While the insurance industry has traditionally been a male-dominated sector, there has been much progress towards gender diversity in recent years. A 2019 study by McKinsey & Company found that women make up more than half of the insurance workforce – about 57% of insurance employees. But more can still be done about gender diversity in insurance leadership as the same study found that only 18% of the insurance C-suite is represented by women.
Donna-Leigh White (pictured), a regional sales manager with Westland Insurance Group, believes that insurance can be a golden opportunity for women looking to advance their professional careers, and that insurers must realize the strength that workforce diversity and inclusion (D&I) brings. White shared her insights with Insurance Business, and explains why – despite its still-developing outlook on D&I – the insurance still offers one of the best career options to women.
I first became a broker in BC in 2009. I had just relocated back to BC from Alberta, and decided that ICBC was the closest match to the skills I had developed while being a Registry Agent. So, like many, I would say that I fell into insurance. I started with ICBC and batching for a very busy office with many road runners, and now manage the lovely gentleman who taught me there and proctored my exam.
Over the course of my career since then, I have worked as both broker and agent across BC and Alberta. I love connecting with clients, and helping them to learn what they don’t know and make decisions to protect themselves, their families, and their investments.
I transitioned to people leadership several years ago, and am now Westland’s Regional Sales Manager for southern Vancouver Island. My role now has changed in many ways, but at its core, it remains the same. I support, coach, and encourage my team to do the same for their teams in the branches, and that translates to good customer service.
I am a firm believer that we should start with our people, and they in turn will provide the highest levels of service to all our clients. To me, people leadership translates to being authentic, vulnerable, and surrounding myself with a diverse team that can bring perspectives that I might not see myself.
There are many reasons that I am passionate about the industry in general, and as a career choice for women in particular. I was raised by a single mother on welfare for most of my childhood. The opportunities that presented themselves to get out of that life were minimal, and it can often create a generational spiral effect. When I fell into insurance in my early 20s, I realized that this was the opportunity that I had been looking for.
There are so many stimulating challenges, so much room for advancement, and so many different directions that you can take your career based on your particular interests and talents.
Many women, whether coming from a lower socioeconomic background or not, are looking for that chance, that door to open for a great, exciting and stable future. Insurance can give us this. Insurance is no longer the male-dominated career it was in the past, and more and more women are embracing the opportunity. When more voices are heard, we all benefit.
Diversity and inclusion is something that I am personally very passionate about. I strongly believe that the strongest teams are the ones where the most diverse voices are heard. It goes so much beyond just having diversity on our teams – it is embracing it and finding that strength as a team, as a community, as a company that this brings.
Everyone wants to feel included and like they belong, and we spend so much of our lives at work that we need this psychological safety to be able to bring our authentic selves. And when we are authentic, it shows in the happiness of the workplace, and allows our diverse clients to also feel accepted and safe with us as well. It is not always easy, but that is part of the beauty of it – that means we are learning and growing.
