priority Lane (02:44)
Okay.
Rachel Meadows (02:49)
job which it perceived as a better job at the time as a mobile phone salesperson for The Link. don't know you remember The Link, it's an old chain owned by, used to be owned by Dixon's curries. did that for a few years actually, it was a great job, lots, yeah i learned a lot in sales.
The Priority Lane (03:00)
That's right.
what model what model were you selling do remember
Rachel Meadows (03:10)
Oh, everything.
Yeah, everything. mean, do know what? At the time, it was like the Nokia 3210. Remember that? Yeah. Flip phones were all the rage. Text messaging was hot off the blocks. They are. Yeah. I think my kids and I would laugh at the idea that I was ever talking to anyone about anything technology-wise.
The Priority Lane (03:17)
audience.
What?
just the cast of technology.
I mean the 3210 is a classic. think you know lots of people still have them. They were so brickish and strong. You could use them as a doorstop. They were amazing. But yeah, great. And the flip-flops, that must have been Motorola perhaps, was it?
Rachel Meadows (03:54)
Yeah, I think it was. Maybe it sounds something as well.
The Priority Lane (03:57)
It's quite something. And then you moved on to Loli Lawrence in a high-vis jacket and big boots.
Rachel Meadows (04:05)
Stilte Cat Boots, absolutely. That was my holiday job for a couple of my holidays and Christmases from uni. I would go to the Alster Distribution Centre in Skelmersdale. ⁓
loaded lorries so we were picking lots of lifting it was a great job had a great half you know lots of nice people didn't need to go to the gym because we getting a full workout at work and I think because of the location of the distribution centre I was also I feel like I did a pasty full circle because a lot of the staff there came from Wigan so I was introduced to the delights of a pie bar I don't know if you've heard of a pie bar
The Priority Lane (04:47)
That's amazing. That says to look, that's three jobs from, you know, the age of 16 working through to A levels and then, you university holidays. you know, anyone listening, they will, they have to agree that you must, I mean, that just shows clear drive and determination to get out there and earn some of your own money. Where does that, where does that drive come from? You just, you just come to naturally. How does that work?
Rachel Meadows (04:48)
He he.
I was partly in necessity. I always had to earn money so I came from a working class background. I needed to partly form myself through university. We weren't allowed to work in term time at uni so I had to make enough on the holidays to fund what I needed to do the next term.
But I do think, yeah, I'm probably naturally quite hardworking and driven and probably just one of those people that's always thinking, next? I'm not great at switching off. My husband gets very irritated if we ever have a rare, completely free day. About an hour in, I'll be thinking, what we're doing now?
The Priority Lane (05:58)
Right,
you kind of you find it difficult to switch off.
Rachel Meadows (06:03)
I do, yeah. Yeah, I do.
The Priority Lane (06:05)
Do
you think that is, I do know a lot of people in work obviously that struggle, I do too sometimes, I can't switch the brain off, but do you think lots of women in a leadership role such as yours, do you think that comes with the territory or is it just you?
Rachel Meadows (06:29)
I do think it comes with the
territory actually and whilst it's everyone but I do think it's especially women because I think if you found yourself in a senior role a you're very busy at work so it can be hard to switch off but I think probably the biggest thing is that you finish your day job or then you go home and you switch on your next job your mom and your wife and your you know sister friend
So actually you just switch from one job to the next job to the next job and you're never actually off. So I think you're compartmentalizing and you're busy doing different jobs. It doesn't mean to say you can't switch off from your day job, but actually being truly off and having down time. think that's, yeah, I think it's a struggle. ⁓ Lots of women particularly, if you are doing that juggle, senior roles, kids, et cetera.
The Priority Lane (07:17)
Thanks.
Rachel Meadows (07:22)
you're normally quite an ambitious competitive person as well, so you want to do a good job at everything you do. So I actually think it's mostly pressure that we put on ourselves actually, because we're measuring ourselves against our own expectation constantly of how we'll deliver that role, the kind of person you want to be at work, the kind of mum you want to be, kind of wife you want to be. And that doesn't leave a lot of free time really.
The Priority Lane (07:48)
So, mean, do you find that sounds to me that it's obviously, you know, I'm a dad, I've got three children, two are older, one is a lot younger. And, you know, I find
and I think most parents do particularly with school holidays which we're currently in at the moment. It's a real juggling act to try and be present is what I'm trying to say. when you do go home, do you find it difficult to put that work head away and just try and be present and relaxed and calm? Do you struggle with that?
Rachel Meadows (08:16)
Yeah.
I don't think I do these days as much. I think when you're younger and you're more junior, I think that that is harder and it's almost an important skill to learn for self-preservation. So you don't get the same, you know, just trying to do everything at once. But I do think what helps me is I have my children quite young. you know, not very young, but I was 25 when I was the youngest, 27 when I was youngest. And so I was...
I'd only really just graduated three years ago. I was doing my first professional job. I was also studying for professional qualifications, diploma in financial planning.
So I think if you're just forced by necessity to have to switch into your role, you're just used to it. You've never really known anything else.
The Priority Lane (09:26)
I think that's sort of pressure perhaps particularly more for women being, know, when they're in motherhood and holding a leadership position.
it seems that there is an imbalance between that and men in leadership positions and their children. They're always, you know, I think, you perhaps we don't do enough, I don't know, on the family side. But it does seem to be, as you know, there is an imbalance in terms of, you know, the gender leadership side of things. You know, there are more men in leadership roles than are women. That's just, you know, that's a given. But,
But yeah, I think it's it is a struggle certainly to manage that, you know, home life with your professional life and be able to properly switch off. Like you say, it's not it's not it's not an easy thing. So being the competitive, being the competitive leader you are, as you mentioned, you must have loads of energy. Where does the motivation come from? How do you motivate yourself to just keep going, I suppose?
Rachel Meadows (10:22)
Thank
Honestly,
I'm not sure, I don't think there is one answer really. I'm ambitious, I want to provide a good life for me, want to provide a better platform for my boys, I want to give them opportunities that maybe I didn't necessarily have, help them do better. think that's what parents do, isn't it? You want your kids to do better than you've done, and so that's a big driving force. But I think...
Whilst financial services isn't a vocation, actually it is an industry where I think a lot of people in senior roles are genuinely motivated by wanting to do a good job and deliver good outcomes for our customers ultimately at the end of the day because the kinds of products that we're offering, whether it's savings products, long term pension, products like pensions which we specialise in or insurance products, we play a massively important role in helping
The Priority Lane (11:13)
We have a great job. and I think way to get to know the people who are going to be interested in the Indianapolis program. I think that's way get to know the people who are in the And I that's the people who are going to in And I think that's a great get are going in
Rachel Meadows (11:33)
helping people live their lives in the way they want to and need to. ⁓ So that is very motivating when you know you've done a good job, when your team's done a great job and ultimately you've made someone's life easier, sometimes at difficult time.
The Priority Lane (11:50)
Yeah, do you find the You all my guests in the certainly in the women in business ⁓ series, which this is being a part three of My other two guests that they were all really drilled down on on that point of you know, they want to do a good job and it's
it's actually very rewarding to get ⁓ to see clients do well and to help them out. I find that you've also just corroborated that same as Jen and Claire, the last two guests. So I'm kind of wondering is in financial services,
How is that? That's not really a draw. What I'm saying is it's never advertised that if you're in financial services, you're going to be able to help people. I yes, we know that, but it doesn't seem to be advertised that way. In other words, how are going to get more people into it in that term? How can you get a track more people?
Rachel Meadows (13:04)
think it's a really great point. think as a whole industry we've got an awful lot of work to do around better explaining to people the kinds of roles that are available in financial services because there's a huge array, a huge array of roles.
The Priority Lane (13:17)
Thank you.
Rachel Meadows (13:20)
the impact you can have through those roles, as you say, in improving customers' lives, but also actually in career progression and things like flexible working. Financial services is actually a great industry for flexibility and for everyone, but women in particular, to be able to build great careers and not necessarily miss out on some of the things that you also want to do as a parent or the other life roles that you might hold.
I've been very fortunate to work for some great businesses with great flexibility. When my boys were small, I was able to go down to four days a week, do a day at home. When working from home was really not a thing for financial advisors at the time.
The Priority Lane (13:58)
Okay.
Rachel Meadows (14:05)
So I think as an industry we can offer such great things and actually we should be out there shouting about it because when you think about school career lessons, my eldest is 16 next week and I don't think we do as good a job as some other industries at promoting some of the fabulous benefits that the industry can offer.
The Priority Lane (14:27)
I mean, I don't remember ever, you know, being at school, I don't and college, I don't remember there ever being a sort of career day where they're going, oh, you think about financial services. So do you think, you think, right, right. So do you think that it would help if that was put into a, I'm not saying specifically into a school curriculum, but do you think it needs to start?
Rachel Meadows (14:41)
Yeah, let alone pensions, know, gosh, if thought about pensions, you you just...
The Priority Lane (14:56)
at the educational stage of age group.
Rachel Meadows (14:59)
Yeah, I think it does
and I know there are some industry bodies so the CII is a good example of a professional body that goes out and does some university events, open days, talks about it. I think we can all do more. There's lots of great firms who can play a role locally in their local communities first at building a bit of awareness. But yeah, I think...
it's so important for the industry as well to do that work because we do need talented people. There's lots to talk about, AI replacing jobs and of some of that will happen.
and it's great to be able to automate some things and deliver efficiency and maybe reduce the boring jobs that at times people need to do. But as an industry, we've always struggled from a lack of genuinely talented quality people. So this is ⁓ crucial for kind of talent as well.
The Priority Lane (15:49)
Yeah. ⁓
So are you saying that the talent pool for your like the feeder talent pool for financial industry is low?
Rachel Meadows (16:12)
But it's not as high as it needs to be. ⁓ I think we all struggle for enough good quality recruits. It's not that there aren't any, are, but we need more ⁓ at all stages. And I think, again, it's not just about school leavers. Sometimes work returners, people looking for an industry change, career change, midlife, might not think about financial services or pensions, but there's great roles available, great...
The Priority Lane (16:14)
Okay.
Never.
Rachel Meadows (16:41)
you
The Priority Lane (16:43)
I mean, you mentioned that there are institutions that do a university day or events, sort of thing. Have you guys, IFGL, or I know your IFGL pensions is, you're one of seven brands of IFGL. ⁓ Have you guys done any sort of industry awareness days or anything like that?
Rachel Meadows (17:08)
That's good question. our head office, our group head office, IFGL, based in the Isle of Man, and IFGL are a very prominent brand within the Isle of Man community and they do a lot of support work, work experience placements, recruiting school leavers. So as a group we do quite a lot of work there.
I've been involved in some work that the CII have done in the past around building the profile of the industry, facilitating work experience placements. That's something we'd like to do more of in the future. ⁓ It is a people industry.
The Priority Lane (17:48)
Yeah, because
I mean you are, but you yourself, you're based in Liverpool, a great university there too, so I really wanted to know whether you, or would you consider perhaps, I suppose doing a, like a brand awareness or an experiential sort of, you know, day or something like that, and to, you know, with a university, would you consider doing something like that?
Rachel Meadows (17:53)
Yes.
Potentially, the pensions business, ⁓ IGL Pensions, is still relatively small, so we've only got around 50 staff. So we've not had maybe enough ⁓ graduate intake roles at one time to be able to go out and do a structured day with the university. We can of course go and do sessions to build awareness of the profession in general. But we are a very ambitious business.
strongly focused on growth. We've grown quite a bit by customer numbers over the last 18 months and that's the trajectory we want to continue. So hopefully that's an area where we'll be able to be more active in the future.
The Priority Lane (18:55)
Yeah, I was just curious because it's not necessarily just in terms of potential recruitment magnet for you guys, but also as an awareness to the youngsters about pensions, even though it sounds something really grand dad, doesn't it? It's like, that's what my grand dad, I don't need to know about that. I kind of do because even now, I I regret not starting with I mean, I've been working since I was 16.
Rachel Meadows (19:14)
Yeah.
The Priority Lane (19:24)
⁓ And, know, I never, no one ever told me anything about that. And now I'm looking at going, good Lord, I'm not where I really should be. you know, and I, so that's kind of where I was, I was going, that's just to, know, whether it was a, you know, was possible possibility to bring awareness to, you know, start a pension ASAP basically. Did you start a pension early or?
Rachel Meadows (19:47)
No, absolutely.
I did, mean, again, the industry that I'm in, you'd hope that I would have done, albeit when I... ⁓
When I joined the firm that I was with at the time, the earliest you could join the pension scheme was on your 24th birthday. So I was actually a qualified financial planner advising on pensions before I was actually able to join. Our own pension scheme, things these days are a little bit different. So we've obviously got auto-enrolment in place now for workplace pension schemes. So, you know, people do tend to join. ⁓
The Priority Lane (20:16)
Thank you.
Rachel Meadows (20:29)
when they start work. But I think where we need to do a bit more work, where the industry is actually really putting a lot of effort in, is building awareness ⁓ early in people's careers about how much you need to save to be able to retire comfortably and to be able to have any choice around your retirement age.
The Priority Lane (20:51)
Yeah.
Rachel Meadows (20:51)
And the massive power of tiny changes very early on. If you make little changes in your 20s, each time you get a pay rise, maybe just put half a percent more in your pension, you never feel the pain. So it never feels like you've contributed more or you're having to put big sums of money away. But actually the compounding impact of that over time, it's like a superpower.
The Priority Lane (21:00)
Yeah. ⁓
Rachel Meadows (21:15)
So you kind of go into an autopilot if you're disciplined
The Priority Lane (21:15)
Yeah.
Rachel Meadows (21:18)
early on and you never have to get to that awful stage, which too many people still do, where you hit your sort of mid-40s, early 50s and you think, there are pension. It starts feeling real. But if you're trying to bridge the gap at that age, actually it is quite expensive to try to play catch up. It's possible, but it's a lot harder than staying on track when you're younger.
The Priority Lane (21:32)
Yeah Yeah
So I do know obviously that you know the workplace pension the nest its nest isn't I think it's called
Rachel Meadows (21:49)
Yeah, so next is the
government.
The Priority Lane (21:51)
the the government's which your
employer pays into. What advice would you, for example, if I'm employed by a company which I have been and I have a very small amount in a nest pension, what would you advise me or someone who has that, would you go stick with that or would you choose a different product?
Rachel Meadows (22:13)
So Nest is a great default option for maybe small firms that don't have the budget to go out and work with advisors to pick a more comprehensive workplace scheme. There's some great workplace schemes out there. If you're self-employed, I don't know whether you're still working with an employer now or if you're self-employed, there might be something that's a bit more flexible in Nest. So you might be able to open a SIP.
The Priority Lane (22:17)
Yeah.
Rachel Meadows (22:39)
saving each month, still benefit from your tax relief, have a little bit more choice and control around your investments and how you decide to your pension out. I think though too much of the conversation can sometimes be around where you're saving, you know.
Lots of pension providers, often great quality products. Obviously I would think ours are, but you know, there's some great firms. The most important thing though is actually the basics. It's less about the pot and more about how much is going in the pot. So as long as you're saving regularly into a pension, that's actually the lion's share of the hard work. Where it is then, you know, it's the icing on the cake, it's not the cake.
The Priority Lane (23:10)
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Right, because my other half, she's a BSL interpreter and translator and deafblind communicator as well. ⁓ And she does very, well. She's obviously self-employed like most of the interpreters are. And we were talking just yesterday about pensions and she doesn't have one. And she, because I work in financial services, I said, I'm not a pension advisor.
Rachel Meadows (23:55)
yet.
The Priority Lane (23:55)
I couldn't
tell you. ⁓ said, but funny enough, speak to, I speak to Rachel tomorrow and she does know, but my Tony, my other half, said that, you know, what scares her was kind of the word she used is that she doesn't, she doesn't, has no idea which one to choose, which business, which company or provider to choose. And what level is it low, medium, high, which she has no idea, which I totally understand. Cause I don't either.
So what would you advise someone in that position to, how do they choose?
Rachel Meadows (24:30)
It's a great question and it's so common as well as not even knowing what questions you should be asking in the first place. know, that's such a common problem. The first step actually is if you're not sure where to start, speak to a financial advisor because they will give you that help, support, they'll help you navigate all the options, cut through the noise, help you pick the product.
The Priority Lane (24:38)
Right.
Rachel Meadows (24:56)
But again, linking back to what we were just mentioning before, most importantly, what they could do is sit down with her and say, okay, how much can you afford to save in? it's 200 pounds a month. Okay, if you save 200 pounds a month in from this point up until this age, this is what that might look like at retirement. How does...
If you could afford to save another £50 a month, what difference would that make? So they'll actually handhold you and help you understand not just what's going in, what that actually means at the other end, because that's the challenge with something like a pension. It's so long term, it feels very abstract in your head. Having that expert sat there to just break it down, talk about it with you, talk about your investment options in a way that's,
The Priority Lane (25:32)
Yes, it's true.
Rachel Meadows (25:44)
accessible, don't need to make lots of sophisticated investment decisions yourself. There are professionals out there who are, they're doing all the time, that's their day job. leverage help. It doesn't mean to say you need to work with that financial advisor. Every year from now until retirement, you might do, if you've got a need for advice each year. But lots of advisors now will work with you.
The Priority Lane (25:56)
So.
Rachel Meadows (26:14)
touch base every couple of years so you know they'll work with you in a way that you that you need for your circumstances.
The Priority Lane (26:21)
because she did say to me that she said but surely when I said to her you should perhaps you know speak to her advisor and you know I do know a few so
which he said, isn't that...
Basically, I don't earn the sort of threshold or the revenue that you they can't it's a lot of advisors have a minimum Let's say half a million quid of investment before they pick the phone up to you will speak to you and and that I feel is also Perhaps one of the reasons why only not even nine percent of the UK population Took a financial advice last year because I think we as the general populace who don't are high net worth or you know
high net worth individuals, we worry that we're not earning enough of them to even be interested. So where does that leave Tony, for example, how, you know, when she's, you know, she's doing okay, but she's not, you know, doing huge six figure numbers a year. ⁓ How does, how does, what does, what does that fit into someone in that bracket?
Rachel Meadows (27:28)
It's a great question. So you're right that some advisors have a particular target market and they'll work with people in a particular wealth bracket. There are lots of financial advice firms out there that will work with normal people. And because they're fee-based, they're not as expensive as you would think. Actually, the benefit that you gain from that hand-holding and support.
more than pays for the costs of advice. So I think people should not be discouraged from seeking advice. Lots of advice, you have an initial conversation on a no obligation, no cost basis to start with as well, so that you can kind of see if you've got a person fit, a bit of a rapport with the person. ⁓
The Priority Lane (28:10)
Thanks.
Rachel Meadows (28:19)
you know with your advisor you're not only talking about technical financial things you're actually having very personal conversations with them you'll talk to your financial advisor about your goals your dreams your health circumstances your finances the state of your relationships things that you would never normally talk about with someone that you've just met so the person fits important
The Priority Lane (28:26)
Yeah. Yeah.
Rachel Meadows (28:41)
If you genuinely can't afford advice, then online there are some great guidance options. So it's not quite as good as sitting down with someone and getting a personalised
recommendation. But there are some hints out there in terms of where to start. And some of the big name pension providers have got great resources on their websites. I mean, IFGL Pensions, we have some information on our websites, but our products are...
The Priority Lane (28:53)
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓
Rachel Meadows (29:09)
We offer SIPs for ⁓ UK customers who want to invest in commercial properties. So typically people that are a bit more sophisticated in pension investment and international and offshore customers.
So we're a little bit different. But there is information out there. If she just Googles pension, where to start.
The Priority Lane (29:33)
Yeah,
I did. I was it's a running joke with us. She she kept asking me some questions that she I imagine bless her she thought only I would know the answer to and I just responded Google it so
Rachel Meadows (29:50)
know, it sounds
awful doesn't it when you say Google it, but there's a lot out there. But I think the other piece of signposting would be, I don't know you've heard of Pension Awareness Week. It's an exciting week, but it takes place every year in September. ⁓ It's primarily sponsored by a business called Pension Geeks, but lots of pension providers take part in it as well. And during the course of Pension Awareness Week, ⁓
The Priority Lane (29:53)
No, excuse me.
I haven't.
Sure.
Rachel Meadows (30:17)
There's all sorts of free to watch, bite-sized webinars, live shows, loads of videos on the website, guides, brilliant place to start. So the Pension Awareness Week website is a great place to start in itself. There's loads of resources. You can watch last year's shows with experts, and that takes place every year.
The Priority Lane (30:29)
Thank
That's great resource, thank you for that. She'll be a lot happier. I'll get some brownie points for saying something more tangible than just Google it. I'm a bit naughty, I am actually quite naughty and I do it on purpose to wind her up. I'll try harder.
Listen, next I wanted to talk to you about Teams, something you mentioned a few minutes ago. And I think it was to do with your kind of support, you know, with your work and home life. I think now what I've seen certainly is that the teams that, you know, the leaders that I speak to have built or surrounded themselves with, they feed off each other, which means they're at
it allows each other to be more flexible, have that flexibility to manage that work-life balance. Have you done the same when you built the team? Was it already an incumbent team or did you bring the team together in this last 18 months or so?
Rachel Meadows (31:50)
Yeah, great question. So, IFGL Pensions was only acquired by IFGL about three years ago. I joined the business at that point, I was ⁓ new to the pensions business, also new to the IFGL group. And at the time, the pensions business was in need of some transformation. We needed to improve service levels, we needed to overhaul.
culture, we needed to replace some back office systems and processes. So over the last three years, there's been lots of change, hopefully for the better, definitely for the better. But one of the most important elements of change was making sure that we had the right team in place. So in some cases, that meant bringing in
right people with the right skills and the right cultural fit, know, can do people who are really focused on customer service and job and grow. And that also involved a lot of investment in training and development for some of the staff as well and putting in place clearer team structures and making sure that not only can our leadership team work well.
The Priority Lane (32:45)
Yeah. Yeah, of course.
Thank
and and the other
is the group of 12 students. So, we're be a little bit of a group test, and we're going to be doing a little bit a team test, we're going a test, and we're to little bit test, and going bit team test, and we're team and to going to team going to team test, we're team and we're going bit test,
Rachel Meadows (33:04)
together but also that our whole operation can work well as a team and within each of the individual department teams. ⁓
have got the tools they need, the colleague support they need to be able to operate in their lives and build better careers. I want to win-win for us because if your staff are happy and they're more likely to do a good job for your customers,
you kind of do both hand-in-hand.
The Priority Lane (33:37)
No, it increases the productivity clearly and you know, but yeah in terms of that support so I found an interesting step, excuse me, I need to put my glasses on as I am now somewhat aged. So the research that I found that it says and this is what kind of around what we're talking about in terms of having a support network around you to
to help mitigate mental health challenges or the busy life work schedules that we all have. And it says women in business leadership face distinct mental health challenges. Studies indicate that they experience higher rates of stress and burnout compared to their male counterparts. it says that 43 % of female executives experience burnout compared to 31 % of male leaders. And 43%, that's...
That's a significant number. Can you identify with that? Or I mean, you seem very cool, very calm, very, very collected.
Rachel Meadows (34:40)
Okay, I enjoy what do.
I mean, I'm fortunate I work for a great group. IFGL is a great group to work for culturally. I think I've been very fortunate through my career actually that in my professional life I've only ever worked for great businesses. Griffiths and Armour early on, Charles Stanley, Broadstone. I think that helps if you're working within great quality businesses that trying to do a good job. There's a lot to be said for a Friday night glass of wine as
The Priority Lane (35:07)
Yeah.
Rachel Meadows (35:10)
well to be honest and a nice walk or you know just yeah I think your family life as well outside of work can help you keep perspective and you know maybe I sound bit flippant with my Friday night wine and my know kids putting perspective on it all because I get that you know people can do those things and still still struggle but I'm perhaps fortunate that my combination of you know today I work for a great firm
It's nice to switch off at the weekend and family puts everything in perspective and keeps you connected to reality and real life outcomes. ⁓
The Priority Lane (35:41)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that's
yeah, think that's I say you that just you're just identifying what I would see as a sort of You know global support network, you know across, know, you know work and you know, but 43 % No experience that I mean, that's And and the actual and the other stat here was that 86 % of
Rachel Meadows (36:06)
Really, hi. Scary.
The Priority Lane (36:16)
female small business owners, they report experiencing poor mental health. I that's massive. And I imagine that's because if they're an individual enterprise, they've got all the weight of everything and that perhaps they're not in a position to hire a team that can take some of that pressure off. But I just found that that's but it does all kind of relate back to.
Rachel Meadows (36:41)
Yeah.
It's difficult, I guess trying to be all things to all people can... yeah, your support network's so important, whatever that looks like.
The Priority Lane (36:45)
Bye bye.
Right, yeah that's...
Yeah, that's great. Well, look, I'm now going to move on to some, I suppose, the human element side of the things, which is something that I always do. And the Priority Lane podcast is a big advocate for that. You might not have seen that. I interviewed our CEO who owns the Priority Lane, and I interviewed him last week. And I basically had a little bit of banter. I've known him for a long time.
But yeah, we always touch on a little bit of humor and that sort of thing. So I just wanted to finish with a few sort of questions. Don't forget that. And the first one is, what sound or noise do you love?
Rachel Meadows (37:33)
you
Oh God,
I wasn't expecting that question. The sea, I like the sound of waves, I find that very relaxing.
The Priority Lane (37:50)
Okay? What sound or noise do you hate?
Rachel Meadows (37:55)
Oh, you know those brown tape guns on a, you know, it squeaks. Oh, drives me insane. I can't cope with that noise.
The Priority Lane (38:05)
So basically that means listeners that Rachel will never move again or tape up a box by the sound of it. ⁓
Rachel Meadows (38:11)
Maybe that's it,
maybe it's the association with the traumatic process of moving out.
The Priority Lane (38:16)
Yeah, it is. It's the worst thing in the world.
I love that. love that. These next few are very difficult and they are very difficult. Favorite film?
Rachel Meadows (38:29)
Independence Day. It's not very high powered, I just really like it.
The Priority Lane (38:33)
I would
not have taken you for a sci-fi thing. Okay, cool. ⁓ Favorite song or music genre? Because favorite song is too difficult. Yeah, favorite song or music genre.
Rachel Meadows (38:40)
Yeah, love a Alien Film
That's really tricky actually
because I have quite eclectic taste in music. like of everything. love dance music, R &B, love bit of meatloaf. I actually love 80s, I love loads of different music.
The Priority Lane (38:56)
This is what we want to hear.
Love Meat, Love Asp, amazing,
what a response. ⁓ Favorite book or author or genre?
Rachel Meadows (39:23)
just a thriller. Have I got a favourite author? I don't think I've got a favourite author. I read a lot actually. Lisa Jull is very good. Again, I have quite eclectic tastes. Yeah, I read a lot. I also read business books. If you're talking about women in business, Mary Ann Seacurt, The Authority Gap, I highly recommend everyone read that book. That really is an eye-opening one.
The Priority Lane (39:50)
Okay.
Okay. And what would you want to do now if you weren't doing what you're currently doing?
What job would you want to be doing now that you're obviously not this? If you had the opportunity, what would you do?
Rachel Meadows (40:11)
It's a good question. I actually genuinely enjoy my job. If I wasn't doing this, I think I'd love being like a party planner or something like that because I love throwing a big family party. We're kind of known as, you know, there's a bit of hosting. We'll always throw a big party, something like that. So yeah, I love throwing a party. That would be really cool.
The Priority Lane (40:26)
Okay.
really
like a work so I've been in events and hospitality for a long long time also so and wedding plans I just it's I've done a gazillion and they're actually not very profitable because when you calculate when you calculate the work hours all the emails phone calls show rounds planning occasion meetings etc etc versus what you actually get paid it's not a great profit margin so you know that that's
Rachel Meadows (40:59)
No, I can
imagine. Well, I it would be good. But yeah, I'm watching it, guess, because I enjoy what I do and I like the industry we work
The Priority Lane (41:00)
That's
No, that's
no, that's fair enough. And finally, back to a more serious note. What piece of advice would you give? Not just other women, but anyone in looking to make that move or to get over perhaps the imposter syndrome, which I know that, know, Claire and Jen, who I spoke to a few weeks ago, they both mentioned that, you know, some women struggle with that. What piece of advice would you give to?
to ⁓ women or anyone looking to make that step up into perhaps financial services or whatever business.
Rachel Meadows (41:45)
I would say even if you feel like imposter syndrome, just make yourself have a go because that is when you will learn those skills that you think you don't have yet to be able to do the next job up the way you get those normally is, you know, a little bit in the deep end. If you're not slightly out of your comfort zone, you're not learning and you won't have such a long time, you know, making sure you are learning yourself.
is important, keeps you interested and is well motivated.
The Priority Lane (42:18)
No, that's no, I understand. think, you my other two guests, they also concur with that. You know, it's just, you know, have a go. You've got nothing to lose effectively. So that's great. Well, listen, Rachel, thank you so much again for joining me. It's been a revelation. Some very interesting answers there at the end. I'm sure we will put together some shorts.
⁓ on obviously the social media platforms, the Meatloaf one in particular, think we'll get some views. But I thank you so much again for joining me and ⁓ listen, have a great week. I'm Lawrence Daunsey, this is the Priority Lane and we will see you again soon.
Rachel Meadows (42:48)
Thank you.
Thanks so much for having me, Lawrence.
The Priority Lane (43:03)
Bye,