Davies has announced the launch of its talent strategy workshops in partnership with the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network (iCAN). These free two-hour workshops will provide iCAN sponsors guidance and support on attracting, retaining, and developing talent of diverse backgrounds.
What are the talent strategy workshops?
The joint initiative offers firms the opportunity to attend an unlimited number of these sessions throughout the year membership. Ajay Mistry co-founder and co-chair of iCAN and Carolyn Blunt, VP of Davies Academy, spearhead the project. It aims to source and develop the next generation of talent for insurance and financial services sectors.
iCAN sponsors also have an opportunity through the iCAN Connect Sessions to host their own workshops with support from iCAN. The connect sessions include a network leaders workshop session designed for a firm’s multicultural employee network or employee resource group. They design them to support their development plans for a more diverse and culturally accepting workplace environment. An executive workshop designed to advance a firm’s thought leadership around multicultural inclusion is also included.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the insurance sector has grown in recent years with more organisations having introduced a DEI Strategy to help increase the volume of diverse characteristics within the workplace. This includes gender, age, socio-economic background, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, faith, disability, and neurodiversity.
Why is DEI important?
Studies have shown that companies that implement an effective DEI strategy will experience an increase in profitability, creativity, productivity, and innovation. Those with a diverse leadership team have experienced 19% more revenue, are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors, and are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their sector. A multicultural workforce improves customer relationships by illustrating an organisation’s commitment to better practices along with attracting a wider pool of candidates when advertising for new roles in the company.
Despite making significant progress, other industries are ahead of the insurance sector in terms of DEI. Davies along with iCAN aims to transform the industry through their joint talent strategy workshops.
The experts
Ajay Mistry, co-chair at the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network and founder of