Insurance Times reveals findings from IWD 2023 poll

Hybrid working was the most popular choice for respondents to an Insurance Times survey posted on LinkedIn for International Women’s Day (IWD) last week (8 March 2023).

The survey questioned what factor respondents thought was most important to increasing gender equity across the UK insurance sector as celebrations for social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the world were highlighted on IWD. 

With improving female representation at board level in the industry an important issue, Insurance Times ran the poll on LinkedIn to explore what its audience believed were the best methods for helping solve the issue.

Respondents were asked to select which one of the four below options they believed worked best to improve gender equity.

At time of writing (10 March 2023), the poll had received 319 votes.

The results were:

• Mentoring – 22%
• Gender-neutral job specifications – 21%
• Hybrid working – 34%
• Unconscious bias training – 23%

Commenting on the poll, Saga chief product officer April Clark noted that “hiring and promoting more women” was another method to improve equity.

Private equity consulting firm Arete Ventures founder Emma Fowler, added: “Executive committee sponsorship of female succession candidates, chief executive flexibility and innovation when working with headhunters on a retained search – so as to broaden the search landscape and make the shortlist more diverse – [and] leadership development programmes.”

Insurance Times acknowledges that the solution to an issue as complex as improving gender equity would require a more nuanced approach than could be expounded via a LinkedIn poll’s results – however, the results do provide useful information about market priorities.

If you would like to take part, there is still time to vote and have your say by leaving a comment – the poll will close on Wednesday 15 March 2022.