Brokers mixed response to Black Lives Matter

Some of the biggest brokers in the UK have responded when questions about the action they are taking to push for better equality and diversity in their own businesses following the widespread Black Lives Matter protests in the UK.

The answers were a mixed bag. And in some cases non-existent.

Insurance Age asked the biggest brokers in the Top 100 the same set of questions:

• How many Black, Asian and Minority Ethic (BAME) people work in your business?
• How many black people work in your business?
• How many black people are in management or board positions in your firm?
• Do you report on BAME pay gaps in your business? If yes, what are they? If no, why not?
• Have you supported the Black Lives Matter movement? How? Have you donated? How much, where to?
• How do you promote diversity in insurance and your company?

The protests sparked following the police killing of George Floyd in the USA on 25 May and have drawn attention to the systemic racism experienced by black people. This weekend further BLM protests were called off following attacks on police by the far right.

PIB declined to comment. Verlingue also declined to commented suggesting it did not have the resources to do so.

Marsh said it would responded after the deadline. Bravo Group and Hyperion did not meet the deadline.

Figures
Aon provided some numbers indicating that in 2020 the intakes on its early careers programmes (apprenticeships, internships and graduates) consisted of 38% and 30% BAME talent respectively.

Brightside HR director Kerry Goodman said the business had redesigned its recruitment process in order to reduce bias Now 11% of its new starters are from BAME communities.

She commented: We have introduced non biased screening tools in the form of personality assessments, instead of more inflexible and out of date screening techniques.

“This allows us to blindly measure personalities, motivations and of course essential skills in an objective way. We have redesigned polices and job ads to be more appealing and continue to use a variety of sources to attract people to work for us rather than opting for a single solution that will not widely be known to all.

“In the 12 months since we initiated these changes, 11% of new hires are BAME, a significant improvement. Government figures show that 14% of working age people are BAME (expected to increase to 20% by 2030), so I am confident we are starting to address this.”

Anti-racist
Ardonagh CEO, David Ross, told Insurance Age that the business is actively looking at ways to become “anti-racist” in its approach. The company, which includes Towergate and Autonet did not provide any data.

David Ross, CEO, commented: “What we are understanding is that this is about more than just being an equal opportunity employer and it’s simply not enough to say we do not stand for racism. It’s about actively working to become an anti-racist organisation. 

“We are committed to doing the work required to get to that point as well as doing everything we can to bring our colleagues, clients and the wider community with us along the way.”

The Ardonagh business also said in a statement that it recognised that was predominantly made-up of white individuals in a predominantly white industry and pledged solidarity with the BLM UK movement.

A spokesperson added: “Like many others we’ve watched the news from the US with horror and sadness and listened closely to the BLM UK movement. 

“We stand in solidarity with the black community and commit to continually improving our organisation to break down structures of privilege and unconscious bias. As a Group which is made up of predominantly white individuals, in a predominantly white industry, the onus is on us to build a culture that is truly inclusive and fair for all.”

Priorities
According to Ardonagh, as part of its People Commitments for 2020 it has selected inclusion as a top priority. It is reviewing the actions underpinning this in order to amplify the voices and views of BAME colleagues.  

She continued: “Alongside this, over the past week we have been encouraging reflection and learning across our family of companies on how we can all be productive allies of the black community, and better advocates of anti-racism in general.”

Gallagher
Arthur J Gallagher, which was embroiled in a race scandal last year after a judge stated its UK CEO used racist language, also responded.

It flagged its membership of the Lloyd’s Inclusion & Diversity Network and pointed to its Ethisphere award for being one of the most ethical places to work for nine years in a row – the only broker to achieve that notification.

Pointing out that UK collection in the UK is not mandatory it stated that this year it will also include ethnicity data as part of its yearly employee engagement survey. It does not currently collect data on any BAME pay gaps but noted that these individuals are paid the same as any other colleague due to its equal pay policy.

It also said it has BAME people on its UK executive team, senior management team and global board but did not provide figures around this.

Gallagher also pointed to a number of diversity initiatives it runs as part of its work around diversity such as its ‘Include’ campaign which aims to promote diversity and its Culture Alliance Network.

Global Risk Partners provided a short statement without any other information: “This is a wake-up call for everyone - our own industry has to work together to address our own challenges around diversity.”

Data
A number of brokers said they did not have ethnicity data available.

Clear Group CEO Howard Lickens commented: “I’m sorry but I just don’t have this data. I’d love to have more BAME staff as our sector is not very diverse but I think we will need to develop them via apprenticeships and “grow our own”.

“We all know that racism persists everywhere including the UK. It’s going to take a lot of hard work to make progress.”

Aston Lark is another business that doesn’t collate ethnicity data on a compulsory basis. Group CEO Peter Blanc also pointed out many of its staff joined the business through acquisitions and have not been through the Aston Lark recruitment process.

He detailed:  “As we have bought mainly small brokers, the majority of those brokers simply don’t record ethnicity.  As Aston Lark, we do of course now have a recruitment process whereby we ask for the voluntary completion of ethnicity data but it’s early days and so far not at all representative of the whole group. 

“We do acknowledge that we have work to do to improve diversity – we are currently carrying out a staff survey on this topic and we’ll let you know the findings shortly. “

Aston Lark doesn’t make political donations as a firm but Blanc said he had made a personal donation to the BLM campaign.  

He added: “We will work tirelessly to improve and celebrate diversity within our workforce and I look forward to hearing about any helpful ideas that emerge in our sector to aide us on this journey.”

Workforce
Aon also said it is implementing a number of things to encourage a more diverse workforce.

Katherine Conway who is head of diversity & inclusion for Aon UK commented: “Aon has a strong focus on diversity and inclusion in the UK. We are committed to attracting, retaining and developing diverse talent and reinvigorated our programme on collecting data on the ethnicity of our workforce following the Dive-In events we hosted in 2019 on the subject of the BAME Pay Gap.”

“We have an active programme of training and development to support our D&I goals, encompassing both hard skills and softer cultural and conduct skills.  Some of these are targeted directly to attract, develop and retain BAME talent in our firm and our industry…

“We recognise there is much more we can do; our multicultural network is very active and we are working with them closely to evolve our strategy and to increase our momentum.”

Merit
Bollington said it has always taken diversity and inclusion very seriously.

Paul Moors commented: “There are no boundaries on progression within our company, and no barriers to entry via our recruitment process, based on any criteria other than ability to perform against job criteria and merit.

“We ensure that our recruitment and hiring process is fair, transparent and inclusive.  We take a proactive approach to equality and inclusion.  Job adverts are precisely worded to attract the widest range of candidates possible, advertised in sources with diverse audiences, and as a committed Biba member, we fully support it’s initiatives to advance D&I in the wider insurance market.”

He said 29 BAME people work in the business and insisted there were no pay gaps to report on.

“Salary bands are role specific, ensuring neutrality in the setting of pay irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity, disability, or any other criteria.” 

He commented: “We currently have 29 BAME people in our business and the proportion of BAME employees in our business is higher than the percentage in the population where our business headquarters reside, reflecting our work to ensure inclusion from all areas of the community we work within.

“There are currently no black people on our board, or senior management, although there are people married or in relationships with BAME people. Despite this this we consider ourselves to be as diverse and inclusive as we can be given our locations and type of business operations. Around 40% of our management team and team leaders are female and over 50% of our account executives/account managers are female.”

Scarcity of talent
A-Plan CEO Carl Shuker described the death of George Floyd as abhorrent and said there was a “sense of repugnance” following the police killing.

He commented:  The whole of society is again reflecting on social inequality and injustice, as rightly it should. We as an employer, like all decent businesses and firms, believe very much in equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability and any other characteristics that could lead to unfair discrimination.

“As well as it being unequivocally the right and only way to behave, there is a reality that says that if you talk to most organisations, a common challenge to growing a business is the scarcity of talent, so for every good reason, why wouldn’t you be totally inclusive?

He added: “I think that recent events are making everyone reappraise their approach to equality; how to encourage those from minority groups and how to eliminate any unconscious bias that might exist, and we are no different in our reflections and desire to see and effect change.”

CII
The Chartered Insurance Institute has also responded. The organisation does lead by example and reports BAME pay gap data.

CEO Sian Fisher commented: “We accept that the profession has shown a commitment to changing the make-up of our workforce but more work still needs to be done. There simply aren’t enough leaders from culturally diverse backgrounds currently represented within the insurance profession and we continue to aim to address this.” 

It also offers three employee-led networks operating within the business focused on wellbeing (including mental and physical health), the LGBT+ community and for colleagues from minority ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

In addition is supports the Lloyd’s Dive-in festival.

Fisher continued: “We have offered colleagues the chance to be a part of the 30% club mentoring programme which aims to help develop a pipeline of female talent to put women within the business in a stronger position to seize on opportunities to progress; we have also run an internal mentoring and reverse mentoring programme to enable more junior, often younger colleagues to provide insight to those, often older, colleagues in more senior positions.”

She also pointed to the ICAN network: “In 2017 the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network was founded in 2017 by a group of insurance professionals to consider challenges facing BAME and those from outside the UK working in the insurance sector.

“The mission of this network is to promote multicultural inclusion and progression, engage with allies, and celebrate the benefits of inclusion and diversity in the insurance profession.”

Marsh detailed a number of initiatives aimed at supporting diversity including is Global Diversity Programme, Summer Talent Programme and Multicultural Resource Group.

Steve Woodhouse, HR Director, UK & Ireland, Marsh, commented: “Racism has no place in our society, in the insurance industry, and at Marsh. Each and every one of us must all do our part to fight against racism wherever it exists, and stand for equality and justice.

“Through initiatives such as our Global Leadership Programme and Summer Intern Programme, and the work of our UK Multicultural Resource Group, Marsh is finding innovative ways to strengthen its ability to recruit, retain, and support the advancement of BAME talent throughout our business.

“We recognise that as a community and a business we can do more to advance the issues of inequality and racism. Only through greater diversity across all differences, can we drive change, truly reflect society, and best serve the communities in which we live and work.”

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