Louella Eastman
Group CSR director
Aviva

At Aviva the key principles of diversity is around respecting and valuing differences and creating an inclusive environment. Our diversity vision reiterates these key messages well. It states: “Diversity is about everyone. We believe in a working culture that respects, celebrates and harnesses differences to the benefit of customers, employees, shareholders, business partners and the wider communities. Our competitive advantage depends on business teams that include people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, who feel valued for the positive contribution they can make to Aviva’s success.” It encourages us to look beyond the obvious and visible differences and be aware of the more subtle and invisible ones.

Q.

What do you believe are the barriers to diversity and inclusion within business life today?

A.

Typically the biggest roadblock can be around senior management sponsorship, a weak business case and insufficient efforts to communicate key messages. At Aviva we took some important steps to address these:-

• It was important for us to create the right team to drive this agenda - The first step was to create a high profile - very visible global diversity steering group and a Group level diversity director position. The mandate of this team was to create a robust diversity strategy based on Aviva's needs.
• We believed clearly this was not an HR issue and therefore needed to be positioned as a business imperative. The launch of the diversity vision and strategy took place in a global business leaders’ conference by the Group chief executive - it helped give the message traction and priority around the world.
• Communication! Communication! Communication! Many a time a great message is lost because of the way it is communicated. We created a thought provoking and exciting launch campaign called “Think Again” to support the cascading of the diversity vision and strategy and enhance awareness.
• Support and expertise - Our experience showed us that while HR/ management around the world are keen to progress the agenda they need expertise and support given their daily operational and strategic priorities. 

Q.

Are you positive or negative about the progress of inclusion in the future?

A.

At Aviva the heart of the diversity strategy is around making a difference by making progress. We have ensured that diversity is in the heart of various metrics. This includes the global employee survey which measures a separate diversity index as well as has diversity coding which allows us to cut data on various categories such as gender, age etc. Employee MI is monitored to see progress as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility campaign. Initiatives and best practices are regularly monitored and recognised internally and externally which adds on to the excitement and purpose of the agenda. We also participate in external benchmarking surveys which provides a good comparator of how we are doing Vs the external market and helps us identify our best practices as well as areas of improvement.