Happy International Women’s Day!

Since the official day (Mar. 8) fell on a weekend this year, Canadian Underwriter is celebrating the voices of women in Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry throughout the week of Mar. 10 to Mar. 14.

Each day this week, we are publishing four new profiles of women in the P&C industry. The aim is to provide inspiration and insights to other women working in the industry, encouraging them to achieve the pinnacle of their leadership skills, abilities, and acumen.

Throughout this series, you will hear stories of women who succeeded through mentorship, executive pairing, and deliberate succession-planning strategies and programs.

The voices in these newsletters make it clear that women need to hear from other women about how they achieved success and leadership positions over the course of their P&C careers. Many benefitted from executives who saw their potential, took them under their wing, and presented real professional growth opportunities that allowed women to show their mettle.

It’s important to pay attention to these perspectives because Insurance Institute of Canada’s demographic data show women make up an even greater proportion of the industry — 66% in 2022, compared to 63% in 2017.

Many women in this series point to the great strides the industry has made in recognizing the unquestionable value women bring to their organizations. But many cross-currents in our society continue to make this journey of recognition fraught with challenges.

For example, many things women in this series are calling for, and the programs designed to help them, appear to be falling out of favour, as the latest demographics research of the Institute of Canada suggests. The Institute’s latest demographics study conducted a 2022 study of HR professionals from 26 different P&C industry organizations employing 44,173 people.

The study found mentorship — the top tool for targeted retention strategies in 2017 — “dropped to the bottom of the list in 2022.”

Also, “succession planning, once found to be an effective [retention] tool, has fallen out of favour,” the report observes. “The 2022 survey respondents now find it less effective in retaining key employees.”

That may have something to do with the nature and urgency of the industry’s recruitment efforts since the end of the pandemic. While succession planning relies on slow and steady professional development within the industry’s talent pipeline, many new recruits in the younger generation have a desire to move up the corporate ladder quickly. And sometimes the urgency of finding talent means pilfering the talent required from competitors to fill gaps immediately.

Also, the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs seen in the United States — and to a lesser extent in Canada (as evident in Canadian Underwriter’s joint research with Sovereign last year) — runs counter to the intentional approach women would like to see in companies’ recruitment efforts.

On Jan. 20, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for “the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.” It is unknown what influence this order may have on U.S. corporations’ approaches to DEI efforts.

In Canada, recruitment strategies in the P&C industry targeting specific demographic groups are being de-emphasized.

“Only five respondents [of the 26 company HR reps surveyed] indicated that they use targeted retention for specific demographic groups,” the Insurance Institute’s study found. “Among those who do, young workers and women were the most frequently targeted groups.”

On the other hand, a new tailwind in Canada seems to favour of DEI initiatives. New regulations announced by Canada’s federal government will compel banks, insurance companies and other financial firms to annually disclose to shareholders the number of women and minorities on their boards and in senior management positions. The proposed regulation aims to promote the hiring of women, visible minorities, Indigenous people, and individuals with disabilities to senior ranks.

Against this uncertain backdrop, it remains our hope employers listen to women’s voices and continue to make strides in increasing their representation within all ranks of Canada’s P&C industry.

 

Feature image courtesy of iStock.com/atakan