Lack of diversity in insurance can't be fixed overnight — it's a work in progress

This is the view of Vivian Leinster, chief people officer of MS Amlin, who explains some of the changes she has been advocating within the organisation and the wider insurance industry over the past few years.

She believes that the biggest change has been the increase in gender pay gap disclosures. This, she says, has opened the door to a more equal pay market and allowed people to discuss interventions and remediation with a positive intent.

"The latest gender pay gap reports have highlighted that there is still an issue with regards to gender equality in the workforce, particularly in the senior levels of the organisation," she says. "According to the statistics financial services are behind a number of other sectors in terms of diversity.

"The insurance industry recognises that where there is a gender pay gap it is primarily down to the number of women in senior positions compared to men."

Leinster says that having a diverse workplace is not only an ethical obligation for organisations, but also a sound business decision.

"There are too many surveys and reports that show the benefits of having a diverse workforce for this industry to simply ignore it.

"For any organisation to be truly successful it must represent its customers and clients. Therefore, having a diversity of workforce that mirrors or matches your customer base is very critical for insurance."

She questions how insurers can serve customers to the very best of their potential if they don’t have a diverse workforce that represents the people they are serving.

To make the sector more diverse and inclusive, and provide practical ideas and inspiration for how to bring about positive change, Lloyd's launched its first Dive In initiative in 2015. Now in its fifth year, the festival has grown into an international movement with participation from some of the biggest insurance companies, brokers, underwriters and service providers.

The 2019 festival, which will run from September 24 - 26, builds on last year’s theme of developing ‘awareness into action’, and aims to look beyond the widely recognised areas of diversity like race and gender. To do this it will highlight more areas of diversity, some of which are under-represented, including cultural background, sexuality, social mobility, faith, caring responsibilities, mental health and physical impairments.

Leinster comments: "One of the things about the Dive In festival is that many of the topics, talks and presentations are provocative and tackle subjects that are very current and relevant within the insurance sector and society at large.

"I would encourage people to take back what they have heard and learned at the festival and talk about it - raise awareness, raise education and generate greater curiosity in this space.

"This then helps people see that organisations are taking it seriously. And that we are all grappling in some ways with the topic and we need to work together with the right ways and solutions that are needed."

Leinster underscores the need for companies to recognise the complexity and depth of the issue and carefully craft an inclusive culture where people feel comfortable in having a conversation about the topic rather than shy away from it.

"People often struggle with what is perceived as the right language to use and it is an area that is constantly evolving,” she says. “We have plans to roll out workshops for people to help them feel more comfortable in how to address the topic and how to speak with curiosity and positive intent."

She adds that the other biggest challenge is patience. "Lack of diversity is a problem that can't be fixed overnight, these things will just take time but we will, and are, seeing progress. It is a constantly evolving agenda."

Leinster stresses that the change has to be right back at the source for the industry to see a greater difference.

"We know that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects at university are being studied by a far greater proportion of men. There is a gender imbalance all the way to back to school with subjects that people are studying.

"So the things that the industry can do right back at the source is to support, encourage and inspire people from a greater diversity, backgrounds into the industry in the first place.

"But I think once people are joining the industry it is around continuing to encourage things such as flexible working. The insurance industry is behind other sectors in encouraging greater flexibility and that is one of the biggest barriers in maintaining and retaining a talented diverse workforce."