Lloyd’s survey reveals 500 workers witnessed sexual harassment in past year

Lloyd’s of London has pledged to change its ways dramatically after a survey found that nearly 500 workers had witnessed sexual harassment in the space of a year.

Lloyd’s released the results of a study, conducted by the Banking Standards Board on behalf of the market, of 6,000 people to coincide with the Dive In festival, which addresses diversity and inclusion issues.

The survey said that 8 percent of all respondents had witnessed sexual harassment over the previous 12 months, but just 45 percent said they would feel comfortable raising a concern. Some 22 percent of respondents have seen people in their organisation turn a blind eye to inappropriate behaviour.

Women are generally having more negative experiences than men, the survey found. One in five respondents do not believe people have equal opportunities regardless of gender.

Lloyd’s says that new programme of measures it has set out builds on the five-point action plan put in place earlier this year and is intended to further accelerate the pace of change. This includes a Gender Balance Plan, “setting clear and measurable targets for improving the representation of women at senior levels within the Lloyd’s market, based on the principles set out in the Hampton Alexander review”.

It has also set out standards of business conduct requiring every person and every organisation operating in the market to act with integrity, be respectful and always speak up.

Lloyd’s said it will appoint an independent advisory group comprised of leading experts with experience of successful cultural transformation. This group will be chaired by Fiona Luck, a Lloyd’s board member and non-executive director responsible for talent and culture.

Lloyd’s chief executive John Neal, said: “I am determined that we create a working environment at Lloyd’s where everyone feels safe, valued and respected. Cultural change takes time, but we have to accelerate progress and the measures announced today are intended to do just that.”

Speaking to Intelligent Insurer at an industry gathering in Monte Carlo this month Lloyd’s chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown, said: “We want to call out and address these issues. I suspect, as we do that, we will experience a few bumps and certainly more negative sentiment. It may appear we will go backwards before we go forward, but that will also be part of the healing process.”

He added that he believes the process of change would be helped by dealing with some cases very publicly to warn the rest of the market certain behaviour will not be tolerated. “It would be good to find a few to hang that would change the mood,” he said. “We want a proper process and it needs to be fair, but we also want to send a powerful signal to the market.”

Christopher Croft, CEO of LIIBA, said: “There is no place for bullying or harassment in our marketplace and the expectations are rightly that our market will work collectively to address incidence of poor behaviour.

“London’s broking community takes this initiative very seriously and LIIBA is working closely with our members and business partners to take concrete steps for improvement. As part of this, LIIBA has run a number of well-attended workshops on conduct in the workplace and inclusive behaviour. This sort of support is particularly important for our smaller members who don’t have the infrastructure of the larger brokers.”

Jennette Newman, president of London FOIL and Clyde & Co partner, said: "Over a fifth of people turning a blind eye on inappropriate behaviour is unsustainable. Fewer than half feeling able to raise concerns, or confident they will be heard smacks of the last century not this one.

“I hope the Lloyd’s culture survey sets a baseline for much-needed improvements in gender balance, standards of conduct and culture overall. Dashboards and targets are controversial – they can encourage a tick-box mentality and we need to move on from that. However, I suspect for Lloyd’s and the deep-rooted cultures and complexities of the market, this is necessary. It is somewhat hard to measure and accelerate progress without it."

Get all the latest re/insurance industry news with our daily newsletter -  sign up here.

​Mutual insurers in better shape than quoted counterparts, finds research

AmTrust launches new excess casualty operation

HSCM, Lockton invest in commercial insurtech Bold Penguin

Major reinsurer partners with fitness app to study exercise and morbidity risks

Feature:  10 ways insurers are using insurtech to drive new business