The role of data in shaping inclusive and equitable practices for diverse talents in re/insurance
At the beautiful Lloyds' Lounge, WiRE partnered with Phildon, a specialist recruitment firm for the re/insurance industry, to discuss how harnessing talent data at company and industry levels can help shape strategies to meet the evolving talent needs of our industry.
Sarah Bonoff, HR Manager Singapore and SEA at Munich Re opened the session by sharing the premise that led to this event.
How is the re/insurance industry attracting, recruiting, promoting and retaining the right talent for the future challenges of our industry?
Research shows that tapping on the full talent of diverse groups lead to better performance and innovation. With fast evolving risk landscapes globally, re/insurance nees to be an industry of choice to attract the right talent.
The reality is, there is no readily available talent data for Re/insurance in Singapore that can help us address these questions with a fact based approach.
So, we worked with Phildon who kindly "opened their books", to help get a sneak peak into how our industry is hiring and promoting diverse talent in Singapore.
Mark Sheldon, Managing Director of Phildon, opened the first segment by sharing several insights from Phildon's placement data of 300+ candidates from 2019 - 2022 in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Key Insights were:
Observed equal spread of placements between Men and Women at Junior, Mid-Level and Senior levels but this flipped at Director level where 70% of candidates placed were Men.
In 3 out of the 4 years, 60-70% of above median earners were Men with the exception of 2020 where 60% of above average earners were Women.
Each year had their unique job demand trends. Looking ahead to 2023 and beyond, Phildon anticipates continual demand for new business producers and specialty classes.
HR and Recruiters/Agencies can provide a DEI-driven recruitment process but due to various factors, that is not always utilised by the business
We wrapped up the presentation, which served as a conversation-starter for the panel session comprising of a senior underwriter, a senior leader, a HR business partner and recruiter for a well-rounded discussion.
Moderator:
Aisyah Fuad - WiRE President & Team Lead Client Underwriting, Swiss Re
Panelists: Susanna Quek - Country Head, Tokio Marine Kiln Mei Xia Woo - Senior Property Underwriter, Munich Re Jasmine Zhuo - HR Business Partner, SCOR Mark Sheldon - Managing Director, Phildon
Key takeaways and open questions from the Panel
The talent agenda remains highly relevant for our industry to tackle. Data of who we recruit, how we retain and if there are inequities or imbalances provide data-driven insights to drive action. The panel generally feels that we need to build a stronger pipeline of new or junior executives and data surrounding this can drive more targeted actions of gaps in hiring.
There is a case for more industry-collaboration and effort to collect such data. Who can drive this? We discussed the possibility of the Association to get involved.
Collecting and sharing data presents risks and responsibilities related to Personal or Sensitive Data such as gender or sexual orientation identifiers. This led us to think of non-sensitive data that can still provide great insights and presents less risks - such as which courses or industries are new entrants into our industry coming from or what percentage of women applying to senior roles secure the role.
Thank you to our panelists, sponsors and audience for contributing to a wonderful event.
We look forward to seeing you at the next WiRE event - the 19th SIRC where Aisyah Fuad, WiRE President will be on the Panel discussing the 'The Future of Work - The Remote Working Dilemma" and its relevance to the future of our industry'.
We look forward to seeing you there.