Airmic’s John Ludlow on why diversity and equality have become a business imperative

The row over Windrush, which caused the resignation of the Home Secretary Amber Rudd, has highlighted a question even deeper than the unacceptable way in which a particular group of British citizens have been treated. It asks what sort of a society we want to be, and how we behave towards people of different ethnicity, gender, religion, background and sexual orientation.

The case for diversity has tended to centre around questions of fairness and equality. Important as these issues are, they ignore some compelling business arguments. Put simply, diversity makes good commercial sense.

Insurance and risk management have in the past been dominated by white males, and to some extent still are, though that is changing. At Airmic, we realised a few years ago that, although women made up approximately half the membership, our meetings, events and committees were dominated by men – and middle-aged ones at that.

There is of course nothing wrong with being middle-aged and male, but it is unacceptable that one segment should benefit from and participate so disproportionately in our activities. The association was failing to harness the talent and potential of a large proportion of our membership to contribute to what we do.

Since then, we have taken steps to improve matters, and our activities are much more representative of the people we exist to serve. For example, our governing board is 50% female (though not as a result of any quota system), as is our chair-designate.

The same principles apply to business as a whole: really good people are in short supply. Any organisation that fails to open itself to all-comers will put itself at a competitive disadvantage. Often the problem is not caused by a deliberate bias. It might just be an unconscious tendency to appoint people like oneself.

Yet it is not just the skills that you may lose as a result. When you have a diverse range of staff around the table, you tend to get a richer and more rounded way of looking at things, and of challenging the decisions you make. You are much less likely to suffer from groupthink. 

It is, of course blindingly, obvious with hindsight that the employees of a company should reflect the mix of people they need to understand to effectively develop products and services and market to.

And the case for diversity goes even deeper than that. It asks questions about what sort of organisation you are. Would I want to do business with you, work for you, buy your products and services? When things go wrong, will you have empathy to my situation? Will I trust you? 

Businesses need to tune into the national debate we are having about diversity, and to take note.