Clare Walton, Transformation Lead with Aviva, tells Martin Cooper MBCS how the insurance, wealth and retirement firm is putting diversity and inclusion at the very heart of its digital products and services.
Aviva is one of the UK’s oldest financial services companies. The business opened its doors over 300 years ago and it still occupies the same marble-clad rooms in Norwich’s fittingly named Marble Hall.
Despite the firm's heritage, it is resolutely forward-looking. The company, also a BCS organisational member, is determined to serve its customers with great digital products. It has learned the best way to do this is to create a safe, caring and — above all — inclusive environment for its team members.
Can you sum up the DE&I programme?
Our diversity, equity and inclusion programme is a series of interventions targeting all staff at all grades, all with the purpose of moving the dial on our DNA…we want our company to represent our customers now and in the future.
What are the biggest successes and achievements?
To attract new talent we made our job adverts simpler. In all cases, we take additional needs into account during the recruitment process. Just because you have a stammer or ASD, that doesn’t mean you won’t make a great software engineer or project manager.
Elsewhere, we built on our successful graduate scheme by including apprentices, year-in-industry colleagues and interns. We have also launched our tech returns programme, which targets people who’ve been out of the workforce for two years or more.
What makes you most proud?
For me, it's seeing and feeling the start of a step-change in our culture— seeing the growing spirit of inclusivity. Today, people are bringing their authentic selves to work. Often, our differences are our real strengths.
For you
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The best teams I’ve worked in are the most diverse ones. If our teams are made up of the same types of people, all thinking the same way, we are going to fall behind our competitors. For example, if my team is delivering products aimed at people getting their first cars or first houses, but colleagues behind the proposition are nearing retirement, it would be difficult to get in the target market’s mindset. The same can be said for a product aimed at retirees designed by a very young team. If we want to best serve our customers, we need to have a workforce that reflects our diverse customer base.
How and why did you start the programme?
Our Head of Inclusion started in September 2021. Prior to that, we didn’t have a great deal of diversity data or a collective, consistent strategy. Previously, it was more akin to pockets of activity under various guises like women's networks. Fast forward to now and we have a One Aviva Inclusion Council. We now have a strategy across the whole business. We aim to embed inclusion into everything we do, and to do so in an authentic manner. There are DE&I working groups in all business areas. Each looks at what they need to do to improve diversity.
What’s the key to truly embedding DE&I within an organisation?
Authenticity is key. It’s also an everyone issue, working from the bottom up and the top down. Finally, all leaders should create a psychologically safe space, enabling honest conversations through role modelling.
How important is data and measurement in growing a DE&I campaign?
What doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done. So, we have two senior lead targets that are aligned to long term incentive plans (LTIP). These plans include: 40% female representation in senior leadership roles by end of 2023 and 13% ethnic diversity. Positive actions are in place too. We’re doing things like reducing gender bias language in job descriptions and ensuring we have diverse interview panels.
We had very little data a few years ago and we didn’t have anyone looking at what we did have. Today, it’s very different. Today, we’re using data to help Aviva be truly representative – for both customers and team members.
