Wesleyan has announced that its chair, Nathan Moss, has joined the 30% Club, a group of business leaders committed to improving gender balance at all levels of their organisation.
Moss (pictured) has emphasised his support for increasing the number of women within senior management roles at Wesleyan as a priority and to be an integral part of the wider efforts to drive inclusion and diversity across the company.
The 30% club requires that signatories commit to: publicly support increasing numbers of women on boards; support initiatives to build the pipeline of women for executive and non-executive roles; and actively assist in recruiting and spreading the word to key influencers.
Moss said: “Being an inclusive and diverse organisation is extremely important to us and that’s why we’re proud to commit to the 30% Club.
“Our customers come from a wide range of backgrounds and we want to reflect this diversity within our own people, helping us to do what’s right both for the business as well as the doctors, dentists, lawyers and teachers we serve.
“We understand that to achieve sustainable gender balance at all levels, we must work to effect change, especially in the finance industry that has traditionally been male dominated.”
As part of the 30% Club enrolment Wesleyan female employees can also be part of the mentoring scheme which offers cross-company, cross-sector mentoring to women at every layer of the career pyramid. Now in its sixth year, it is part of a series of 30% Club initiatives aimed at helping to develop a broader pipeline of women and ‘balance the pyramid’ at all levels.
Wesleyan was one of the first companies to sign an industry-wide inclusivity pledge joining insurers, industry bodies and brokers to sign the Inclusive Behaviours Pledge, designed to address all forms of discrimination in the insurance sector.
As part of Wesleyans commitment to the HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter Charter, Wesleyan aims for 33% female representation within our senior management population (defined as its non-executive directors, executives and senior managers) by 2023.
In addition, as part of Wesleyan’s strategy to improve the gender mix in senior roles this year has seen the first female company sSecretary in Wesleyan 175-year history being appointed to the board.
The mutual was also a founding member of Women in Business network (in its home city of Birmingham) as well as supporting other local business networks on topics relating to women in business.
Roger Dix, chief risk officer and executive sponsor for Wesleyan’s I&D activity, said: “Diversity of thought, experience and backgrounds are critical ingredients in our view; we simply believe that enabling all of our people to be themselves at work is the right thing to do.
“It’s just good business sense to have strong capable women leaders throughout Wesleyan, not least in senior roles. We look forward to collaborating with our colleagues and peers to share best practice, learn from them and drive progress collectively.”