RSA spotlights value of neurodiverse talent
“If you look outside the insurance industry, into broader society, there’s a very exciting reframing of what it means to be neurodiverse.”
This was the view of Emily Fraser, chief technical underwriting officer and neurodiversity ambassador at RSA, as she discussed the skills and potential of neurodiverse people with Intelligent Insurer, as well as RSA’s decision to join the Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment, and Neurodiversity (GAIN) as a transformer member.
Fraser, who has dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), led the insurers’ neurodiversity inclusion work, which began just under two years ago when the RSA Ability employee resource group (ERG) was launched. This group has a wider remit than neurodiversity, supporting employees with seen and unseen disabilities. It received a very positive response from the people at RSA, she said, and one of the key themes that came out was around neurodiversity and what it means at work.
“Traditionally, neurodiversity has been focused on the deficit part—people’s weaknesses. I have ADHD and even in the title it’s attention deficit disorder.
“Over the last couple of years there’s been an increasing momentum to focus more on the strengths that neurodiverse people have, and thinking about how employers can set them up for success and increase employment,” Fraser said.
However, she said, the number of people on the autistic spectrum in gainful employment is shockingly low.
Data published by the UK Department for Work and Pensions shows that people with autism have “particularly low employment rates”, with fewer than three in 10 in work.
Skills match
For Fraser, this untapped pool of people looks like a wasted opportunity, particularly for the insurance industry.
“When you think about the skillsets the insurance industry needs, great analytical minds that have amazing attention to detail, and thinking outside the box, neurodiverse people have lots of these traits, these strengths. Neurodiverse people can fit well into those kinds of skills. The potential they have is huge,” she explained.
This potential was not lost on RSA. Fraser said that the insurer became more committed to being “neuroinclusive” and started working on how it could do it.
“We looked at how we could change our processes to attract, onboard and retain neurodiverse people and, most importantly, then allow them to flourish.”
As a result, this year the employer overhauled the way it advertises job vacancies, for example, changing the wording to be much more inclusive. It has taken a close look at how to ensure neurodiverse people, and others with protected characteristics, can be supported throughout their careers to ensure they are developed to their full potential.
As RSA was developing its neurodiverse inclusion work, GAIN was steadily developing and growing its reputation in the insurance industry.
GAIN’s primary mandate is to help the insurance and investment industries lead the way in neurodiverse inclusion by helping to provide meaningful careers for previously excluded people.
“We share best practice around what we’re doing in our different territories.” Emily Fraser, RSA
Data from GAIN shows that as many as one in five people in the UK identify as neurodivergent and live with conditions such as autism, dyslexia, ADHD or dyspraxia. “With our industry facing talent gaps, now is the time to ensure this untapped and underused talent plays a vital role,” GAIN stated.
For Fraser, as she watched the work at RSA develop in this space, this year seemed like the perfect time to join GAIN. “As a corporate transformer member we have a seat at the table. They provide a safe space for companies to discuss how to become neuroinclusive.”
She added that the insurer’s journey goes further than RSA, as its parent company Intact has taken up the neurodiversity mantle too.
“At the end of last year, I was asked to take on a group-wide job as the ambassador of neurodiversity. So in addition to RSA Ability, our UK ERG, we have what we call a community of practice, specifically on neurodiversity, which is attended by us in the UK, but also colleagues within our US, Canadian and Irish business.
“We share best practice around what we’re doing in our different territories to push forward neurodiverse inclusion, while recognising that we’re all at different stages in our journey. It’s a fantastic platform and initiative, and we are gaining very good traction,” she said.
A rich tapestry
Diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) at RSA covers a range of activities across the business, Fraser said.
For example, the Ability ERG is one of six ERGs at the insurer. The five other groups focus on driving better gender balance; helping parents and carers; championing multicultural inclusion; supporting employees within the armed forces; and ensuring an inclusive work culture for LGBTQ+ people.
It doesn’t stop there. Other DEI programmes the employer is involved in include the Race at Work charter, Women in Finance charter, and 10,000 Black interns, not to mention its Count Me In data collection, which is based on self-disclosure of protected characteristics as a way of enriching the data the employer can use to support people throughout their careers, to name just a few.
“DEI is at the heart of the RSA culture. It’s a range of initiatives that form a tapestry of activity from the corporate level, such as the Count Me In campaign, to a huge grassroots effort through the ERGs, where passionate people volunteer their time to drive additional activity,” Fraser said.
“When you bring it all together, it allows us to cover a huge range of different people and bring them into the mix in a very progressive, and quite fast-paced, way to start to make a tangible difference.”
