How brokerages are attracting and retaining key diverse talent

Bringing new talent through the doors is a priority for brokerages nationwide, said 322 respondents to a recent Canadian Underwriter online survey. 

About two-thirds (71%) of brokers, reporting all levels of diversity within their senior leadership, have seen at least some encouragement for diverse applicants. This figure is 6% lower than in 2022’s survey, and most notably lower among organizations with no diversity within their senior leadership.

The CU survey was fielded in Jan. and Feb. 2023 and made possible with the support of Sovereign Insurance 

Across all levels of diversity, brokerages’ top methods for encouraging diverse applicants are: 

• Advertising jobs through diverse channels and diverse job boards (27%) 
• Highlighting diversity on their career sites (26%) 
• Ensuring hiring and interview panels are diverse (25%) 

“We look at all applicants for positions [and] advertise with all local agencies,” said one respondent from a rural western brokerage with some leadership diversity, in a verbatim response.  

But as another respondent in a diverse, urban Ontario brokerage put it: “The challenge isn’t to make sure talent that is hired is diverse, the challenge is to just find qualified people regardless of their race, disabilities or orientation.” 

However, a full 29% of respondents said they did nothing to specifically encourage diverse applicants. In particular, this approach was cited as the top answer by those at brokerages with no diversity in senior leadership. 

Some brokers asserted talent should not be hired based on diversity alone.

“Why search specifically for a ‘diverse’ candidate…maybe the ‘non-diverse’ is the most competent, but we would not hire him or her because we need to increase diversity?” posed one respondent at an urban Quebec brokerage. “It doesn’t make sense…” 

However, across all companies, only 5% of brokerages cited “requirement for diverse talent slates” among their firms’ methods for encouraging diversity.  

On top of that, almost all (93%) of brokerages are making efforts to retain talent. 

The top cited tactics for retaining talent include: 

• Flexibility in terms of work hours, work days and working from home (60%) 
• Celebrating anniversaries and milestones (57%) 
• Investing in training (55%) 

For firms that are leading in diversity on the senior level, competitive compensation is the number one method.  

However, only 87% of brokerages with no diversity at the senior level are making any efforts to retain talent. That compares with 94% making retention efforts at firms with some or higher levels of diversity, and 100% at firms that called themselves diversity leaders. 

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“Most employees stay because it’s easier than going somewhere else,” said one respondent at an urban brokerage with no diversity. 

“The biggest retention method is based on the fact that there are no other decent jobs in the area. If there were, we’d have left already,” said another at a rural western brokerage with some diversity. 

When asked which of the following things would keep them at their current employer, a raise or bonus (64%) came out as the highest cited answer across all brokerages, followed by flexibility in terms of work hours, work days and working from home (59%), and assistance with workload and stress management (46%). 

Feature image by iStock.com/erdikocak