Which factors impact DEI programs at P&C brokerages

The size of a Canadian P&C brokerage and the makeup of its senior leadership continues to drive whether employees have access to formal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

A Canadian Underwriter online survey, fielded in Jan. and Feb. 2023, and made possible with the support of Sovereign Insurance, found 31% of respondents described their organization as ‘leading’ in making DEI a core principle that’s supported by best practices. That’s 6% lower than was seen in the 2022 survey.

Another 25% described their firm as “aspiring to create a more diverse workforce,” down 3% from 2022’s results. A further 28% said they are beginning to make changes (3% ahead of 2022), but the percentage of respondents saying their firms had not yet started on DEI efforts grew to 15% in 2023 (4% higher than 2022).

The 2023 survey reached 322 Canadian insurance professionals – up sharply from 208 respondents in 2022. Of those 322, 67% work in commercial insurance and 48% in personal lines. Nearly all (92%) indicated they worked at retail brokerages and 8% worked at MGAs.

Despite a rise in those indicating formal DEI efforts weren’t underway, many verbatim comments from respondents showed an openness to diverse workplaces.

“We haven’t TALKED about it,” said a 50-plus respondent from an urban brokerage out West, “but we are just organically a pretty diverse organization.”

And, a boomer-aged Quebec respondent said, “We don’t ‘talk’ about that. It’s just clear. We’ve had engagement parties for same-sex couples. We have gay people in management. All is good.”

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Yet, while a respondent who identified as LGBTQ+ noted their office is a mix of men, women and people of colour and that equal pay and fair pay are emphasized, there are no discussions of sexism, homophobia or racism.

“It feels verboten,” the respondent said. “The office walks the walk much better than anywhere I’ve worked, but I do wish we didn’t have to pretend systemic discrimination wasn’t a thing.”

While 2023’s results showed 12% of broker respondents reporting senior leadership “reflects a vast amount of diversity” (a 2% decrease from 2022) and 17% said, “over 50% of our leadership team belongs to a historically marginalized or underrepresented identity group” (also down 2% from 2022), DEI progress was still reflected in organizations’ leadership structures.

The total for both categories, 29%, remained in line with the 31% of respondents who identified their firm as ‘leading’ on DEI in 2022’s survey.

Meanwhile, just over half (51%) said their firm’s leadership reflected some diversity, and 19% indicated there was no diversity within their firm’s leadership team (a 3% rise over 2022).

Fully 81% of respondents indicated there is at least some diversity within their organization’s senior leadership – 63% reported women leaders, and 59% indicated women over 55 occupied C-suite jobs. Other areas of cited were:

• Those who speak more than one language (including with an accent) – 48%
• People under age 40 – 44%
• Visible/ethnic minorities – 40%
• LGBTQ+ community – 15%
• People with an evident physical disability – 3%

“Diversity and inclusion are the pillars of our company,” noted a Gen X woman at an urban Ontario brokerage who indicated she’s both an immigrant and speaks English as a second language.

But one millennial respondent at an urban brokerage noted that while their firm has a good mix of genders and some people of colour, “We don’t discuss politics, so I don’t think I would be ‘allowed’ to talk about being queer. At the same time, I don’t feel it would be held against me,” the respondent said.

“Disabilities and parenthood responsibilities are two things that are frowned upon, so I keep my disability to myself as much as possible.”