Making insurance more diverse and inclusive

​During the latest Insurance Post Podcast, Ben Howarth, chief sustainability officer of the Association of British Insurers, said: “You can’t make the right decisions for a really diverse society without having a diverse make up of views.

"If you have a small, narrow group of people, they might think they have got the answer right, and they are having interesting conversations in their board discussions and executive teams, but if they are not diverse they are going to miss stuff that is obvious [to others].

“It [diversity and inclusion] is not just about the make up of your business. It is about the way you make decisions and get the right voices into the room. I am convinced that [D&I] will lead to better products for people.”

Howarth also shared information about the ABI’s blueprint for the industry to become more diverse and inclusive, and pointed out that, currently, only 3% of boards are from ethnic minority backgrounds despite individuals meeting this definition making up 18% of society.

When asked how the industry can become more inclusive, Laura Patterson, head of diversity and inclusion at Allianz Holdings, said the provider engages with colleagues to recognise barriers and introduce policies, as well as processes, to become more diverse.

Patterson pointed to Allianz’s career returners scheme as an initiative that is working to recruit a wider breadth of individuals who may have taken a break from the industry.

Lauren Stables, head of operations at Aurora, also shared her own personal experience of how start-ups in the insurance space are showing how swiftly progress can be achieved when you don’t have legacy hiring issues.

Stables said: “My background is coming from a large commercial insurer, and I definitely saw more males in higher roles.

"Moving to a start-up six months ago; it is really refreshing to see that more than 50% of our team are females, and in higher roles as well. It shows [how by] not having some of the inherent issues some of the larger insurers have, we can actually become more diverse.”

During the podcast, the trio also explore what progress has been made to date on ditching the industry's 'stale, pale and male' reputation, the importance of targets and how important it is for insurers to understand steps to become more diverse and inclusive are vital if businesses are to be profitable.

As well as being able to listen to the podcast by clicking on the player above, you can also download and keep this episode of the Insurance Post Podcast to listen to anytime, anywhere you want to. To download the episode, go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple, Google, Samsung, Spotify, Audible, etc) and search for Insurance Post.

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