How Zurich mirrors society

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How Zurich mirrors society

The insurance industry is not known among the general public for being particularly diverse.

Indeed, three senior women - Tulsi Naidu, Amanda Blanc and Dame Inga Beale - all stand out, not least for being female.

Yet two of these women work, or have worked for Zurich - and Zurich itself has worked hard at creating a diverse workforce.

On the executive committee at group level, more than 25 per cent of the officers are female.

We are improving but I think the industry has woken up to needing to do a lot more Sophie Timms, Zurich

The roles they hold are: chief executive, North America; chief executive, Latin America; and chief executive Emea and bank distribution.

In the UK, Zurich is working hard on diversity and inclusion as well, and it is the role of its head of corporate affairs, Sophie Timms (pictured) to develop and implement Zurich UK's diversity and inclusion strategy.

Ms Timms says: “What we want to do is mirror more closely the society that we work for. We are improving but I think the industry has woken up to needing to do a lot more.”

Several pressures have forced the company to adapt, she says. “I think the need to do gender reporting has helped; there’s been a number of reports that have called for certain targets and certain reporting that have focused the mind.

Key points

  • Zurich UK is working hard on diversity and inclusion
  • It addresses diversity through a series of nudges and interventions
  • Its head of diversity also works on sustainability

“But at the same time, the industry doesn’t operate in a vacuum.”

Competitive pressures from fintech and insurtech businesses are forcing the bigger companies to change, and they bring diverse workforces and innovation to the sector.

“We have a changing workforce and changing demographics, and at the same time you have got this at the board level, and these two worlds have collided, to make it a really critical issue.”

Ms Timms was asked five years ago to look at the issue of the gender pay gap, as it became compulsory for employers with more than 250 staff to publish their pay statistics. But it soon became clear that the issue was much more complex and entrenched than a relatively simple gender pay gap.

“It became apparent that it’s not about an equal pay issue; it’s the number of women we don’t have at senior or technical roles.

“At entry level or junior management level it’s very equal numbers, but then suddenly something changes.”

It was not just a case of putting in a big strategy and making an instant change.

“Many companies and many sectors are looking for a silver bullet, but we found it was a series of nudges and intentions that was far more effective at moving the dial.”

Increasing flexibility

A simple, but effective adaptation was, from last March, to start advertising all roles as part-time or job share.

“That has been very significant to making us more attractive to potential employees or current employees, as they are looking for more flexibility.”

As a result of this, the business saw an almost immediate 25 per cent increase in applications from women, three months after the policy was instigated.

She also initiated a lot of work around the language in job adverts; there is software that can analyse the language of job adverts, as some language appeals to some parts of the population more than others.

“If you’re dealing with inclusion promotion activity and retention, the same issues exist for a number of diverse groups.”

One of the ways the company tackles this is how it deals with recruiters, by simply stating clearly that they want more diverse longlists and shortlists.

“We’re very clear with our recruiters and in-house recruitment in making sure these shortlists are balanced. 

“What we’re saying to our recruitment firms is we want to mirror the society that we’re in and therefore don’t send us just CVs from one part of the population.”

Another step is to move to CVs that have little identifying information, something that some companies have already instigated, finding they get a broader range of applications.

“We want to move to blind CVs as well – all you’re basing your initial take on is qualifications and experience.”

But does the insurance industry, and Zurich, have a cultural problem? Is it seen as being the domain of white middle-class males, at least in its senior ranks? Ms Timms says: “We don’t think we have a cultural issue at Zurich.

“We have inclusive leadership, and data, so that all our senior leaders get given a data pack of what the make-up is of their workforce.”

There are also programmes in place to make people from a more diverse background feel welcome and encourage them to stay. She says: “You can do all the diversity programmes in the world, but if people came into the industry and feel excluded and don’t feel welcome, they don’t stay.

“It’s a local fix rather than a long-term cultural change, and we’ve been very clear to look at that.”

But a large part of the change is being forced upon the insurance giant by external forces. While in the past their new recruits might typically have been underwriters, who may have come from a particular background, now the company is having to take on people with different skills.

“Rather than traditional underwriting and claims, we need less of those skills and we need people who work in data and tech, and who have digital backgrounds.”

That affects the way Zurich recruits, and what it asks from its recruiters, which in turn is “changing the landscape”.

Blanc checks out

However, there was one issue that Zurich at group level appeared to fall down on, which was the employment of Amanda Blanc, seen as a trailblazer for women at senior levels in insurance. She joined Zurich in October 2018 as chief executive, EMEA, but left after eight months.

Ms Timms says: “I don’t think there’s anything in Amanda’s departure to suggest it was anything to do with it being a D&I issue.

“Some people have reflected on that. Amanda, for whatever reason made the decision not to stay at Zurich.

“Do I think people reflected on that or worry about that because we were doing so much, because we were absolutely on top of this topic, and able to demonstrate what we were doing?

“The interventions and the nudges and the focus of the leadership team has made all the difference, and I don’t think Amanda’s [departure] was anything to do with that.”

Ms Timms’ background is in public affairs, so she is used to dealing with government and Whitehall on the policy side.

She has been with Zurich for 21 years, and another part of her responsibility is tackling the company’s sustainability policy, both at UK and EMEA regional level. Here the company, both at group and UK level, has taken a bold move and started engaging with businesses that it underwrites or invests in, by focusing on those relying for 30 per cent or more of their energy from oil or coal.

“We have said we will help you have a conversation on how to broaden that energy source [for two years] and after that we won’t be able to underwrite or invest in your business. 

“For a large commercial insurer that’s significant.”

Perhaps it is not surprising that the same person is tackling two sensitive but important areas that both require a deep-seated change.

Ms Timms is optimistic. She says: “I do really feel a sense of change, and it does feel really genuine.

“There’s this genuine collaboration at the industry level. It’s not a topic where it’s competitive, so you can work together to put in place solutions, and that’s been important.”

Melanie Tringham is features editor at Financial Adviser and FTAdviser