Diversity initiative of the year: Women Leading @Crowe
The insurance industry is rarely at the vanguard of diversity and inclusion, but some firms are determined to try and improve the situation.
Consulting firm Crowe has a commitment to creating a progressive and inclusive work environment, and one of its initiatives is the Women Leading @Crowe (WL@C) programme.
This is designed to support women across the firm and further the growth of an inclusive culture.
WL@C is led by a Crowe partner and a council of other leaders at the director and partner levels, supported by committees staffed from across the organisation.
The programme has three pillars that aim to address the changing needs of women at different stages of their career. They are called connect; grow; and inspire.
The connect group, for example, is for all women at Crowe. It promotes and supports networking and professional development.
The grow group selects women at the senior leadership level to support their leadership journey to director or partner.
Crowe says 55% of its first three grow group class participants have already reached the partner or director level at the firm.
The inspire group empowers all of its female partners, directors and officers to enhance their mentoring relationships across the firm, and focus on market outreach to help other women develop.
Women are invited to participate in quarterly events that address various topics in the workplace, such as business development, coaching and work/life integration.
In its most recent people survey, 92% of participants responded favourably to the statement "Crowe leadership supports diversity in the workplace and recognises and respects the value of human differences".
The judges praised the submission as "an impressive and compelling entry", which demonstrates real commitment to gender diversity.
They added the breadth of practical initiatives in the programme demonstrates that diversity is a priority and recognises bold steps are needed to engineer real change.