As businesses push forward on hitting diversity goals, a major insurance company in the U.K. is telling its 22,000 strong workforce that senior white male new hires must be personally approved by none other than the CEO.
Aviva’s boss Amanda Blanc said the policy forms part of the company’s efforts to stamp out sexism in the financial services industry.
Speaking at the Sexism in the City inquiry, Blanc, who became the blue-chip company’s first female chief executive in 2020, told a parliamentary committee that there was “no non-diverse hire at Aviva without it being signed off by me and the chief people officer.”
“Not because I don’t trust my team but [because] I want to make sure that the process followed for that recruitment has been diverse, has been properly done, and is not just a phone call to a mate saying, ‘Would you like a job? Pop up and we’ll fix it up for you,’” she said according to multiple outlets.
It is understood that Blanc’s comments apply only to senior hires at Aviva, who make up around 5% of the firm’s overall roles. Currently, 60% of the group are men.
“The scope of the charter is to get more women into senior management roles,” Blanc explained the reasoning for the measure. “My belief is if you have more women in senior management roles, this behavior will go away.”
“We will always hire the best person for the job and ensure that Aviva has a diverse workforce that reflects the customers we serve,” an Aviva spokesperson…
