Industry must work together to tackle recruitment challenges - Davies Group

Speaking at the British Insurance Brokers’ Association Conference 2023 on 10 and 11 May, Blunt told Insurance Age: “We have all got to take some responsibility. The industry has got to get together and promote the industry.”

Blunt continued: “Davies has something called the Insurance Sector Apprenticeship Task Force, which brings together our biggest employers like Aviva, Aon, Marsh, NFU and Zurich.

We have all got to take some responsibility. The industry has got to get together and promote the industry.

Carolyn Blunt

“Together, they will look at talent attraction, retention, diversity and apprenticeship success factors. It is great to see because they will collaborate in a room but day-to-day they are competitors. This is where the whole industry will benefit.”

Blunt also urged the industry to make a commitment to boosting insurance’s presence to young people, and added: “The industry should commit to visiting schools or colleges, and talk about what insurance is and how interesting it can be.

“Davies has done a partnership with Empower Development, which is brilliant on TikTok and Instagram, and that is where you’re going to get your message out to those younger people.”

Male-dominated industry

Another challenge highlighted by Blunt was how insurance is still a male-dominated sector.

She commented: “I was shocked when I did the Lloyd’s of London tour because women weren’t allowed on the trading floor until around 1973, and we can see that it is still very male-dominated and has an aging demographic.

“Unfortunately, it has taken time to get where we are now, and it is still going to take time to get it absolutely right.”

Demographics

Blunt added that the demographics for Davies’ apprenticeships are currently split half and half in terms of gender, which, she claimed, was better than the insurance industry at present.

“This does not necessarily sound ground-breaking on paper, but when you look at it compared to the industry it is ground-breaking,” she said.

“We also did insurance boot camps, which are government funded, and 70% of those boot campers were non-white. We really want to see recruitment activity happening, and tackle the lack of diversity in the industry.”

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