Do DEI initiatives leave some P&C employees behind?

Pockets of P&C brokerage employees feel left behind by the adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, which seek to promote the fair treatment of historically underrepresented groups.

Among brokers responding to Canadian Underwriter’s 2025 Brokerage DEI Survey, 20% say they have been disadvantaged by workplace DEI policies.

The research, now in its fourth year, garnered responses from 227 Canadian brokers and is supported by Sovereign Insurance. 

Almost half (48%) of respondents who personally reject DEI policies are more likely to indicate they’ve been disadvantaged by these programs. Similarly, 26% of brokers working at companies with no diversity at the senior leadership level say they’ve been disadvantaged by DEI policies.

“DEI is not something that grows in the dark,” one broker comments in the survey. “Support, communication and respect are required by all, and to all, if the initiative is to be successful. Even those opposing DEI have the right to understand it better.”

Employee resource groups and informal, facilitated conversations can help leaders understand skeptical brokers’ concerns, “and start building trust around it,” Melissa Bajwa, vice president of compliance and broker network operations at Prolink, tells Canadian Underwriter.

Related: Why brokers call social polarization a workplace problem

Brokers who feel neutral to or oppose DEI initiatives say they’d be more likely to support them if brokerages could ensure all employees benefit from the initiatives.

“Everyone should have a lens on what DEI is, and know that DEI means including you, too,” says Lena Perkins, manager of brand and experience at Mitch Insurance. “We have professionals from different ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, genders and generations in the industry. DEI is really just about bringing everyone together, and it’s there to benefit you as well.”

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Nine in 10 brokers surveyed can name at least one way DEI initiatives benefit their workplace experience, regardless of their personal stance on the matter. The top three benefits they cite are:

• Mutual respect and a welcoming environment (70%)
• Fairness and transparency in policies (52%)
• Encouraging personal growth (48%).

Perkins is also Mitch’s DEI committee co-chair. She says her brokerage runs an employee recognition program in which staff acknowledge their colleagues’ good work, thereby enhancing morale and engagement among teams.

“[It’s] a campaign where teammates can give each other shout-outs when they are embodying one of our values,” she says. “We share them on our internal website…and we also share them at employee events. We really want to make sure that the team is getting recognition.

“On the surface it may not seem necessarily like a DEI strategy, but we’ve found that it really helps. A great part about that is, it gives the team the opportunity to do that on their own. So, it’s more of an employee-led initiative than a leadership one.”

This article is excerpted from one that appeared in the August-September print edition of Canadian Underwriter.

Alyssa DiSabatino

Alyssa Di Sabatino has been a reporter for Canadian Underwriter since 2021, covering industry trends, market developments, and emerging risks.