The number of women in leadership roles in both insurance and technology has continually grown over the past decade. As more leaders dedicate themselves to implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives, supporting women’s networks, and hiring more women, there have been real gains in female representation in the workforce. However, the new COVID-19-driven, work-from-home reality threatens to derail much of this hard-earned progress.
I recently attended the Wall Street Journal’s Women in the Workplace Forum, which shone a spotlight on the current state of working women in corporate America. Due to the “Coronavirus Setback,” a disproportionate number of women—especially women of color—have already lost their jobs. One in four employed women are now facing the difficult decision of reducing their hours, switching to a less demanding job, or leaving the workforce entirely.
However, this mass exodus of top female talent—and the resulting negative impact on enterprise financial returns—can still be prevented, but only if companies decide to step up and support the women in their workforces.
Overwhelming evidence suggests that an enterprise culture of diversity and inclusion results in tangible financial returns.
Companies with diverse leadership teams reported higher EBIT margins than companies with below-average leadership team diversity. According to Forbes, diverse teams are better positioned to recognize new market opportunities and capture previously under-leveraged market segments with demographics similar to some team members.
The Harvard Business Review noted that a diverse team with a member who shares a client’s ethnicity is nearly twice as likely to understand that client’s needs than a team without such diversity. Leaders that encourage diverse voices are also twice as likely to uncover value-driving insights.
A little flexibility and empathy can go a long way to supporting and retaining top female talent, especially working mothers.
COVID-19 has demonstrated that many companies can still operate effectively with remote workforces. However, many working mothers have struggled with the lack of boundary between the office and the home, as they are now forced to juggle childcare and video conferences simultaneously.
To prevent employee burnout and a dip in overall productivity, leaders may want to start rethinking how best to support their employees. What flexibility and accommodation can be given to working women in such a position? Can generous paternity and maternity leave be not only offered, but actively encouraged? Can employee performance metrics be adjusted to reflect the unique circumstances we’re all facing?
Taking the time to ask working mothers what support they need during this unique time can help protect companies from the unnecessary loss of talented women from their workforces.
Diversity and inclusion initiatives can benefit from the new remote work reality and may help address the insurance talent gap.
The insurance industry has long experienced the underrepresentation of women—and to an even greater degree, women of color. In the past, many hiring managers have been limited to recruiting in rural America, where it is perhaps more difficult to find diverse top talent.
However, one of the pandemic’s silver linings has been the delocalization of company workforces. No longer limited to hiring within certain geographic regions, hiring managers can now look beyond state lines and time zones when seeking diverse talent. With just 16% of insurance professionals reporting a belief that there will be sufficient industry talent by 2025 and 400,000 insurance industry employees poised to retire in the next few years, developing recruitment programs targeting a younger and more diverse candidate pool should be top of mind.
Companies should consider implementing or continue to execute plans to actively hire, support, and advance women in their workplaces. This effort goes beyond simply hiring diverse talent; continued support of talented women and an ongoing effort to identify and encourage female employees with great leadership potential will be necessary to see equal gender representation in the C-suite. However, to prevent these diversity efforts from falling short of expectations, diversity and inclusion plans must also be accompanied by company-wide buy-in and a seismic shift in enterprise culture.
The next Novarica Women’s Network Virtual Meeting will take place on October 21, 2020, at 11 AM ET on the topic of rules of negotiation and navigating difficult conversations. Speakers include Bonnie Wasgatt, COO at F&G, Larissa Tosch, CIO and VP at Glatfelter Insurance Group, Erin Selfe, VP at Pennsylvania and Indiana Lumbermens Mutual, and Nancy Casbarro, VP of Research and Consulting at Novarica. More information is available at https://novarica.com/womensnetwork.
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