Unified in the theme of #InclusionImpact

Errol Masinga & Leeann Naidoo

With an aim to share best practice in diversity and inclusion, Aon South Africa, AIG, Chubb, Marsh, the Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA) and Willis Towers Watson participated in the fifth Diversity and Inclusion (Dive In) insurance festival.

Initiated by Lloyds of London, Dive In is a global movement in the insurance sector to support the development of inclusive workplace cultures. Its mission is to enable people to achieve their potential by raising awareness of the business case and promoting positive action for diversity in all its forms.

Since its birth in 2015, Dive In has grown exponentially, reaching global heights with events taking place in over 60 cities across 33 countries worldwide, attracting more than 9 000 people.

Diversity and inclusivity

Unified in the theme of #InclusionImpact, the South African leg of the Dive In festival, at Bowman’s Auditorium in Sandton, touched upon the financial sector codes and what they mean to the insurance industry, the importance of diverse and inclusive workplaces, providing practical ideas and inspiration for how to bring about positive change.

Each year the event is driven by a theme and for 2019 “InclusionImpact” was the focus, with a strategic look on technology, the workforce of the future and its impact on diversity and inclusion.

Transformation is an enabler of diversity

Errol Masinga, Transformation Manager at Marsh, referred to the financial sector codes and what they mean for the insurance industry. 

“Companies must embrace the financial sector codes beyond compliance. From a regulatory perspective it is key to have transformation plans for a future that is inclusive. The codes should be an integral part of business... they are an enabler,” he said. 

“Transformation is an enabler of diversity. For companies to remain sustainable they must embrace transformation,” he added. 

“The financial sector code commits all participants to actively promoting a transformed, vibrant and globally competitive financial sector that reflects the demographics of South Africa. Beyond compliance and meeting the regulatory framework, the code’s impact on the insurance industry is that companies remain competitive, there is business imperative as objectives and strategies are set, goals are met, there is business growth etc,” added Masinga. 

The insurance sector in the future

Leeann Naidoo, a management consultant specializing in organizational change internationally, designer of customised learning programmes for SA Business Schools, Author, Lecturer, and Executive Coach then went on to discuss diversity and inclusion, and what it means for the insurance sector in the future, where artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, drone technologies, and VR/AR play a huge role in workforce transformation. 

“Discrimination traditionally focuses on the dimensions that people generally discriminate on e.g. race, age, sex, religion, disability, color or genetic information etc. This is based on bias and prejudice brought about from a combination of factors that have informed mental models. It is important to recognize injustices and actively adapt thinking and integrate individuals,” said Naidoo. 

“Millennials, for example, face unfair discrimination, in her opinion, in that they are labelled as the ME-LLENNIAL generation – self-absorbed, lazy, entitled and seeking instant gratification. We are contradicting ourselves – our generation created the millennial generation, provided for them constantly as a means of compensating for what we may not have had in our childhoods, proudly showing off their technological savvy at a young age, thereby reinforcing and rewarding the focus on self-image, and yet we complain when their attention spans are low, or when they are constantly on social media. Each generation has its different work preferences and ways of communicating, we must work together with Millennials. They are, after all, our future leaders,” she said. 

“Jobs over the last 20 years for example have changed because of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Diversity and Inclusion in the future will not be about discriminating based on the traditional measures of age, gender etc. The focus will need to be on recognizing that humans may choose not to associate on a gender-basis, robots will be so sophisticated that it will be hard to differentiate human from humanoid. Sophia the robot is a highly sophisticated robot with built-in artificial intelligence – even her programming to reflect empathy is more advanced than other robotic technologies. We need to recognize that certain measures of diversity are still lacking in business, for example, women remain underrepresented in many industries in senior levels, and as we focus on addressing this issue, we must not take our eye off the ball in thinking about the workplace of the future, how human-technology interfaces will work and what the role of human beings need to be in future,” she continued. 

What does this mean for diversity and inclusion in the future? “The jobs of the last 20 years and the next 20 years will be a mix of human-technological. Some jobs won’t exist, but at the same time new jobs will emerge.” Naidoo ends off with two provocative questions, “are we educating for the future and how will we ensure that we are all future-fit?”

Leverage diversity for better solutions

Drawing on his own personal transformation journey Quinton Pretorius, Cultural Intelligence Specialist, presented on leveraging diversity with the ultimate goal of assisting individuals and organisations to lead beyond boundaries. 

It was highlighted that in the past decades, the world and hence the workplace, looked very different to what it is now. He drew attention to three big disruptions that have occurred; most notably in the environmental, technologic and sociologic realms. He pointed to how these disruptions have brought about a new era of diversity management and he questioned if we are equipped to thrive in this transformed globalised world. 

Quinton emphasised that discrimination and inequality still divide. To this end he brought to our attention that underrepresented groups are often fearful of speaking up with some reporting an accompanying sense of futility in that even if they voice their concerns they may not be heard, and their words might not make a difference.  

Several barriers to diversity and inclusion were highlighted including, but not necessarily limited to: approaching diversity as a check-box task primarily with a focus on compliance; diversity fatigue, with people tired of talking as no change follows; moral licensing, and a feeling of shame that frequently accompanies a dialogue around diversity.  

“We need to equip people with skills and create an environment that will thrive,” he stated, he then went on to explain how diversity and inclusion should be founded on fairness and respect thus opening the doors for people to feel valued and that they belong. Quinton encouraged us to question what it is that we need diversity and inclusion to achieve as a truly diverse environment will empower people and the organisations to grow. 

He concluded that leadership, representation and culture within organisations needs to be addressed in order to leverage diversity. 

Writer’s Thoughts:
It was clear from the discussions that the workforce of the future will be different, and that if we really seek to be diverse and inclusive, we must embrace transformation for an environment that will thrive. Do you agree? If you have any questions please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email me - mailto:myra@fanews.co.za