Dive In festival:Making an impact on diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Dive In, the global festival for diversity and inclusion (D&I) in insurance, is celebrating its fifth year with events taking place in six continents - in the APAC region including Beijing, Dhaka, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Sydney, Singapore and Taipei.

Building on last year’s campaign of developing ‘awareness into action’, this year invites participants to consider ways to make an impact, under the theme of ‘inclusion impact’. The insurance industry is the first to run a sector-wide global diversity and inclusion festival focused on workplace culture.

Originally launched in London in 2015 by a group of firms in the Lloyd’s market acting through D&I strategy steering group Inclusion@Lloyd’s, it has now grown far beyond its roots to include some of the world’s largest insurers, brokers and associated service providers. The festival’s mission is to enable people to achieve their potential by raising awareness of the business case and by promoting positive action for diversity in all its forms.

To commemorate the fifth year of festival, Dive In conducted research with over 5,000 of its attendees to learn that 94% of respondents understand that inclusion is a client-facing issue. At the same time, companies are viewing inclusivity as a talent issue and appreciate the need for their suppliers and partners to foster inclusive cultures in order to attract and retain the best people. They understand that diversity is no longer an internal issue but a commercial concern.

Employees at all levels from over 30 countries also identified that the insurance industry needs to focus on the areas of gender balance (54%), mental health (47%), culture and ethnicity (38%) as well as family and care responsibility (28%) in order to build more inclusive workplaces. Commenting on the findings, Lloyd’s head of talent development and inclusion Pauline Miller said, “More advanced markets have known for some time that D&I is not just a ‘nice to have’ but a commercial imperative, yet this research has made it clear that this is also the case all over the world.

While addressing gender balance may be seen as the first step in a company’s D&I drive, the research has shown that it is not the only step as festival goers call for more work to be done in other areas such as mental health and culture and ethnicity. Attendees at this year’s festival will learn ways of creating positive action and creating an impact on all areas of D&I, from gender equality to disability.

Source: Asia Insurance Review