In April’s edition of The Actuary, IFoA CEO Stephen Mann outlined some of the actions the IFoA had taken to implement its ambitious and far-reaching Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategy.
In the intervening months, the IFoA, working with members, volunteers and partners, has continued to progress activity and generate the momentum to deliver on its commitment to improving DEI. Here, we give an overview of some of ways the IFoA has been embedding its strategy (bit.ly/DEI_Change_for_better) in recent months.
Leadership and culture
The demographic mix of IFoA Council, Management Board, Regulation Board and Executive Leadership team was published for the first time in June and is available in the DEI section of the IFoA 21/22 Annual Report (bit.ly/IFoA_DEI2022).
The City of London Corporation socio-economic diversity taskforce published its UK baseline survey results in August (bit.ly/CoL_Building_Baseline). More than 1,000 UK-based IFoA members took part in the survey, contributing data that will provide a starting point for lasting change in the financial and professional services sectors.
The IFoA also hosted a roundtable event with the taskforce’s Industry workstream. Representatives from leading employers shared their views, which will feed into the workstream’s consultation. Outcomes from this are expected in the autumn.
The IFoA has joined Progress Together (progresstogether.co.uk) as a supporter. The membership body, launched in May this year, will build on the work of the City of London Corporation taskforce and focus on progression and retention in the financial services sector.
A project is now underway to work with our member-led communities, committees and boards to gather DEI data across our volunteer groups. This will support the development of action plans to progress representation and participation.
Supporting members in their work
The IFoA recently relaunched its buddy scheme (bit.ly/IFoA_Buddy_System), offering members access to one-to-one, confidential and remotely-accessible peer support to help members if they have issues they want to discuss.
Supporting members in their careers
We have joined Neurodiversity in Business (neurodiversityinbusiness.org), an industry forum whose mission is to help develop more neuro-inclusive workplaces.
Improving DEI in our community
We have been working with members and employers to promote the importance of partnership working to effect change. This has included highlighting actuarial employers’ DEI work and developing informal DEI networks across employers and industry to promote best practice.
Christopher Cullen, actuarial senior manager and UK actuarial DEI lead at EY, says: “I think the IFoA has such a powerful role to play in being at the centre of all actuarial employers where they have members. Being able to co-ordinate literally thousands of people’s efforts to drive improvements in DEI across our industry (and society) would be hugely impactful.”
Read more about the IFoA’s commitment to champion and embody the benefits of a globally diverse and inclusive profession in its DEI Strategy at bit.ly/IFoA_DEI_Strategy
