What made DE&I initiatives boom in the insurance industry?
What made DE&I initiatives boom in the insurance industry? | Insurance Business Australia
Insurance News
What made DE&I initiatives boom in the insurance industry?
Insurance Business interviewed DE&I professionals to determine which insurance companies had met or exceeded industry standards
Insurance News
By
Roxanne Libatique
Insurance Business Australia (IB) has recently unveiled this year’s 5-Star Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) winners, the most diverse insurance companies across the country.
IB identified this year’s most diverse insurance companies in Australia by inviting firms across the country to share the DE&I initiatives they have focused on over the past 12 months.
For 15 weeks, the IB team conducted one-on-one interviews with DE&I professionals to gain a keen understanding of the industry standards for DE&I and determine which companies had met or exceeded those expectations.
After receiving nominations for DE&I initiatives, the IB team reached out to the companies’ employees to gauge the effectiveness of these programs. The companies that scored four or higher on a scale of one to five were recognised for having 5-Star DE&I programs.
Seeking DE&I professionals’ insight
Heather Price, founder and co-CEO of Symmetra and one of the industry experts interviewed by the IB team, explained why more insurance companies have focused on developing DE&I initiatives over the years.
“There is an absolute expectation across the world and in every sector, in every industry, and in every country that we operate in globally that [DE&I] programs be implemented,” Price told IB. “DE&I has become the ‘S’ in the ESG, and this is innovative and important, and many of the organisations now are stepping up because of this upsurge in expectations.
“Overall, the industry will show progress because there’s pressure on those who haven’t had their own initiative and they’re now getting questions from stakeholders of every kind – this is investors and employees, boards and society at large – and because they’re getting pressure from stakeholders in all directions, you will see every industry across the globe paying more attention to DE&I, and the insurance industry is not an exception.”
5-Star DE&I winners for 2023
The IB 5-Star DE&I winners for 2023 were divided into groups based on the number of employees:
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