Unveiled on 28 April by the Association of British Insurers, the Making Flexible Work Charter seeks to increase flexible working so as to foster gender equality and attract diverse talent to the UK’s insurance sector. The charter, which is the first of its kind in UK financial services and has already been signed by almost 30 leading insurers, including Allianz, Aviva, Axa XL and Zurich insurance, has also been hailed by the UK government.
Although 100% of firms in the insurance sector offer part-time roles, only 15% of employees take this up and of those who do, only 13% are men. Meanwhile so-called “job sharing” opportunities, whereby two people share a full-time position, are only offered by 61% of companies in the sector. These figures, revealed by the ABI, pushed the trade body for UK insurers to react by creating the first flexible work charter in the UK financial services industry.
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