EMMA FRANCIS

I have led on diversity and inclusion at Ageas since September 2021. My key focus is on improving gender equality at both a global and UK level, but I’ve also expanded efforts to cover disability and ethnicity. Since joining I have:

• Put in place a new global strategy, focused on our global targets to improve the gender balance at senior levels, but also expanding activity beyond gender. I work with the local HR teams as well as directly with senior managers.
• Put in place a new strategy in the UK, focused on driving accountability and delivery of actions through the business functions. I have done this by establishing a council of senior representatives and coached them to put in place an action plan which addresses the specific challenges in their areas.
• Published pay gaps for disability, LGBT and ethnicity in the UK – a first for Ageas.
• Established a global network of colleagues working on D&I to share best practice and to drive tangible change.
• Coached colleagues across the global business to design and implement D&I plans, considering local cultures and legal frameworks.
• Initiated a global programme of career sessions for senior women, a development programme for mid-career talented women and introduced a new mentoring programme for senior women.

In March 2020 I returned to Zurich's UK business to focus solely on D&I. I was responsible for designing and implementing the D&I strategy, covering 4,500 employees in the UK. Key achievements included:

• Establishing a Diversity Council, chaired by our CEO, to drive accountability for D&I through the business
• Coordinating our response to the Black Lives Matter movement, including facilitating a listening exercise with Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic employees to better understand their experience; publishing our ethnicity pay gap; and commissioning behavioural scientists to research the causes of our ethnicity pay gap to focus interventions where they'll make the biggest difference
• Designing a new strategy (including stretch targets across gender, race, disability and LGBT+)
• Driving reductions in our gender, ethnicity and LGBT+ pay gaps
• For six months from April 2020 I led a project across Zurich's EMEA operation to design a D&I strategy for the business, covering 13 countries, in response to a request from the regulator.

I was seconded to cover this role for 5 months to cover parental leave. Key achievements included:

• Implementation of gender neutral paid parental leave globally (delivering for 55,000 employees)
• Submission to the Stonewall Global Workplace Equality Index (resulting in Global Leader status)
• Global campaign for International Women's Day (resulting in mass employee engagement across 30 countries)
• Implementing a global dashboard to track diversity and inclusion data
• Running the global D&I Community of Practice across 30 countries

In March 2018 my remit was extended to include diversity & inclusion, as well as Corporate Responsibility more generally. Key achievements included:

• Making all Zurich UK vacancies available part-time or as job-shares (as well as full-time) in response to research I commissioned that identified the lack of part-time work as one of the biggest causes of our gender pay gap
• Coordinating four employee networks for disability, gender, LGBT+ and ethnicity
• Leading the establishment of the Insurance industry's Inclusive Behaviours Pledge, signed by over 100 CEOs.

I was responsible for developing and delivering a CR strategy for Zurich across the UK. Key achievements included:

• Implementing agile working (‘FlexWork') across the entire UK operation, in the face of considerable scepticism
• Leading the development and roll out of financial literacy and insurance modules for secondary school students in disadvantaged areas
• The programme engaged with over 4,000 students under my leadership
• Leading a project around the Social Value Act, which resulted in us overhauling our approach to our supply chain management to ensure it reflects our CR values and rolling out a CR certification scheme for our suppliers.

I was responsible for delivering employee communications for the UK's international insurance business division, with the focus being on increasing employee engagement though effective communications. Achievements included:

• Delivering a communications strategy to improve internal communications across the business, based on input from focus groups and surveys
• Working with consultants to deliver a creative identity for the business strategy to help employees understand business priorities
• Designing and delivering a communication strategy and plan to support the implementation of the biggest organisational change to the business for many years.

I was responsible for internal communications supporting a global transformation programme, affecting over 2500 employees across the world in the international corporate insurance division. Achievements included:

• Leading the design and implementation of the communications strategy, which involved working with the business leadership to identify, hone and deliver messaging around the programme
• Building awareness and engagement amongst employees of the changes coming, across numerous cultures and countries.

• As an internal project and change management consultant within Zurich I was involved in several global projects with a mandate to ensure the successful delivery of the changes being implemented
• Achievements included:
• Working across many different cultures, in technical subjects, ensuring that the changes were implemented as quickly and successfully as possible
• Using and developing best practice change management techniques
• Engaging senior management across the business in the different projects, to ensure effective sponsorship.