Preview: Dive In 2025

By Rebecca Delaney

Aug 14 - (The Insurer) - As Dive In Festival prepares to mark its 11th anniversary in September, Sustainable Insurer previews this year’s event following notable shifts across public and corporate perceptions of diversity, representation and social issues over the past 12 months.

The theme of the 2025 festival is ‘Belonging builds tomorrow’, which is designed to highlight the role of individual organisations in creating work environments that bridge inclusion and performance.

“In a world with more complex risks, more global connection and the need to respond effectively and quickly with suitable products and services, it is essential that we attract, retain and fully utilise the widest breadth of talent available to us,” Mark Lomas, head of culture at Lloyd’s, explained.

“Belonging gives the freedom to produce your best, most innovative work. That’s why belonging is so important to building tomorrow.”

Dive In 2025 will take place across more than 40 countries, including flagship events in the UK and U.S.

European participants include Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with events across multiple time zones from Mexico and Bermuda to Singapore and Japan.

A range of sessions will address gender, ethnicity, social mobility, working parents and carers, neurodiversity, burnout, intergenerational workforces, technology, and addressing global talent gaps.

For the latter, Dive In is set to launch its fourth reverse mentoring cohort, an initiative set up to connect talent across the insurance industry and strengthen leadership perspectives from the next generation of professionals.

The 2025 Dive In Festival takes place in a decidedly different policy and social environment from just 12 months ago.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s moves to seek to unwind the “infiltration” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the federal government through a series of executive orders early into his second administration raised questions around the work that remains to be done across the global insurance market.

Market sources canvassed by Sustainable Insurer at the time said that while the rollback was unlikely to be replicated to the same degree in the U.S. insurance sector, the politicisation of DEI was creating a “fraught moment” for corporates.

Julie Humphreys, head of diversity and inclusion at Markel International and member of the Dive In advisory group, added that this year’s festival theme serves to underline the “strategic imperative” of inclusion in the corporate world.

“When people feel they belong, they contribute more fully, collaborate more effectively, and ultimately stay longer. In a sector constantly evolving, the industry’s future depends on unlocking the full potential of its people,” said Humphreys.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen a shift in organisations moving from performative D&I to a more purposeful D&I approach. Companies are moving beyond one-off awareness campaigns to focus on measurable outcomes, inclusive leadership capabilities, and accountability.”

However, she added that the geopolitical climate has made some organisations more cautious in their external communications on inclusion and wellbeing.

“In certain regions, polarisation around social issues has led to a more nuanced approach. But overall, the insurance industry has remained steadfast in its commitment to inclusion, recognising that silence is not neutrality,” she said.

For the Lloyd’s market specifically, this will mark the first Dive In since the exit of John Neal as CEO, who had established improving market culture as one of the core pillars of his tenure.

New Lloyd’s CEO Patrick Tiernan underlined the need to foster an “open and inclusive culture” to attract the best talent to Lime Street among his priorities in an extended LinkedIn post on his first day in the role in June.

The most recent Lloyd’s market practices and policies return in March 2025 recorded a 1 percentage point increase in the proportion of women in leadership roles across the market to 36% in 2024, having hit the interim 35% target in 2023.

However, the proportion of women in underwriting leadership roles continues to lag at 18%.

The return also revealed that 22% of new hires in 2024 came from an ethnically diverse background, marking a miss on Lloyd’s one-in-three hiring ambition, which was set in 2020.

Representation of ethnic diversity across the market workforce (14%) continues to be a trailing area, with a particular disparity between entry-level and leadership roles; while 29% of graduates and apprentices hired last year were from an ethnically diverse background, the proportion of leadership positions stands at just 12%.

“We need to address some talent pipeline issues, specifically in roles like underwriting where the data shows us we need to do more to fix a leaking talent pipeline,” said Lomas.

Humphreys affirmed that gender equity in the sector has seen “notable progress” in recent years, particularly within leadership development pipelines, as well as the emergence of mental health and wellbeing as core components of corporate agendas, reflecting a broader commitment to holistic employee support.

“Despite some advancements, significant barriers still persist within the insurance industry’s D&I agenda. Ethnic minorities are still unevenly represented, particularly in senior roles. Disability inclusion is also frequently underrepresented,” said Humphreys.

She continued that DEI progress across the industry and within firms should be reviewed with the same rigour as financial performance, and should encompass leader accountability.

“One way organisations can effectively measure progress against D&I objectives is to employ a multi-layered approach that includes analysing workforce data – such as representation by level, function, promotion and attrition rates – alongside inclusion indices from engagement surveys,” said Humphreys.

“Pay equity audits are also an important tool. Qualitative feedback from employee resource groups and listening sessions are also invaluable and can provide unexpected insights.”