Dive In leaves a lasting legacy as insurance looks to its next cultural challenge

When Dive In was launched in 2015, its ambition was simple: to start conversations the insurance industry was not yet having.

 "I've always described Dive In as the Glastonbury for culture and talent in financial services."

Twelve years later, those exchanges have helped reshape workplace culture across the market. As the global festival prepares for its final edition this September, Mark Lomas (pictured), head of Culture, Talent & Communities at Lloyd's, believes its greatest achievement is proving that meaningful change happens when an industry comes together around a shared purpose.

“I've always described Dive In as the Glastonbury for culture and talent in financial services,” Lomas told Intelligent Insurer. “It's become the place where people come together to share ideas, challenge thinking and make the market stronger.”

What began as a single event has grown into a global movement spanning 30 countries and delivered in 60 languages, supported by hundreds of volunteers and thousands of participants.

For Lomas, however, the true measure of Dive In’s success is not its size, but the progress the market has made over the past decade.

“The market stands on the cusp of gender balance,” he said. “Ethnic diversity is now up around 16%. Leadership numbers have shifted. Diversity monitoring is vastly improved. Scores on inclusion on all kinds of measures of culture related to financial services benchmarks are above those benchmarks.”

Those improvements reflect a broader shift in how the industry thinks about culture, inclusion and performance. Originally established to encourage conversations around topics such as mental health, domestic abuse, menopause and neurodiversity, Dive In has evolved alongside the market. Today, its focus extends beyond awareness to exploring how inclusive cultures create stronger, higher-performing organisations.

Lomas joined Lloyd’s in 2022 and assumed responsibility for Dive In as part of his culture, talent and communities role. His objective was to help the festival evolve further – connecting inclusion with innovation, leadership and talent attraction.

That approach led to initiatives such as the Dive In careers conference and its global reverse mentoring programme, which now connects more than 600 participants from over 100 organisations across 40 countries.

“Dive In has gone from being a festival to being one of the ways we connect talent across the globe,” he said.

Its influence has also extended well beyond the festival itself. Issues that were once rarely discussed in the workplace are now embedded in organisational policies, leadership development and broader conversations about culture across the insurance market.

Lomas is quick to point out that Dive In did not drive that progress alone. He credits a wider framework of market collaboration – including culture surveys, partner networks, Lloyd's Principle 13 oversight framework and better diversity data – with helping organisations measure progress and remain accountable. “What's driven the industry’s approach is the data, insights and frameworks that have been available,” he said. “Dive In gave firms somewhere to come together and talk about what those insights meant.”

While much has changed, Lomas believes the work is far from complete. The market has become considerably better at attracting diverse talent, but maintaining that pipeline remains challenging. Skills shortages continue across claims, actuarial and underwriting roles, while AI is beginning to reshape many of the capabilities insurers will need in the future.

Those challenges have shaped this year's final festival theme: ‘The Human gAIn: powering culture and connection’. “There's no more prescient workplace conversation at the moment than AI,” Lomas said. “But as technology evolves, you still have to keep people at the heart of that.”

Rather than focus solely on the technology itself, this year's programme explores how organisations can harness AI while strengthening collaboration, creativity and human connection. Design jams, TED-style talks and speakers from outside the insurance industry have all been introduced to encourage fresh thinking around challenges that extend beyond financial services. “Every sector thinks its people’s challenges are unique,” Lomas said. “Some are, but many challenges around culture, leadership and talent are remarkably similar.”

Although this year's festival marks the end of Dive In in its current format, Lomas believes its influence will continue to shape the market for years to come. “I hope the festival's lasting legacy is a proof point that when the industry and the market come together, they really can power progress.”

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