Modern Insurance Magazine Issue 34 - Meritocracy Supplement

meritocracy noun

A social system, society or organisation in which people are rewarded based on their abilities alone

A revolutionary approach to claims.

Manage the cost, not the process.

Established in 1999, Action 365 has developed a national reputation for excellence and is reported by the UK Companies House as amongst the insurance industry’s most successful and financially reliable performers.

To find out more, please contact E: info@action365.co.uk T: 0161 488 3888 www.action365.co.uk Action 365 Ltd, Registered in England and Wales no 3839322.

Registered Address - Eden Point, Three Acres Lane, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, SK8 6RL. Action 365 Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Our firm reference number is 306011. You can check this on the Financial Conduct Authority Register by visiting www.fca.org.uk Regulated by The Claims Management Regulator in respect of regulated claims management activities registration no CRM2517 recorded on the website www.justice.gov.uk/claims-regulation

Introduction

Welcome to our very special supplement with Pukka Insure. Pukka Insure provides a range of insurance products and services in order to create sound claims management while putting the customer at the heart of what they do. This supplement, however, is dedicated to meritocracy: a social system, society or organisation in which people are rewarded based on their abilities alone. This issue’s aim was to focus on how we can filter meritocracy through our working cultures, but we also wanted to look at diversity and inclusion within the insurance industry, and what we are doing to further its progress but also what more we can do, not only within our professional lives, but also in wider society.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and meeting, talking and listening to the incredible individuals involved. We are behind in the insurance industry but I hope by doing more projects like this one, having more open and honest conversations and more events like the Dive In Festival, diversity and inclusion will become second nature to us.

Poppy Green, Co-Editor, Modern Insurance Magazine. @Modern_Poppy | poppy@charltongrant.co.uk 01765600909

INTERVIEWS

FEATURES

4 - Sam White

Modern Insurance spoke to Sam White, CEO and Founder, about the concept of meritocracy and how this can be filtered down into our working cultures.

We caught up on how we can continue to make meaningful progress with diversity and inclusion within the insurance sector and wider society and how we can continue to promote women in business.

8 - Debbie Cannon

Modern Insurance spoke to Debbie Cannon, Claims Fraud Manager, about the importance of encouraging a better understanding and awareness of gender identities within the workplace but also within wider society. We discussed her transition while at work and why it is ultimately important to just be yourself.

12 - John Amaechi

20 - Dive In Festival 2018

On the 25th September, the Modern Insurance team attended Manchester’s Dive In Festival – the festival for diversity and inclusion in the insurance industry. This year’s theme was #time4inclusion. The workshops we attended provided advice and practical ideas for how insurance businesses can bring positive change and achieve an inclusive culture within their organisations.

Throughout the day we spoke to some of the speakers and organisers of the event and found out why it is imperative that we continue to encourage diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

24 - Susie Wolff

We take a look at diversity and inclusion within the motor sports world with Susie Wolff, Team Principal and Founder, and how her views of meritocracy and D&I can be made exclusive to all industries, including insurance.

Speaking to John Amaechi, CEO, we discussed the importance of organisational performance and how the concept of meritocracy can help to further achievements within a business, as well as how senior leaders can improve their leadership through a few simple steps.

26 - Unleashing potential with ‘real’ people

16 - Clare Wardle

We hear from Steven Copsey, Co-Chair of the Link, about his take on meritocracy and how the Link, the LGBT Insurance Network, are working to improve diversity and inclusion in the insurance industry.

Modern Insurance spoke to Clare Wardle, General Counsel and Company Secretary, about how businesses and organisations can attract, develop and retain the best talent. Wardle is a great advocate for women in business and shares her thoughts on diversity and inclusion within the workplace and why it is important if we want to become progressive and collaborative companies.

Co-Editor Poppy Green

Lisa Meigh, Director of HR, Learning & Development at Covéa Insurance shares her experience of diversity and inclusion.

28 - Meritocracy in the insurance industry

30 - Freedom Fairness

Raymond Westwick, Managing Director, tells us about the concept of fairness and what Freedom Brokers are doing in response.

Project Manager & Event Sales Rachael Pearson

Modern Insurance Magazine is published by Charlton Grant Ltd ©2018

All material is copyrighted both written and illustrated. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. All images and information is collated from extensive research and along with advertisements is published in good faith. Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this publication was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

Pukka Supplement | 3

Sam White Modern Insurance spoke to Sam White, CEO and Founder, about the concept of meritocracy and how this can be filtered down into our working cultures. We caught up on how we can continue to make meaningful progress with diversity and inclusion within the insurance industry and wider society and how we can continue to promote women in business.

4 | Pukka Supplement

When you are running a company you are trying to solve problems and move the business forward; when you are employing people you should be looking for people that have the right skills to solve those problems, the right attitude to fit in with your business and help you achieve your goals. For me, meritocracy is simply saying that those are the only things that you should be considering

Q

You have spoken about a need for meritocracy in the industry, can you tell me about this concept and how you are filtering that into your working culture?

A

For me it is really simple, when you are running a company you are trying to solve problems and move the business forward; when you are employing people you should be looking for people that have the right skills to solve those problems, the right attitude to fit in with your business and help you achieve your goals. For me, meritocracy is simply saying that those are the only things that you should be considering.

If anything else is coming into play in terms of your judgement, and that is in all areas, so not just gender, or sexuality or race, or where someone is born in the country. As a business you have got to really challenge yourself to strip all of that away and assess the person in front of you based on their capability and attitude and no other factors.

Q A

What are Pukka Insure’s core values?

Pukka is fundamentally about three things: taking care of our customers, taking care of our staff and taking care of the wider community. In order to do that effectively we absolutely need diversity within the workplace.

We are constantly striving to make sure that what we put out there publicly and how we present ourselves to our staff is reflected in the behaviours that we exhibit. So much so that I have got a behavioural organisational psychologist coming in specifically to tackle that and to make sure that that alignment feeds right the way through the business.

Q

Could the concept of meritocracy conflict against the traditional view of insurance and how can we overcome this?

A Q A

Tell us about yourself.

In a nutshell: Female, northern, noisy and gay. Not exactly the norm for the insurance industry. I set up my first company when I was twenty-four and now I employ over 250 people who are equally noisy, diverse and as energetic as me.

My view on this is probably slightly different from most as all I see is that the industry is struggling, and in lots of different areas. Motor insurance is a prime example, they have made losses for the last twenty years, and they are desperately trying to make a model work that is no longer functional. Because of that, the impression that the general public get is that the industry doesn’t care and that it is constantly trying to save a pound. But the reason that it is not working, and this is where I come back to this idea of meritocracy, I think, broadly, they have recruited the same people with the same mindset over and over again and from my perspective, there is often a myriad of different solutions to the same problem. You can get to the same destination and go a number of different routes, but if you keep hiring the same type of person, they will always take the same path. The only way that you can find a transformational solution for the problem is by bringing in people that think differently. If you have different life experiences because you are from a different trajectory you are going to find a different solution to the problem, so that is where I feel the real value, from a business sense, comes from diversity.

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I still have a lot of people say to me that there isn’t enough female role models in insurance that they can look to and aspire to be and we need to change that

Q

How can we move beyond unconscious bias within business in order to empower women in all types of industries?

A Q

There is often a perception that women need to tick a number of boxes in order to succeed as leaders, how can we as an industry change that outlook and encourage more balance in leadership?

A

I do agree with that in the corporate world. For this question I feel I am the least qualified to answer because I have worked for myself and haven’t had to deal with that prejudice, but I am quite sure if it could have stopped my career progression it absolutely would have because I absolutely don’t tick all of those boxes.

From my perspective, a leader is someone who is able to recognise strength in others, able to see the bigger picture and pull everyone together towards a common goal. It makes sense that women would be in a position of strength from a leadership perspective because they are more likely to take on board other people’s ideas and try and create a culture where collaboration is key. Again, it comes back to not allowing your own prejudice, in terms of how you think things need to be done, to influence your decision making process when you’re promoting and bringing people in in the first instance.

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I have been chatting to a few female leaders about this recently. You get lots of different arguments that will say that the talent pool is less at a senior level, so when someone is looking to recruit, they are not going to have as many applicants that are female for that job. So it is not even a case of unconscious bias, they just haven’t got as many people to choose from.

Again, the solution to that is to not assume that just because someone has had the exact same role before that they are the most qualified person for the job.

I am very interested in the behavioural psychologists’ view from a business perspective and having a look at what kind of attributes people have as opposed to just competencies that they have for a particular job.

We are only just on the beginnings of that journey, to create something within the business that is able to help shape that kind of behaviour to make sure that we are making the decisions for the right set of reasons or at least not allowing ourselves to be influenced by the wrong ones. It is a fascinating subject and I am sure that it is not going to be the easiest of things to execute but by just getting businesses to think differently about the process has got to be a starting point.

Q A

About 65% of your board of Directors are female, was this a conscious decision?

I definitely didn’t say I am going to do my bit to change the balance because first and foremost

I am a business person so I have to deliver results.

It is probably easier for me to recruit senior women because I am female, but I still have a lot of people say to me that there aren’t enough female role models in insurance that they can look to and aspire to be and we need to change that.

Q

What should we be doing to ensure the future achievements of women are continually recognised and encouraged; how will this set an example for future generations?

A

There is a lot of talk about positive discrimination and I am kind of on the fence with that because I think that it can sometimes have the opposite effect.

We should be celebrating qualities in all people without allowing ourselves to be influenced by any other factors. If there were less examples of it within an organisation, then I think there is no harm in the leaders of those organisations seeking those stories out to share with the rest of their employees and the wider community. We are aware that there is a misrepresentation, so the leaders of those organisations should make an active choice to pull those stories out and share them within the business.

Q A

What are the business gains of being more diverse and inclusive?

They are exponential. It isn’t just anecdotal, statistically businesses with a more diverse workforce out perform their non-diverse counterparts by 30-40%. From a financial perspective, it clearly works and it works because you get different solutions to the same problem.

One of the things that I find really fascinating with all of the new artificial intelligence and Fintech out there, is that the most critical skill set that we need to develop within our human workforce will be the emotional intelligence of that workforce, because if

I would love it to get to a point where there isn’t a separate conversation because everyone is treating each other with a level of equality and respect, regardless of their differences you want to connect with your customers, you need to talk in their language and connect and understand them. If you have got a diverse workforce then you have got people within your business that if one of your customers happens to be a gay, northern, female business person, they might have an understanding of what is important to that individual. If you are trying to build an emotionally connected product, then you want to be able to make sure that your product does appeal to all different aspects of society.

Q

How can we continue to make meaningful progress on diversity and inclusion in the industry?

A

I would like it to become more common practice.

Doing something like this supplement is brilliant as it highlights the issue and brings it to everyone’s attention, but I would like it to just be second nature.

We’re not there yet and we have to continue to almost separate it in order to highlight it as an issue, but I would love it to get to a point where there isn’t a separate conversation because everyone is treating each other with a level of equality and respect, regardless of their differences.

Sam White

is CEO and Founder of Freedom Services Group, Freedom Brokers, Action 365 and Pukka Insure.

Pukka Insure Pukka is a new entrant van insurance MGA, taking a fresh and innovative approach to the automotive insurance market. Our vision when launching Pukka was to create a company built on the foundations of sound claims management, by controlling the severity of claims and implementing robust fraud detection methods. Pukka offers a working environment that promotes an ethos of treating our staff and customers fairly. Thinking and acting differently is in our DNA - if there is a simpler, smarter, more efficient way of working we will find it. One of the things which makes us unique is that we profit share with our staff ensuring that they feel valued and have a vested interest in the company. Philanthropy is also extremely important to us, we have a charitable foundation and profit share with several hardworking charities

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Don’t put pressure on yourself to be anything other than yourself. “Be yourself, no one else� because ultimately, what else is there?

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Debbie Cannon Modern Insurance spoke to Debbie Cannon, Claims Fraud Manager, about the importance of encouraging a better understanding and awareness of gender identities within the workplace but also within wider society.

We discussed her transition while at work and why it is ultimately important to just be yourself.

Q

How can the introduction of the concept of meritocracy into workplace culture help to create a more innovative, progressive, diverse and inclusive business?

A

Diversity brings innovation. The more diverse your culture and the more diverse the life experiences your workforce has, the more knowledge of your client needs they have. For example, if you only employ white, middle-aged men, you have a very limited view of what society is like and what your customer’s journey is like. Having a diverse workforce allows you to be pioneering and creative and to consider things that companies that aren’t as diverse wouldn’t be able to.

Q

While the insurance industry is improving in terms of diversity and inclusion, what more can be done?

A

I was Insurance Leader of the Year last year at the Women in Finance awards. I was asked to do an interview and I was invited to a photoshoot in London to coincide with the article. During that photoshoot I met Sam and she literally offered me a job there and then. Within six weeks I was up in Manchester. It is not just about what experience you have but what differences you can bring to your organisation. Action 365 spoke about hiring someone recently who was quite quiet and introverted but who also brought a calmness and reflectiveness to the business. There are so many different people from so many different walks of life at Action 365 – it is all based on talent as opposed to how long you have been in the sector and I think that is a really good and powerful way of ensuring that you have a diverse set of people from different backgrounds.

In terms of what more can be done? Having more conversations and not being afraid to look outside the box.

Q

How can the insurance industry ensure that their talent pools are comprised of a diverse range of people and perspectives?

A

Meritocratic hiring practices would ensure that that happens. Rather than having the bias of ‘Can they do this role?’, you should be looking at their talent and experience and whether they fit into the knowledge base of your current team. You might go for an interview for a claims handler position and they find that you are not suitable for that role but more suitable for a different role like sales. It would be beneficial to have cross departmental interviewing and recruitment because all too often we become blinkered to people’s potential.

Q

How can we encourage more awareness and education of gender identities, not only in the insurance industry, but in wider society?

A

Again, basing people on talent as opposed to experience. The statistics I have seen in the past is that one in every thousand people are

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There wasn’t a policy for transgender people or guidance for managers and HR, so I helped them write their policies around gender and non-gender conforming people at work. It was amazing to be able to have that impact on an organisation where there was nothing before gender variant in some way. As society grows, and when the millennials get to middle management, the predominantly junior work force will be of that variation in terms of diversity. For the younger generation is it not really much of any issue – it is the aging management of organisations. Once you don’t see the gender identity or the sexuality or the ethnicity or the religious belief, and you see the person, then the barriers are broken down and you have far more co-operation and innovation within the workplace. Steve Jobs from Apple used to make a rule that everyone ate in the cafeteria – it is that kind of integration and socialisation that we need.

In terms of society and how we can improve the awareness of gender identities – there are a lot of organisations doing great work already – but it is about having a conversation and challenging those negative behaviours. There is a lot of fear out there and I think that comes from a lack of understanding.

I have a saying and it is “hearts not parts” – it is about what the person is and not about what they have got.

Q

How have you used your experience and advocacy to help organisations become more trans-inclusive and develop a greater understanding of gender identity?

A

When I was looking to transition at work, I looked on the intranet about how the organisation was in terms of assisting people who transitioned at work.

The only thing I could find was on the HR system about the equality act of 2010 and how gender identity was a protected characteristic – there wasn’t anything in terms of guidelines for employees, managers, HR etc. So, I panicked a bit. I explained that I wanted to transition while at work and I needed some support in doing that and they did a session with a councillor over the phone for me. From there I moved from Ipswich to Bournemouth in order to start a new life, and they assisted with all of that - they were brilliant.

LV used to have quarterly drop in sessions with the CEO of the company - no questions were off the agenda. I remember sitting in my session and I said to the CEO, why don’t we have an LGBT officer or any kind of network in LV and he said he didn’t know. The Head of our Internal Communications then had that to take that away as an action and then I met with a HR director two days later. I joined the employee consultation forum and we started to look at our D&I strategy. Gender was the first thing they looked at so they looked to set up a women’s network and then a LGBT network, which I was a big advocate for and part of. One of the things I raised was that there wasn’t a policy for transgender people or guidance for managers and HR, so I helped them write their policies around gender and non-gender conforming people at work. It was amazing to be able to have that impact on an organisation where there was nothing before.

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When I started transitioning, I thought I was going to be okay and didn’t need any help from my peers, but a couple of weeks after I had started my journey I broke down. Breakfree, who assisted local trans people in the community, was a great source of support for me.

From there I started volunteering as a support worker doing group sessions. The impact of being able to use your own experience and journey to not only write policies for others that come after you and have the benefit of having those guidelines in place, but the fact that you are supporting others is phenomenal.

Q

What advice would you offer employers with transitioning employees and how can they offer more support to transgender employees?

A

There is a lot of great material out there to draw from like Stonewall, the LGBT foundation and Mermaids, but it has to be led by the individual – transition isn’t a one size fits all. My transition was quite easy for people to understand because I was male who identified as female and my gender identity is still a binary even though I have transitioned. You may have someone who is gender variant at work and might want to present as male one day and female the next – it is about being led by the individual and making sure that you respect their confidentiality and that it goes at their pace. Give them the support and space to talk if they need it.

Q A

How crucial is it to have groups like the LGBTQ Support Network and Diversity Role Models?

They are absolutely vital because they can give hope.

I set up the LGBTQ Support Network on Facebook, which is where I share positive stories. I wanted to find a way where I could have a positive effect on the community and create a space where no one else could feel alone. At the time there wasn’t that much out there – but the impact I have been able to have since I set up the network is amazing. I have a lot of trans kids contact me and you have to go by their pace and signpost them to local organisations that can help them. A lot of the time they just want someone to talk to.

The Diversity Role Models is something I adore. It is about connecting with people and not taking things too seriously and not being afraid to laugh at a situation. If I had had people coming to me at a young age and telling me that it is perfectly okay to be trans then I wouldn’t have gone through the years of turmoil that I did. It is really powerful the impact you can have.

Q A

What challenges did you face when transitioning but also what were the joys of your transition?

I had to go to work on the Monday; the 16th July 2012 is the day I started work as a woman. On the Sunday I was sitting in my room and I couldn’t go out,

and I sat there for about ten minutes because I was just so nervous about going outside and starting my life as Debbie. As soon as I did go out it was fine and it was such a relief for nothing negative to happen.

But the very next day, when I went out to work, I wore high heels, and I remember getting on the bus and all the kids were staring and laughing and giggling. I just wanted the ground to swallow me up. But it was those kind of hurdles that I had to get over and push myself through. The main thing for me to overcome was getting over myself and getting out there and to continue to put myself out there.

The joy of my transition is just every day – just being able to express myself in the way that I have always wanted to. All that yearning for something and having to hide the true element of who you are is gone; you can’t imagine the burden that is lifted. Everything I do now I do not hold back on – if you are holding back then you are not putting your full self into your life.

Q A

What networks are available for support in the industry?

Link, the LGBT Insurance Network, is really good.

Link is mainly social events but they are a forum of information and they have a lot of people within the organisation who are out and LGBT – insurer industry specific. MyGwork is a professional network for LGBT and you can sign up for job alerts and they will send out job roles to you for LGBT inclusive organisations.

Q A

What advice would you offer someone who is just starting their journey?

We all put pressure on ourselves when we start something to be experts and quite often we fail early on – we should not be discouraged by the failures on our way to success. It is your journey and your journey alone and it will not be the same as anyone else’s. Don’t put pressure on yourself to be anything other than yourself. “Be yourself, no one else” because ultimately, what else is there?

Debbie Cannon

is the Claims Fraud Manager at Action365.

There is a lot of fear out there and I think that comes from a lack of understanding. I have a saying and it is “hearts not parts” – it is about what the person is and not about what they have got

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John Amaechi 12 | Pukka Supplement

Speaking to John Amaechi, CEO, we discussed the importance of organisational performance and how the concept of meritocracy can help to further achievements within a business, as well as how senior leaders can improve their leadership through a few simple steps.

In order to improve and make change in the area of inclusion, it is about individual leaders and indeed colleagues at every level of the organisation knowing that there is a mandate to change the way that they behave in the work place

Q A

How do you help organisations move from being transactional to transformational?

Our goals are entirely determined by the organisations that we work with. Organisations come to us with a nebula of symptoms, so we are there to help diagnose a problem and initially make the environment better and therefore the performance and engagement better.

We are very clear with our clients up front, we are not going to be your tools to present to the world an image that you are doing something whilst not actually trying to change and if that is what they want then there are a thousand companies out there that will help them out gladly, but we aren’t one of them. We only partner with organisations that really are interested in change.

Q A

How can cognitive diversity help organisational achievement?

There is a lot of data and meta-analysis showing people the benefits, but fundamentally, if you are doing something that is on meritocracy, the key question you have to start with is: can any of the organisations reading this honestly say that they are meritocratic?

Part of the reason why they are so homogenous, cognitively and otherwise, is because they are not a meritocracy. There is a tie-breaker of this functional definition of fit, where between two people, one who is slightly different and one who is slightly more similar, you would usually pick the more similar because you will think that they will prevent less of a personal challenge. Fundamentally, until business leaders are willing to address the question honestly of whether their organisation is in indeed a meritocracy, they can’t go forward. Because if you think the best people always rise in your organisation and your organisation is all men, then you must think that men are all the best people.

Q

How important is the concept of meritocracy and why should this be introduced into a company’s culture?

A

Meritocracy is vital but only if you are willing to introduce it and then live by it. I would imagine, for the most part, people who read this are living in countries where democracy and meritocracy are taken for granted. The problem with that is that if you take it for granted it is likely that it doesn’t exist around you.

It is just a veneer of meritocracy that allows leaders and organisations to have cultures to constantly make biased decisions about hiring and progression.

Q

How can diversity and inclusion help to develop a working environment that thrives and is innovative?

A

There are a million things. You can be explicit about your desires for that kind of culture; you can create values that speak to that inclusive culture and then, really importantly from those values, create a list of the kind of behaviours that speak to that value.

For example, if one of your values is collaboration, that is great to have in the abstract but what really helps is if you say, in the context of your organisation, collaboration means: listening to junior staff when they have an idea, facilitating introverts speaking up in meetings, making sure that every voice is heard, making sure that ideas that have been taken for granted are always put through for review by the broader organisation, making sure that siloed teams are working together substantively on projects or on new ideas. These are very specific behaviours that tie to that word of collaboration and most organisations will have the word but they won’t have the behaviours that back it up. Without those behaviours, how do you hold leaders to account?

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Q

Q

A

A

What more can be done to improve diversity and inclusion within different sectors, particularly the insurance industry?

The problem is that a huge amount more can be done. If we are honest, within insurance it is not as if a massive amount of progress has been made in the sector as a whole. Lots of people have felt that by having a woman CEO at a prominent insurer means that the problem has been solved, but that is not how it works. The simple answer to that is that people will think that it is about policy and it’s not. In order to improve and make change in the area of inclusion, it is about individual leaders and indeed colleagues at every level of the organisation knowing that there is a mandate to change the way that they behave in the work place. It is about individual efforts not infrastructure.

Fundamentally, until business leaders are willing to address the question honestly of whether their organisation is in indeed a meritocracy, they can’t go forward

Q

What is the future of wellbeing within businesses and what reflection does this have on wider society?

A

Wellbeing is pretty much a crook in most businesses. Wellbeing shouldn’t exist to rationalise and make leaders feel good for giving their employees fifteen hour days. Putting in a meditation room and giving them a free gym membership does not make up for you giving them a fifteen hour work day.

Wellbeing is holistic. The future of wellbeing is understanding how work has to change in order for people to thrive. The truth is that there is really good data out there right now about what employees expect versus what employers offer. For example, flexible working; it is something that the vast majority of employees expect, but certainly in insurance, not everyone offers that opportunity. Mental health

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What more can be done to improve diversity and inclusion within different sectors, particularly the insurance industry?

The problem is that a huge amount more can be done. If we are honest, within insurance it is not as if a massive amount of progress has been made in the sector as a whole. Lots of people have felt that by having a woman CEO at a prominent insurer means that the problem has been solved, but that is not how it works. The simple answer to that is that people will think that it is about policy and it’s not. In order to improve and make change in the area of inclusion, it is about individual leaders and indeed colleagues at every level of the organisation knowing that there is a mandate to change the way that they behave in the work place. It is about individual efforts not infrastructure.

Q

What is the future of wellbeing within businesses and what reflection does this have on wider society?

A

Wellbeing is pretty much a crook in most businesses. Wellbeing shouldn’t exist to rationalise and make leaders feel good for giving their employees fifteen hour days. Putting in a meditation room and giving them a free gym membership does not make up for you giving them a fifteen hour work day.

Wellbeing is holistic. The future of wellbeing is understanding how work has to change in order for people to thrive. The truth is that there is really good data out there right now about what employees expect versus what employers offer. For example, flexible working; it is something that the vast majority of employees expect, but certainly in insurance, not everyone offers that opportunity. Mental health counselling is another example. Employers put in mental health counselling so they can push their people, but you put mental health counselling in so that you can appropriately challenge and support your people. This is a really big point, because there are lots of organisations that think they are doing something good by offering these trinkets on the side but not changing the core of what they do, which is what is really needed.

Leaders are overly interested in personal comfort, or at least the avoidance of personal discomfort, instead of being focused on organisational performance

Q

A lot of organisations are focusing on enhancing their workplace culture, where do you suggest companies start?

A

Audit. We do something called an organisational diagnostic where we go into an organisation and spend two/three weeks talking to their people and doing focus groups. Everyone knows that it is an external company so they can say anything to us and we will anonymise it. Fundamentally we get this really objective picture of where the company is in terms of their culture and then we can say to that organisation’s leadership, this is what your values say and these are your people’s experiences of your values, and so where do you want to start to make change?

Make sure that you are not a company that talks a good game and when someone external steps into the business they realise that it is all talk. This is really important for insurance and anyone else right now where the younger millennials and the Gen Z’s are coming along as they will not tolerate a company that says one thing and delivers an abjectly different experience. The best people will just walk away.

Q A

What drives you in your line of work?

previously thought they were worth listening to, is life, resilience and organisation enhancing and I want to keep passing that message along.

Q A

What is your top piece of advice for leaders in business?

I was asked the other day what the most common theme is that I see in other organisations. It is a hard question to answer, given that we work across so many different sectors, but my top piece of advice to leaders in organisations, and indeed the people who follow them; leaders are overly interested in personal comfort, or at least the avoidance of personal discomfort, instead of being focused on organisational performance. They really need to look at the way they operate, not the way they say they operate but how they operate in their workplace and decide for themselves if they always put organisational performance ahead of personal comfort, and if they don’t, there is a change they could make that could improve their leadership and improve the performance of their organisation overnight.

John Amaechi

is Chief Executive of APS (Amaechi Performance Systems).

I have wanted to be a psychologist since I was seven. I watched my mum, who was a GP, work with patients, and I realised very quickly that the part of her job that appealed to me, but also the part that I thought was really magical, was the way she spent time talking to patients. Just the mere act of listening made people feel better, and I just think that that is a leadership lesson right there. Sometimes that six/ten seconds that a leader spends listening to someone who hasn’t

John Amaechi John is a respected organisational psychologist, best-selling New York Times author and CEO of APS (Amaechi Performance Systems). John partners with organisations to help leaders move from being transactional to transformational. He focuses on improving performance, solving intractable people problems and creates thriving workplaces despite the challenges and disruption of the modern world. Prior to founding his own firm, John spent several years as a professional athlete, becoming the first Brit to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

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Clare Wardle

Modern Insurance spoke to Clare Wardle, General Counsel and Company Secretary, about how businesses and organisations can attract, develop and retain the best talent. Wardle is a great advocate for women in business and shares her thoughts on diversity and inclusion within the workplace and why it is important if we want to become progressive and collaborative companies.

We were looking at women as a problem that had to be addressed with special policies, flexible working and maternity leave, instead of looking at them as a great resource who made a fantastic contribution to the business and could understand our key customers

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Q

How do we need to address the structural barriers and create cultural change at the organisational level for women to succeed and advance in business?

A

Businesses and organisations need to look at two key elements: how we attract the best people and how we develop and retain them. On recruitment, part of it is getting the policies and mechanics right. We need to have balanced candidate lists and balanced interview panels. Just as importantly, we need to show potential candidates that this is a place where they will be welcome.

Developing all of our talent is just as important – again, part of this is mechanics, measuring the promotions and progression of female employees using actual data set against objective and quantifiable benchmarks.

At CCEP, it is increasingly clear to us that if we really are recruiting and promoting on merit we will have

no problem in attaining our target of 40% of women in management by 2025. Culture for us is just as key – we are determined it is a place where everyone feels comfortable and can succeed regardless of their background.

Q

You helped to establish the Kingfisher Woman’s Network, which aimed to help women achieve their potential while at Kingfisher. What were your reasons behind establishing this network and what were the outcomes?

A

We started the Kingfisher Woman’s Network because it was clear that we needed to unlock the potential for women to grow and succeed across all of our businesses. Over 40% of senior management in our Russian and Turkish businesses were women but that wasn’t the case across the world. In the worst places, we only had 17%.

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Part of that was because in those businesses we were looking at women as a problem that had to be addressed with special policies, flexible working and maternity leave, instead of looking at them as a great resource who made a fantastic contribution to the business and could understand our key customers.

The results speak for themselves. More than half of the executives are women, including the Kingfisher CEO, Veronique Laury, and that tracks all the way down. It is important to say that the senior management including the then CEO, Ian Cheshire, and Steve Willett, who is still on the executive team, supported this.

Q

How effective and important do you think a mentoring program is and what are the benefits of having a mentor when looking to progress in business?

A

Any successful executive can point to formal or informal mentors who have been instrumental in helping their career. In business, we need to make sure that everyone has access to the right mentor, not just those who find it easy to get the ear of the next level up because they share the same interests or background.

Getting the right mentor-mentee partnership is good for both parties, and more than anything, a good relationship grants the opportunity to harness the experience and view of someone new and different; and gain a healthy sense-check on one’s own thoughts and processes. That’s why it is often most helpful to look for a mentor who is different from you – someone to challenge and broaden your views, rather than simply re-affirm them.

As I say, this is a two way street. Particularly in this age of fast moving digital and other changes, reverse mentoring, allowing the more senior of the two an insight into the world of the more junior, can be immensely valuable.

Q A

What do organisations need to do to attract and retain women in business?

Make sure that you are giving the right impression – make sure you showcase the full range of your diverse workforce in your external communications, and then walk the walk. Everything I’ve already talked about is part of ensuring that people feel included, valued and listened to. Sometimes it is the simple things – for instance, making sure that women on maternity leave all have a buddy whose job it is to keep them up to date with what is happening at work.

Tone from the top is very important. At CCEP, we are lucky enough to have a Chairman in Sol Daurella, who is happy to get personally involved and a CEO in Damian Gammell who is actively supportive.

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Businesses and organisations need to look at two key elements: how we attract the best people and how we develop and retain them

Q A

How can a diverse workforce drive a progressive and collaborative company?

Warren Buffett pointed out that if you can be successful using only half the potential workforce, just think what you can do with access to all of it. Why would you limit your options? A diverse workforce enables you to understand your customers and build better, stronger relationships. A diversity of voices and opinions also helps to avoid groupthink, manage risk and remain relevant. Cognitive diversity is key to driving excellence and coming up with new solutions and approaches.

Q A

What are the core values of Coca-Cola European Partners?

There are some fundamental values we’re passionate about. We always focus on the customer; we strive to execute with speed and agility moving quickly and removing barriers; we empower employees to win together, listening and caring about what everyone has to say; and we have a passion for growth.

Sustainability is also at the heart of everything we do. Last year we set out 21 commitments in our joint sustainability action plan with The Coca Cola Company, This is Forward. Developed in consultation with over 100 stakeholders across government, business and the supply chain – as well as thousands of consumers and employees across Europe. This is Forward sets clear and ambitious sustainability goals on some of the most pressing issues facing society today. That includes a commitment to 40% of women in management by 2025.

Q A

How is Coca-Cola European Partners including diversity and inclusion in their business strategy?

This starts at Board level for us. We have a target of 33% of women on our Board by 2020 and the Board monitors progress against our diversity plan and targets through the Nomination Committee.

There is an overarching diversity framework. Every business unit and department in CCEP has a diversity and inclusion plan and the business unit and function plans are reviewed by the Group Executive team.

This approach is mirrored at unit level and results monitored.

Just as importantly, the leadership is expected to live the values and drive an inclusive culture.

Q

Confidence is an important attribute to leadership, so how important is it when trying to filter a company culture or message through a business?

A

Developing confidence comes from trust in their leadership: trust that employees will be supported and developed to deliver their best, that good performance will be rewarded, and they can progress at the right speed.

Confidence comes from knowing that employees are doing a good job for our customers and that they are valued for it. It is essential to deliver these messages – if you do not believe in yourself, your team will not believe in you. Our mentoring and leadership programmes are also valuable in helping them develop self-confidence and the networks essential for success.

Q A

What is your role at Basketball England and how are you looking to engage everyone in the game?

Basketball is one of the most popular team sports in the country. It has the ability to engage communities in some of the most underprivileged areas in the UK and at its core, the sport is one of the country’s most inclusive. The BAME demographic of those involved in the game is over 50% - a much higher percentage than most other popular sports.

When all you need is a hoop and a ball, getting started is easy.

Basketball also has a tremendous capacity to help people both on and off the court with life skills, confidence building, social impact and more, not to mention the mental health and fitness benefits!

If you can be successful using only half the potential workforce just think what you can do with access to all of it

As Chairman of Basketball England, I am keen to bring together all those in the sport to work together and ensure as many people as possible can experience and be inspired by basketball.

We have launched a number of strategy documents in recent months detailing how we plan to take the sport forward. Coaching and officiating plans complement our six-year strategy document, and we also have an ambitious plan for getting more women and girls involved in the game.

We have some great programmes to help the sport grow, from “Slam Jam”, an introductory programme aimed at giving young players a great first experience, to NBA backed “Jr. NBA Basketball England Leagues” for year 7 and 8 pupils that encourages thousands of players into the sport each school year. Add to that initiatives, such as a soon to be launched fund to help kids who can’t afford equipment or travel, and we have great ideas to engage a wide range of people into the sport.

There are many really worthwhile initiatives that would benefit from more support, so do let me know if you’d like to help!

Q A

What advice would you give to women who are looking to progress into senior level positions?

Have the confidence to succeed. You are likely to be your own worst critic, and if you are not seeing yourself clearly enough to know what you need to do to get that next step, get yourself a mentor. Get out there and develop a great support network and listen to them. Ask for help and advice. But do what is right for you. And finally – enjoy yourself.

Clare Wardle

is the General Counsel and Company Secretary of Coca-Cola European Partners plc; she is also the Chairman of Basketball England.

Clare Wardle Clare was appointed as General Counsel and Company Secretary at CocaCola European Partners in May 2016. She has considerable international experience in risk, governance, competition and compliance.

Between 2010 and May 2016, Clare has played a leading role in many development and expansion projects as Group General Counsel at Kingfisher – Europe’s largest home improvement retail group. During her time at the FTSE100 Company, she launched the hugely successful Kingfisher Women’s Network, which has seen an increase of senior women within the business.

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Dive In Festival 2018

On the 25th September, the Modern Insurance team attended Manchester’s Dive In Festival – the festival for diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the insurance industry.

This year’s theme was #time4inclusion. The workshops we attended provided advice and practical ideas for how insurance businesses can bring positive change and achieve an inclusive culture within their organisations.

Throughout the day we spoke to some of the speakers and organisers of the event and found out why it is imperative that we continue to encourage diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

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Our first event of the day was ‘Embracing diversity for improved business results’. The session explored what organisations are currently doing in order to create a positive impact on the performance of their organisation, but we also discussed what still needs to be done. The workshop was introduced by Katherine Bryant, Executive Coach at Progress Partnership, and there were four panellists: Caitlin Hartley, Assistant Director, Diversity and Inclusiveness, EY; Evie Samuel, Senior Consultant, Qlearsite; Jen Davidson, Managing Consultant, The Clear Company; and Ik Onyiah, Head of Corporate Projects, Oliver James Associates. The discussion covered how you can use data to track and measure diversity within your workforce, how we can drive recruitment by meritocracy, and how improving D&I can create better and greater business returns.

After the session, we were able to chat with Caitlin Hartley:

Q

Tell us about the session you were involved with today

A

I was talking about inclusive leadership and belonging at the event in Manchester. When inclusive leadership happens, people feel that they belong within their teams and organisations. Inclusive leadership is the main ingredient that is needed to enable diverse talent to thrive. Talented individuals within diverse teams are not going to achieve their potential, if they are not led inclusively.

There are benefits to belonging for both the individual and for the organisation. The individuals are often more motivated, can have better career and performance outcomes, and improved mental and physical health - that is because they don’t have to spend energy hiding part of themselves at work.

From an organisation’s perspective, that translates into better business performance and quality outcomes.

High performing teams are more likely to be creative and innovative because they regard themselves as in a ‘safe space’.

Q

You used an image as a visual representation of D&I, could you explain the power behind that image?

A

It is a well-used image but essentially what you have is three people of different heights watching a football match over a solid wooden fence. In the first image you have the tall, medium-sized and short person each standing on their own box – so that depicts an equal environment because everyone has the same access to the same resource, however, the shortest and medium-sized people can’t see. In the second image, the tall person has no box, the medium-sized person still has one box and the short person has two boxes, so now everyone can see over the fence – that image depicts diversity and is a really good visual example showing differential investment in diverse talent; what it means and why we put in place some of the interventions that we do. It is not about changing the individual as such, it is about

giving them the support they need so they can achieve the same outcomes. In the final image, instead of having a solid wooden fence, there is a wire mesh fence and no boxes at all. That image is used to depict inclusion because the systemic barriers have been removed allowing each individual to have the same access to opportunity - everyone can see the football match without the need for intervention. From a D&I perspective, that is the ambition – that is where we want to get to.

Q

How did EY decide they needed a diversity and inclusion team?

A

For an organisation like EY, our people are our biggest asset and without the right people we can’t achieve our future business ambition. In order to be able to do that while responding effectively to changes in working practice - notably technological advancements and the fourth industrial revolution we need to innovate and bring in people with different skill sets. We need to be able to attract the best talent, retain, develop and progress it. Our purpose is ‘building a better working world’. It is fundamentally what motivates EY as a firm and D&I is a central pillar of that ambition.

Q

Why did you decide to become an ally for LGBT+ groups?

A

It is personally important to me. I have always been an ally; my inspiration was my sister’s best friend at school, who I have known now for over 30 years. He had a very difficult time when he came out at school, so inclusion has always been important to me.

About four years ago I looked at our LGBT allies tool kit and started talking to people in our Unity (EY’s LGBT+) network to see how I could get involved.

As co-chair of the EY Family Network, I successfully encouraged EY to become a corporate supporter of P3: Proud, Professional Parents. I collaborated with the Leeds office social team, Family Network and Unity to sponsor Leeds Pride last year and took part in the parade, which was fantastic. We have active, visible LGBT allies in the office and are making good connections with our corporate colleagues to support LGBT initiatives in the city, so I am really pleased with how it is working out.

Our people are our biggest asset and without the right people we can’t achieve our future business ambitions – Caitlin Hartley, EY

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Be aware that diversity isn’t just a physical aspect – Ik Onyiah, Oliver James Associates

Q A

What would be your advice to other organisations looking to invest more in D&I?

For me, it is about starting to have honest conversations. If you look at your organisation D&I data, it will tell you where to focus attention and resources. Then it is about having those honest conversations, and - finding the hooks for each individual that will get them motivated to change their behaviour. Cultural change happens when enough people change their behaviour and it becomes the new norm for that team or organisation.

The other element that is absolutely vital is engaging men in D&I initiatives because they sometimes feel D&I is not for them, or is even to their detriment.

For real change to be effective, it needs to be for everyone.

We were then joined by Penelope Clarke, a Multinational Casualty Underwriter at AIG who has been involved with the events in Manchester from the very beginning, and Ik Onyiah. Our discussion covered the concept of meritocracy and why it is important that we encourage more events, like Dive In, within the insurance industry.

Q A

How did you find the discussion today?

Penelope Clarke: Today was really interesting as they brought up loads of points that I have never considered. There is much more we can do with data and the results you can gather from that data. I think that is where a lot of people go wrong, they hear the anecdotes, but really, data can show you the whole picture and that is why it is so crucial to businesses.

Q

How are you finding this year’s Dive In Festival?

PC: Last year I organised the Dive In Festival in Manchester and it was a very big project for one person, so this year I fortunately have my saviour, Ik, who has really helped to instigate and promote the festival as well as create some interesting themes and topics for the events.

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I know within insurance there are quite a few problems with D&I and there needs to be a change.

We are getting better in some ways but there is a very long way to go and we need to challenge what we have at the moment and just celebrate diversity too!

Q

Ik Onyiah: Last year we sponsored part of the Dive In Festival but this year we asked how we could get properly involved as Manchester is our flagship office.

PC: I know a great number of my colleagues have not attended the events because they don’t see any problems within the industry. There is still a great ask for people to apply to a culture that they can see they don’t fit in with. It is still a big challenge for our industry to change that mentality.

For me, as a recruitment business we find that a lot of D&I is superficial – ‘we are trying to hit a target’ is generally what we hear from insurance clients about D&I. I am very passionate about it but not from an overly personal point of view but more from a commercial point of view because it makes commercial sense. I see these events as educational for our clients, which is why I was particularly keen on the commercial D&I conversation and the BAME event, focusing on career progression and the barriers that people face in businesses.

Q

How important is meritocracy within businesses and how can we employ that into our working culture?

IO: Meritocracy is a very interesting topic and there are many ways of coming at it. Whilst there are different generations having different ways of thinking, the reality is that certain people grow up in certain environments, so for them they are used to working in a certain way. We have four generations in the workplace and it is about blending them properly. You need to be able to get the best out of each individual rather than following a certain rule where you only employ people with twenty years of experience, otherwise you might miss out on diverse skill sets.

How can the industry’s D&I journey continue to progress?

IO: We need more awareness. Be aware that diversity isn’t just a physical aspect.

After the interview, we attended ‘Practical actions to manage stress and anxiety in the workplace’, held

by Jon Manning, Founder of Arthur Ellis: Mental Health. This was an incredibly immersive workshop, which enabled the audience to gain new insight into approaching mental illness while equipping us with tools that we can use to manage those situation effectively and sensitively. It was very informative and definitely worth looking into!

This year’s Dive In has been worthwhile as we came away with new ideas, insights and many topics of conversation for our own office. I would highly encourage any insurance business to participate in any of the events happening around the country and the world next year!

Poppy Green

is the Co-Editor for Modern Insurance Magazine.

Caitlin Hartley: I think there are many systemic barriers in organisations that can limit those who don’t fit with the majority – those who don’t work in the same way or who have a different education. It could be something as simple as not knowing what office attire is, if you’re the first person in your family to do a white collar role instead of a blue collar role, for example, how do you know what “business casual” is? It is a big ask to assume that everyone with a talent or a skill is able to present themselves in a way that demonstrates that ability fully. Starting from a position of inequality means there is still a long way to before we can achieve meritocracy, if indeed we ever can.

Caitlin Hartley, Assistant Director, Diversity and Inclusiveness, EY.

Ik Onyiah, Head of Corporate Projects, Oliver James Associates.

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Susie Wolff Q A

We take a look at diversity and inclusion within the motor sports world with Susie Wolff, Team Principal and Founder, and how her views of meritocracy and D&I can be made exclusive to all industries, including insurance.

What are the aims of the Dare to be Different campaign?

When I took a step back from racing in 2015, I decided that I wanted to give back and do good with my experience in motorsport, I recognised that whilst there were some good women in the industry, there were nowhere near enough of them. With the support of the UK Motor Sport Association, I launched Dare to be Different in 2016. The initiative represents a call to action aimed at driving female talent in motorsport by inspiring the next generation and ultimately increasing female participation in all levels and aspects of the industry. It’s a grassroots legacy project and with incredible support from the global motorsport community we are ensuring that girls and women of all ages are aware of the opportunities available to them. In just two years we have already connected and showcased some fantastic future and current female talent across the motorsport world.

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Q A

What is it like being a woman in a pre-dominantly male-dominated industry?

I totally understand why people feel that motorsport is a male-dominated environment because statistically there are far more men than women. Historically the sport has been dominated by men but in my experience motorsport has the capacity to operate much more meritocratically, everyone should be judged on one factor alone, their ability to do the job. Frankly I’ve never seen my gender as holding me back in my career, if anything it’s been the opposite. When I was driving, I wasn’t aiming

When I was driving, I wasn’t aiming to be the fastest woman on the track, I wanted to be the fastest full stop

Susie Wolff VENTURI Formula E Team Principal, Susie Wolff, began her competitive motorsport career over twenty years ago, starting out as so many of her racing contemporaries did, on the karting track. After cutting her teeth in karting, Formula Renault and DTM for Mercedes-Benz, Susie went on to make history at the 2014 British Grand Prix by becoming the first woman to take part in a Formula 1 race weekend in 22 years. Following her retirement from driving in 2015 and as part of her commitment to fostering positive change within the sport, in 2016 Susie launched Dare To Be Different, a call to action aimed squarely at driving female talent by inspiring the next generation and increasing female participation in all levels and aspects of motorsport. In 2017 Susie’s hard work was formally acknowledged when she was awarded an MBE for her services and contribution to women in sport. Dare To Be Different continues to undertake strong grassroots work globally ensuring that girls and women of all ages are aware of the opportunities available to them. www.susiewolff.com www.daretobedifferent.org www.fiaformulae.com www.venturi.com

I don’t think it’s a simple as just having more diversity and inclusion, I think it has to be a basic emphasis on ensuring the right person for the job, anything else could feel like tokenism

to be the fastest woman on the track, I wanted to be the fastest full stop and I think you can apply this to women in different jobs throughout the sport.

The FIA Women in Motorsport Commission, under the charge of former rally driver Michèle Mouton, is also doing great work to raise awareness of the role women have to play within the industry and fostering change to ultimately level the playing field. I’ve seen plenty of evidence in recent years that this is happening.

Q

How can society drive the message that we should not be defined by our gender but by our passion and talent?

A

I think we need to continue to be aware of the challenges people from all works of life face and we can all play a role in this. I’m a huge believer in finding the right person for the job, full stop.

Whilst pushing to level the playing field and open up

motorsport generally for women is a cause very close to my heart, my approach to recruitment at VENTURI is completely meritocratic. We are building a team of the best talents regardless of gender, and we have a very strong group of women and men in place.

Q

How can we encourage women to step outside of the box and shatter perceptions, and what advice would you give them in doing so?

A

Honestly, I think we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of grassroots activities, initiatives like Dare to be Different that motivate and inspire the next generation are really important when it comes to educating young women about all the opportunities available to them. We are focused on motorsports now because that’s my background, but we have so much opportunity available to us to open the eyes of the next generation. The idea is to show them that they are capable of anything.

In addition to Dare to be Different, I also began working with ‘She’s Mercedes’ in 2016, the initiative is inspired by Mercedes ‘best or nothing’ mantra and takes on the form of a networking platform set up to inspire, connect and empower women to unleash their best. We host events and there’s a print magazine and digital hub for people to visit. The primary goal is to create and maintain a dialogue specifically amongst women. Leading ladies from different fields and industries give their personal insights into topics all around business and real life, as well as their views on how to successfully balance the two. What I particularly enjoy is the opportunity to share some of my personal experiences and learn from others about how they took on their own challenges.

My advice to anyone regarding how to succeed in life is to surround yourself with the best possible people.

Believe in yourself. Trust your instincts, focus on your goals and put the work in. And don’t be frightened to ask for help.

Q A

What are the benefits of having more diversity and inclusion within the Motor Sports World?

I don’t think it’s a simple as just having more diversity and inclusion, I think it has to be a basic emphasis on ensuring the right person for the job, anything else could feel like tokenism. As I’ve said previously, for me, having more women in an environment like mine is not just a box ticking exercise. It’s time for a much more meritocratic approach to become the norm. The old topic of women not being physically strong enough to compete at the pinnacle of motorsport, F1, still rears its ugly head. In my experience it’s just not true, and I’ve done the race distance at pace during testing so I’m entitled to a view. It’s really very simple: people, regardless of gender should be judged on their talent and contribution alone. It is time to let go of these misconceptions, there’s plenty of work to be done but I’m hopeful of the change movement we can already see gathering momentum.

Susie Wolff MBE

is the Team Principal of VENTRUI Formula E Team and Founder of Dare to be Different.

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Unleashing potential with ‘real’ people Lisa Meigh, Director of HR, Learning & Development at Covéa Insurance, shares her experience of diversity and inclusion.

Where do you sit on the diversity scale? I don’t mean what shade is your skin, or what’s your sexual orientation, but how important do you think diversity is in the workplace? Are we diverse enough in our thinking about diversity?

A (hopefully) very tiny number might think it’s a waste of time because it doesn’t affect you, or perhaps you’re sceptical because you think it’s all political correctness, some may think that it’s the right thing to do so go along with it or, maybe at the other end of the scale, you’re a true believer and think it’s of such crucial importance that you support positive discrimination to correct the imbalance.

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Wherever you are, I’d say the chances are you’ve edged a little further along it in recent years. After all, you’d need to be comatose not to be influenced, subliminally or otherwise, by the dynamic cultural shift towards diversity and inclusion taking place. Despite this, our industry still remains considerably behind the curve of cultural change. In a self-fulfilling prophecy, we’ve created an insurance stereotype that has kept us in a time warp that we now recognise is stifling progress and challenging our ability to attract and retain diverse talent.

A curious mindset is needed if we are to innovate and drive our industry forward. The social media generation now entering the workplace want to feel they belong to a movement rather than a business. They need to have purpose and feel a connection with what they do and the people they work with. Making money and creating efficiency are messages that simply reinforce the ‘old’ insurance stereotype and are not helpful to propagating the human connections required for businesses to grow and thrive. If we don’t address this, it will impede our ability to compete successfully with global tech companies and innovative start-ups to attract and retain the best talent.

At Covéa Insurance, one of the ways we’ve used to try and convey the true purpose of our business and culture is with our ‘Real people Real purpose’ and ‘Real people Real Stories’ messages. We’ve used the diversity of our employees to reflect outwards what diversity looks like for us. Creating a culture where people feel included and

Diversity is about building capability through different perspectives and lenses. But it won’t deliver if we don’t create an inclusive culture where a more diverse population can thrive

able to truly be themselves is a really important aspect although, clearly, working in insurance won’t look the same for everyone. While we invariably do much more than manage risk and pay claims, we always try to stay focused on our fundamental purpose, which is to protect customers against the worst happening and put it right if it does. This firmly places customer experience at the centre of every decision we make, and more diverse groups will make better decisions.

Diversity is about building capability through different perspectives and lenses. But it won’t deliver if we don’t create an inclusive culture where a more diverse population can thrive. Even if we attract and recruit the best, there is a danger we will just haemorrhage talent through the revolving door, if we don’t provide the right environment to support diverse thinking and preference.

We’ve found inclusivity is key. Inclusion starts with “I” because to foster an inclusive culture everyone needs to take personal responsibility for exploring their own behaviour and thinking. Ask yourself “What am I doing to make it easier for people to feel included”? We started the conversation at Covéa Insurance by providing inclusion awareness training for leaders, giving powerful insight into ‘unconscious bias’, supported with training for all our people. This poignant video shows just how unconscious bias can affect our thinking. Does it relate to you? https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=2g88Ju6nkcg I’m not saying we get it right all the time! We’re at the start of our journey and learning as we go about what works and what doesn’t. The key thing is we have a vision of the kind of place we want Covéa Insurance to be, and the commitment from the top to make it happen.

Our aim is to create an inclusive organisation that mirrors our customers and the communities we work in. To achieve that, we need the most diverse workforce possible. That means people from different backgrounds, demographics and with different education, culture, experience and preferences.

Inclusion starts with “I” because to foster an inclusive culture everyone needs to take personal responsibility for exploring their own behaviour and thinking One way we’ve encouraged this is to use our learning and development programme to establish five different paths into an insurance career, ensuring that whatever stage someone is at, whether a school leaver, graduate or professional, there are opportunities for all. We’ve also maximised the opportunities created by the new apprenticeship levy and are involved in scoping out the Government’s proposed new T levels that will see new technical qualifications introduced to open up an alternative route into an insurance career to the traditional academic path. We are also seeing success with our Covéa ‘University’, offering degree level qualifications for apprentices enabling them to earn and learn at the same time. And we are about to launch our pilot “reach programme” recruiting for attitude over essentials.

There’s a powerful reason behind our drive towards diversity and inclusion. We want our business and industry to be successful long term. To do that we need to mirror our customers, not just keep up, but to forge ahead as individuals, businesses and as an industry in unleashing our true potential.

Lisa Meigh

is the Director of HR, Learning & Development at Covéa Insurance.

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Meritocracy in the insurance industry We hear from Steven Copsey, Co-Chair of the of the Link, the LGBT Insurance Network, about his take on meritocracy and how the Link are working to improve diversity and inclusion in the insurance industry.

When I think of meritocracy, I think of a sci-fi, utopian society or some idealistic organisational construct governed by a group of forward thinking, open minded people selected according to merit.

Merit of course being the qualitative measure of accomplishment. The ever perfect world in which no matter who you are or where you’re from, if you try hard enough and prove your worth, you can make it!

If we look to the Oxford Dictionary however, we’ll come across another interesting definition of meritocracy: “A ruling or influential class of educated or able people.” Our key words being “ruling,” “class” and “educated.”

So when we talk about this, we need to understand that one person’s meritocracy might be another

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person’s social immobility. This usually isn’t down to the concept of meritocracy itself, but down to those enforcing their personal biases as to what amounts to merit, and what doesn’t.

According to recruiter Hays, who surveyed over 9,300 people for their 2018 diversity and inclusion report – 58% of all respondents believed that their line managers have a bias towards those who look, think and act like them and 43% of respondents believe they are more likely to be promoted if they have a similar socio-economic background to management.

Managers themselves can’t be held entirely accountable for this, they’ve often been told that they work within meritocratic workplaces. They’re successful individuals, successful enough to have

As an industry, we’ve been so busy mitigating risk for our clients and their ever changing industries that we didn’t take the time to truly mitigate our internal organisational risks. Our colleagues, our processes, our thinking made it into management positions with hiring responsibilities. They know what merit means to them and they know how to spot it in others. Hiring someone from a similar background, with a similar education and a similar skillset, that hiring manager knows their new hire will be able to do the job as well as he or she can. In the manager’s eyes, they’ve hired the best person for the job.

This is why the concept of equality, diversity and inclusion can often be at loggerheads with that of meritocracy. Quotas and “diversity hires” often lead to a cry of “why not just appoint the best person for the job?” The assumption being that the organisation and recruitment process was already entirely meritocratic and that by pushing diversity into the hiring stage we’re somehow diluting the quality of employee.

If that were the case, then why is it that gender-diverse companies are more likely to perform 15% better than their non-diverse peers, or that ethnically-diverse companies are more likely to perform 35% better?

These numbers speak volumes, yet if we dive deeper into the Hays report, 68% BAME respondents, 48% of disabled respondents and 44% of respondents aged 55 or over believe that there have been occasions where their chances for progression have been limited because of their respective ethnicity, disability or age.

It’s easy to turn this into a privileged white man debate, but the fact that the upper echelons of the insurance industry are dominated by white men is something that cannot be changed overnight, nor should it be. There are over 300 years of history to take into account when it comes to today’s insurance market. A cohort of very successful people built up their business empires in a world that was incredibly different to the world we live in today. As an industry, we’ve been so busy mitigating risk for our clients and their ever changing industries that we didn’t take the time to truly mitigate our internal organisational risks.

Our colleagues, our processes, our thinking.

The path to true meritocracy is a huge education piece.

We need to empower those with influence to make brave new decisions. We need to support them when they slip up and provide guidance when they’re unsure.

Making sure our organisations are becoming more diverse and inclusive is the way to higher employee

engagement. We know (thanks to Deloitte) that when staff feel themselves, that they are valued and fairly treated - engagement, motivation and productivity all increase greatly.

Link, the LGBT Insurance Network, is a network of LGBT+ insurance professionals and allies who are working to improve diversity and inclusion in the insurance industry. We have over 800 members who work in claims, underwriting, actuarial, broking, public relations, IT, sustainability, law and accountancy representing over 300 firms from insurers/reinsurers, brokers, market bodies to service providers.

Founded in 2013, our mission was to create and maintain workplaces that attract and retain the best LGBT+ talent within the insurance industry.

We started out with the vision of helping to develop inclusive workplaces that allow LGBT+ insurance professionals to further their careers in an environment where an individual’s sexuality or gender identity is not a barrier to success. Over the last five years, our scope has increased greatly.

Whilst maintaining our focus on LGBT+ inclusion we’ve collaborated with a number of other diversity networks ensuring intersectionality across all diversity strands is always at the forefront of our efforts.

The Link steering committee is made up of a small number of remarkable individuals who host networking drinks, best practice events, write monthly newsletters and even organise events for the award winning Inclusion@Lloyds initiative, the Dive In Festival. This is all done voluntarily in their free time, on top of demanding day jobs because we really do believe that working to make the insurance industry a more diverse and inclusive place will benefit us all in the long run.

Link’s activities are focused in London, but we also have a base in Yorkshire, ‘Link Up North.’

If you want to find out more information on Link, or you’re interested in getting involved on a more hands on basis, we’d love to hear from you at enquiries@ lgbtinsurancenetwork.co.uk

Steven Copsey is Co-Chair of the Link.

Whilst maintaining our focus on LGBT+ inclusion we’ve collaborated with a number of other diversity networks ensuring intersectionality across all diversity strands is always at the forefront of our efforts

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Freedom Fairness Raymond Westwick, Managing Director, tells us about the concept of fairness and what Freedom Brokers are doing in response.

Given that fairness is a simple concept, it should stand to reason that everyone is treated this way. But is fairness sometimes overlooked in the fast paced world we inhabit? Freedom Brokers’s clients, employees, partners and the community can be reassured that the company is doing everything it can to ensure ‘fairness’ is not just a concept to us but is at the core of everything we do.

“This is where the Freedom Fairness Stamp of approval comes in” says Raymond Westwick, Managing Director of Freedom Brokers.

“We start with our people, if we don’t recognise our employees’ merits such as talent, effort, commitment, capability and achievement as opposed to their age, gender, sexuality, race or background, then how can we possibly ensure that our clients are going to be treated fairly? The system of meritocracy imbedded within our business and led by group founder and CEO, Sam White, has ensured that the right people are in the right positions, full stop.

“It is what makes our business successful as we truly believe that this naturally creates an incredibly diverse workforce, and it goes without saying that this ensures the business relates to its customers.”

As a business we also recognise that promoting forgiveness, togetherness and openness can be incredibly powerful as we learn from our mistakes.

If we promote this concept for our people, then we can easily spot when customers may feel disadvantaged or not treated fairly. Our products reflect this, our conversations with customers reflect this, and our business partners understand this.

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Every policy, process, piece of documentation and every part of the customer journey is constantly scrutinised, first and foremost by ourselves, and feedback is sought from our customers, business partners and the insurance community. Providing an open gateway for feedback is probably the most valuable piece of business intelligence we have. By listening, involving, and having the determination to challenge the norm, everyone will enjoy the refreshing feeling of being treated fairly in an industry where customers may have felt unfairly treated in the past.

The Freedom Fairness Stamp (FFS) has an acronym that is admittedly a little tongue in cheek, but I wonder how many times insurance consumers have said this out loud when faced with the inconvenience and expense of taking out insurance? Or someone who sees a colleague climb the career ladder for a reason other than pure merit?

Our business partners must all have an ethical approach to us and its customers, so they too must have the Freedom Fairness Stamp of approval.

If we don’t recognise our employees’ merits such as talent, effort, commitment, capability and achievement as opposed to their age, gender, sexuality, race or background, then how can we possibly ensure that our clients are going to be treated fairly?

We truly believe that the community should benefit from our success too, it’s only fair that they are not forgotten about. From a pensioner’s party to giving blood and many more fund-raising events, these also get not only my own endorsement but are also given the FFS treatment to ensure a well-balanced approach.

The Freedom Fairness key principles are: Responsibility - all employees contribute to creating fair practices, making the products and services offered fair for the customer, and for all customers and employees to have a say in how fairly they are treated. All functions within the business are to take responsibility for ensuring their processes are fair.

Commitment - The commitment to fairness is for the long-term, it is across the whole business in everything it does and must be both demonstrated and monitored in an annual report.

Quality - We conduct regular audits of our employment and sales practices, our agreements, documents and our terms and conditions and we commit to correcting any anomalies in a timely and transparent manner, treating our customers with honesty and integrity.

Challenge – We reserve the right to challenge processes. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. We ensure that everyone we deal with is treated fairly, and that they follow the same concept.

Success – We encourage, help others and support each other to achieve personal and collective success.

Raymond Westwick

is the Managing Director of Freedom Brokers.

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1 0 1 09 NOBODY’S PERFECT. WE DON’T EXPECT YOU TO BE. Educated trust is at the heart of our philosophy.

Enhanced data techniques mean that we can give you freedom from unfair judgements.

Nobody is perfect, including us. If you want an experienced brokerage who genuinely care about getting the right fit for you, try Freedom Brokers.

HONEST, TRANSPARENT, FAIR.

To find out more, please contact E: customerservices@freedombrokers.co.uk T: 03332 2205442 www.freedombrokers.co.uk Freedom Brokers LTD Freedom Brokers Ltd, Registered in England and Wales no 10399389. Registered Address - Eden Point, Three Acres Lane, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, SK8 6RL. Freedom Brokers Ltd is an appointed representative of Action 365 Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Freedom Brokers firm reference number 774904. Action365 firm reference number 306011. You can check this on the Financial Conduct Authority Register by visiting www.fca.org.uk.