How Alan shakes up the rules

Alan is a Software-As-A-Aervice startup that has created a well-designed insurance product with transparent pricing and policies to make healthcare more accessible.

From 16 to 200 employees in three years, Alan is growing fast, and there’s more growth to come thanks to its fundraising of $45M. The founders, Jean-Charles Samuelian and Charles Gorintin, are well known for disrupting the insurance market and management rules. Meetings are banned, managers have been replaced by “owners” and diplomas are no longer criteria for recruitment. Alan is a model of transparency at all levels for more equity and inclusion.

An inclusive and collaborative recruitment process

Alan’s objective has always been to attract more diverse talent by limiting bias in recruitment and having more mixed and diverse teams. All employees are involved in recruitment (regardless of their position in the company or seniority level) and interview panels are as diverse and representative of the company as possible. Alan’s recruitment process includes an initial interview to assess the candidate’s motivation and talk about the company and job position; an interview to test technical skills; an interview to discuss a candidate’s background (skills) and values; and lastly, one full day spent at the office. In order to be fair with each candidate, recruitment is never based on feelings. Since implementing these changes, + 36% of women or non-binary individuals have joined Alan’s team.

A strong effort in the sourcing process to make it more effective

Alan’s sourcing process is more and more oriented towards women. They work with key players and specific networks such as Girls in Tech or Duchess to source more women.

Managers replaced by “owners”

Alan replaced project managers with “owners” in order to facilitate the decision-making process and bring a variety of insights to the table. For each workstream, Alan chooses an “owner” who is responsible for making final decisions. The owner states his or her point of view, suggests solutions and gathers the opinions of others internally. Anyone can challenge an owner’s decisions, but it is the owner who makes the final call.

A pay scale made public

Negotiation regarding pay is not a part of the hiring process at Alan. Instead, the company has defined (and made public) a salary scale based on job level and experience. During the recruitment process, everyone who has met the candidate decides their position on this grid. Salary is not based on a candidate’s background, degree or negotiation skills. Sometimes they are offered a lower salary than expected, sometimes a much higher one.

Reducing pay gaps

To prevent pay gaps among employees, Alan schedules reviews every six months. Depending on an employee’s performance and progress, the review panel will decide if they can move to a higher pay bracket.

And even more inclusive practices!

In order to bring in more diverse talent, Alan also offers flexible working hours, remote work options, unlimited vacation and extended parental leave.