Attracting Underrepresented Talent
Challenge
Workforces are aging rapidly, and the wholesale and specialty insurance segment is especially challenged in promoting the wide variety of career opportunities in our segment in relation to more well-understood segments of the financial services industry.
Actions
- Invest in the development of risk management and insurance (RMI) programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
- Collaborate with other industry trade and professional associations to partner, where possible, toward consistent diversity, equity, and inclusivity goals
- Partner with INROADS to access to broad diverse talent pipeline
- Launch of annual summer internship/academic scholarship program
- Grants to existing college/university risk management and insurance programs advancing our diversity goals
- Invest in student symposiums
- Support of Gamma Iota Sigma (GIS), its Gamma SAID initiative (Solutions for Authenticity, Inclusion and Diversity) and focus on a more diverse talent pipeline for the industry
- Development of consortium for member organizations as a forum to share successful approaches in developing a diverse talent pipeline, and to enhance their skill and ability to address mutual issues
- Maintain a dynamic platform of DEI education and actionable tools to assist member firms in unconscious bias mitigation and to increase cultural awareness
Outcomes
In the inaugural year, multiple member firms will host interns across the country with the potential to grow each year. This approach is a component of a comprehensive strategy to realize greater diversity in the wholesale and specialty insurance segment.
Contact
Vanessa Sims
There are boundless career opportunities in the wholesale, specialty and surplus lines insurance industry, but that tends to be a secret unless job seekers have a friend or family member in the business. We are working hard to change that by promoting the broad range of experiences, skillsets and benefits that exist in the insurance profession. In 2020, we incorporated the WSIA Diversity Foundation and are expanding our talent outreach to HBCUs and other colleges and universities with diverse student populations. Our goal is to develop a more diverse talent pool, more diversity in thought and more diversity in ideas, which will stimulate new approaches and drive innovation in what we deliver to insurance buyers.