Lloyd's sees uptick in female leadership but ethnicity representation still trails

By Rebecca Delaney

March 12 - (The Insurer) - Lloyd's saw the proportion of women in leadership roles across the market rise by one percentage point to 36% in 2024, according to its latest market practices and policies return, which also showed that the market has yet to meet its "one-in-three" hiring ambition to increase ethnic diversity.

The sixth edition of the return, which covered 63,000 people, found that gender balance among the Lloyd's market workforce increased by 1 percentage point year on year to 44% women.

The proportion of women in leadership roles hit its 35% target last year. The past year saw improvements across all three leadership levels; women accounted for 27% of personnel on boards, 31% on executive committees and 38& among direct reports to executive committees.

Executive committee representation saw the largest year-on-year increase of 3 percentage points.

According to the return, the average gender pay gap for market firms is 31%, marking a yearly reduction of 3 percentage points.

"This is a lagging indicator which shows the increase of women in leadership positions is flowing through reductions in the gender pay gap," said Lloyd's.

The return also showed that 22% of new hires in the past year came from an ethnically diverse background. Although this marks a 1 percentage point improvement from 2023, this indicates that the market has still not yet reached its 33% target.

At early careers level, 29% of the 950 graduates and apprentices hired over the past year had an ethnically diverse background.

The representation of ethnic diversity across the market workforce stands at 14%, up 1 point year on year and a 5 percentage point improvement over the past three years.

The proportion of ethnically diverse professionals in leadership positions increased by 3 percentage points to 12%.

Lloyd's added that data collection has increased for other characteristics, with 2% of employees disclosing a disability, long-term illness or health condition.

Similarly, 2% of employees disclosed that they are part of the LGBTQ+ community, consistent for the fourth consecutive year.

Collection of social mobility data increased, with 26% of firms collecting data on socioeconomic background and 32% of firms collecting information on schooling. However, Lloyd's noted that the disclosure rates mean it is not yet representative enough to report.

Age data shows that almost one-quarter (24%) of professionals in the market are under 30 years of age, while more than half (52%) are under 40.

More firms have adopted inclusive hiring practices to broaden access to a wider talent pool, with 78% of firms participating in a market-wide outreach to attract talent to careers in insurance.

In addition, 70% of firms have provided training on inclusive behaviour to employees, while 65% said they have trained their leadership in the past year.