Update (as at February 2024)
Despite ongoing efforts to improve gender diversity in leadership positions, the representation of women at the senior leader level has seen a slight decrease in the past year. While this outcome is not what we had hoped for, steps have been taken to address this challenge and work towards greater gender equality in the workplace.
While the decrease in female representation at the senior leader level is a setback, we remain committed to promoting gender diversity and equality in the workplace. By implementing initiatives such as the Female Leadership Programme, family-friendly policies, and a new career framework, the organisation is taking proactive steps to address the challenges faced by women in the workforce and create a more inclusive and equitable workplace for all employees. With continued dedication and effort, we are confident that we can improve representation of women at the senior leader level and create a more diverse and inclusive leadership team.
One of the reasons we have not reached our target for women in senior roles is the limited turnover in these positions. Additionally, a shortage of female applicants, and a shortage across the Insurance industry, for senior roles has also contributed to the underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions.
While we recognise that achieving our diversity goals will take time and concerted effort, we remain committed to promoting gender diversity and equality in the workplace. As part of our revised strategy, we have set a new target for 2024 to achieve 35% representation of women in senior management, with a steadfast commitment to reaching 40% representation of women in senior leadership roles by 2026. By continuing to invest in the development and advancement of female talent within the organisation, we are confident that we can create a more inclusive and diverse leadership team that reflects the talent and diversity of our workforce.
Update (as at October 2021)
Through all of the challenges facing the travel industry in 2021, we have continued to push forward with our drive to meet our goals for at least 40% female representation at a senior leader level. We have completed our succession planning for the executive team which includes the development of our female talent into the more senior roles. We have also continued to support flexible and remote working to help drive an inclusive working environment.
In terms of data, female representation in senior management dropped by 4% to 28%, this figure is driven by the loss of one senior female leader due to the closure of a business area, coupled with the suspension of recruitment and promotions due to the impact of COVID-19. However, as the business grows we expect see the results of our recent efforts come to fruition. These foundations and the clear plans we have in place which are actively supported by the board, executive team and the newly appointed Group Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing, give us the confidence that we will meet our targets in 2022.
Our Group Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing is Andrea Henry – she is a great example of our success so far in ensuring women are seen and accurately represented within senior leadership teams. Andrea is an internal hire/promotion, having been part of the Collinson team for a number of years, and will be instrumental to ensuring we meet our pledges.
Update (as at October 2020)
In 2020, female representation on the Executive Committee has increased, while our overall female representation in senior management has dropped to 32%, one percentage point lower than last year. This change is reflective of a reduction in the overall numbers in the Collinson Insurance division following the restructuring in 2019 that separated our Insurance and Medical Assistance teams. We have also welcomed two female non-executive directors on our Board in Malta this year.
As with many firms in the travel sector, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on our staff numbers. However, the pandemic has also given us the opportunity to accelerate our flexible working and working from home initiatives. All roles within the Collinson Insurance division are now entirely flexible, allowing all staff to work as and when suits them best. We are confident that this shift will continue to have a positive impact on diversity and inclusion in our workforce in the coming year as we remain committed to delivering our 40% target for female representation by 2022.
Update (as at October 2019)
When we signed up to the Charter in 2017 we had 39% female representation. As of September 2019 we have 33% female representation in senior management. We believe we are on track to meet our Charter target by our deadline. Following an organisational restructure in 2019, we now include our international operations in the reporting for the Charter; previously the figures were solely focused on our UK business. Whilst we see this as a positive move, it has resulted in an increase to the total staff in workforce figure which has had the effect of reducing the percentage of female staff in senior management. Looking at the numbers behind the percentage, there is actually an increase in the number of female senior managers. We remain committed to achieving and exceeding our charter target by 2022 and continue to focus our efforts on working to attract, retain and promote female employees across the business. Initiatives that we are concentrating on include promoting and encouraging flexible work in, including advertising all job roles as flexible. We are also expanding our talent development programmes, and reviewing our succession planning to ensure we support and promote our female talent. We are confident that these and our other activities aimed at ensuring diversity and inclusion which are critical to our business will lead to the achievement of our 40% target for female representation.
--------------------------------------
Original statement (as at April 2018)
Last year the government asked Jayne Anne-Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, to lead a review into the representation of women in senior managerial roles in financial services. This work complements the government's wider programme of work to tackle gender inequality and support women in the work place.
Collinson has signed up as a signatory to the HMT Women in Finance Charter for all roles within Insurance & Assistance and as a result will deliver against the following recommendations:
- Assign a senior member of the executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
- Set internal targets for gender diversity in senior management
- Publish our progress towards these targets annually
- Have an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to the delivery of these targets
Our internal targets for gender diversity in senior management are as follows:
Recruitment
- We will not appoint to senior management without first actively engaging with all of the female potential successors in the department to help them assess their readiness for a new challenge and to encourage potential candidates to apply for the role.
- We will interview at least one female candidate in at least 90% of selection for roles in senior management.
- Over the next 12 months we will aim to at least maintain the representation of females in our senior management population at 40%
Talent Management
- Talent management processes will be in place and actively supported in the next 12 months.
- Talent management processes will include targets for the inclusion of female employees.
- We will work with females who are selected for talent management processes to identify if additional mentoring or coaching would be of value in helping them achieve the next layer in the organisation.
Succession Planning
- For Executive posts, we will identify the most likely female successor (irrespective of "time before ready for post") and ensure that development plans are in place.
- Ensure that all succession plans contain at least as high a proportion of females as for our total population at that level.
We have the intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to the delivery of these targets:
The internal targets for gender diversity in senior management will form part of the objective set for every member of the Insurance & Assistance executive team within Collinson. Progress towards them will be formally reviewed at the end of April 2018 and performance vs all objectives which include the gender diversity targets will be part of the overall remuneration outcome for the 2017/18 Financial Year.
Your senior executive team member who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion is:
Lawrence Naested
CTO and Head of Transformation, Insurance
lawrence.naested@collinsongroup.com
|
|
