Inclusive employee experience in the finance and insurance sector with Lloyds Banking Group and GAIN

This free webinar took place on the 28th March 2023 and included Ross Hovey, Accessibility Manager at Lloyds Banking Group and Vina Theodorakopoulou, Individual Members Lead at GAIN (Group for Autism, Insurance, and Neurodiversity) to discuss their experiences of employee and colleague inclusion and accessibility in the finance and insurance sectors. 

We learned from the panellist's experience in disability employee inclusion from within the Finance and Insurance sector. In addition, we discovered their initiatives that facilitate inclusive and accessible working environments for all employees (disabled and neurodiverse).

You can access the recording, transcript and slides on this webpage. You can also access some exclusive extra questions answered in the session by Ross and Vina.

Inclusive employee experience in the finance and insurance sector - AbilityNet webinar slides via SlideShare

During the webinar, we found out about inclusive practices across:

• Recruitment
• Onboarding
• Ways of working
• Career development 

Teresa also asked the panellists about their current practices, the benefits they have experienced and barriers that may exist. 

This webinar recording is suitable for:

• EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) professionals
• HR 
• Accessibility professionals
• Managers and business leaders

Meet the panellists:

Ross Hovey, Accessibility Manager, Group Disability, Mental Health & Neurodiversity Team, Lloyds Banking Group

During a career of 20 years Ross has delivered in a variety of roles within Lloyds Banking Group but is now an established thought leader and subject matter expert on Disability in the Workplace with extensive expertise in implementing and managing a workplace adjustment process. He has a great understanding of Accessibility requirements in both the built and technology environments. 

His work in the field of Disability has gained significant respect and alongside his career job he leads Changing Places International mission to set the Global standard for full accessible toilets and is a member of Gatwick Airports Independent Accessibility Panel. He recently has started working with Permobil on developing their wheelchairs to be even better! On top of all of this he manages his own team of carers to enable him to live a fully inclusive life - his friends and colleagues question whether you will ever meet anyone so determined.

Ross uses his Banking, HR CiPD and lived experience of disability to deliver on his passion for making not only Lloyds Banking Group but the world a more inclusive place for Disabled people. He persistently challenges the status quo in a positive professional manner bringing a sense of reality and humour to often difficult conversations. Extremely organised and methodical he has a gentle plain talking style with Stakeholders of all levels.

Out of work you’ll find Ross at Anfield supporting he beloved Liverpool or at home cooking for family and friends. He is a bit of a gadget geek too.  And when he gets the time he loves a hot luxury holiday in various parts of the world!

Vina Theodorakopoulou, Individual Members Lead at GAIN

With a doctorate in behavioural economics and 25 years' experience across the wider financial services, Vina is a passionate advocate for diversity of thought in the workplace. 

A polyglot who has led multi-disciplinary deal teams with focus on aligning deliverables with corporate values, she leads GAIN’s individual member stream. Vina aspires to an inclusive insurance and financial services industry that utilises talent, embraces neurodiversity and celebrates human potential.

Teresa Loftus, Senior Workplace and Education Inclusion Consultant at AbilityNet (Host)

Teresa has worked in the field of Assistive Technology (AT) for over 20 years. Her first steps in to this world of evolving technology started when supporting a mature student who used screen reading software (Jaws). This then led to her developing new skills in AT, working with blind and visually impaired students to access education. After this she moved to delivering workplace assessments and studied ergonomics, a key component of workplace assessments.

Teresa has continuously adapted to the needs of workplace and education contracts, and now has moved into webinar creation, delivery, and eLearning content creation. Throughout her career she has held a strong belief in inclusion and accessibility.

Q&As

This webinar lasted for 60 minutes and included an opportunity to pose questions to the panel which they have answered below. 

Q: How does Lloyd’s approach to employee inclusivity impact its approach to its customer base and accessible service provision?

Ross: I do not work in the customer-facing part of the business so could not comment on the specifics here, however, a member of my team does liaise with and provide expertise to our Group Customer Inclusion Team, who look after our disabled customer base and accessible service provision, so we are aligned. Our workforce reflects the customers we serve and we have disabled colleagues within our branch and contact centres. We are committed to our customers' needs and colleagues' needs equitably and do share learnings.

Q: Have any of the panel not been able to find/provide the right adjustments/tools in their experience?

Vina: In my view, the main point is to consider the definition of what makes the "right" adjustments/tools and who determines righteousness. You may agree that the individual(s) in need of this support is the "who": communicating the particular need(s) is the catalyst with the corporate acknowledging the importance of the adjustment provision and, in turn, procurement reviewing the appropriate tools available and proceeding with the necessary implementation (purchase/service provision/partnership).

Budget availability -most of the time, adjustments for neurodiverse individuals are not costly, without this discounting the need to discuss budget- (to me this sets good practice), as well as the appreciation that this is not a box-ticking exercise are critical parameters for an affirmative response to your question. 

Check-ins and updates that ascertain user-friendliness, usage frequency and effectiveness; also, preparedness to review adjustments in line with job tasks and/or environment changes are essential to ensure that the provision of support is part of the organisation's DNA. This makes any solutions right.

As we discussed in the webinar it requires a circular feedback loop between the organisation and the employees (incl. ERGs -Employee Resource Groups- and Affinity Groups).  

Ross: I have all the adjustments I need thank you. We work with all colleagues and continue to until we find the right solution, as long as it is reasonable and practical.

Q: Ross, does the board of your disability network get time to work for the network or do they have to do it next to their regular work?

Ross: The chair of our disability network has a full time role within the group and is empowered to manage their time to meet the needs of their job and role as Chair. The Group recognises the importance of all diversity networks but does not expect or want colleagues to work additional hours in order to support networks. 

Q: What is the best way to get senior involvement?

Ross: An Exec Sponsor and often they have a connection to the disability agenda through other work or relationships.

Vina: One worded answer: data

To elaborate, senior involvement necessitates the presentation of the topic as a business case: why, for example, we should raise awareness of disability and neurodiversity (incl. training and adjustments), review our accessibility framework, possibly update our hiring and onboarding processes to attract diverse talent, etc. These are so much DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) - as they are business performance-related. Data on the make-up of the organisation's workforce (for e.g. consider attributable diversity data collection), relevant external reports and surveys making a direct connection between performance and diverse teams, as well as stats on talent turnover / fluid intelligence / qualitative insight [patterns] of exit interviews to give you a few examples that tend to turn C-Suite heads. 

An additional suggestion would be to showcase the results and successes of diverse teams. I am a firm believer in collective power and the validity of demonstrating the tangible impact of diversity. Last but not least, representation; is there disability- / neurodivergence- representation across the Board / senior levels? If so, getting these individuals to sponsor/ champion accessibility and diversity is certainly inspirational and [top down] example setting.  

Q: Do you have any tips to secure budget for inclusion resources?

Vina: With budget getting signed off by senior leadership, I strongly feel (and have observed) the connectivity with the above response.
So, please, read the above answers.

Ross: For employee support looking at it like a business-as-usual process, what data demonstrates the cost of not being inclusive, days lost through workplace adjustment delay absence, and engagement scores between disabled and non-disabled staff.

Q: Since starting in your role, what positive and negative inclusion changes have you observed at your organisations?

Vina: GAIN (Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity), a non-profit community interest group, is an industry-wide initiative passionate about neurodiversity and committed to championing cognitive diversity and the creation of neuroinclusive employment pathways. We are built -and operate- on the principle of walking the talk. As such, our vision and governing principles are shared top down - that said, we have a pretty flat organisational structure that enables openness, a circular feedback loop and enhances learning and progress. Intersectionality, neurodivergence and disability inclusion are evident across our salaried staff and volunteers; we thrive in the acceptance of diversity across our team and actively endorse the utilisation of our skillsets. Being a representative of our community is often referenced by our individual and corporate members as a major pillar of creating a psychologically safe space and nurturing their (our) feeling of belonging.

Ross: Too many positives to list. Flexible working, central workplace adjustment offerings, improved technology (including Microsoft 365 which has lots of tech as standard), more height adjustable desks, neurodiversity services, etc. 

Q: How big are your teams and what are the key roles that help with inclusion at your organisations?

Ross: My team is approximately 10. Key roles include a Senior Disability Manager and in reality, all our roles are key as we are a huge organisation. In smaller organisations a Workplace Adjustment expert is key.

Vina: GAIN (Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity) itself is a lean organisation (community interest group) of an inspiring mix of neurodivergent volunteers (mostly) and salaried staff members; in total 12 of us. However, as we are owned and steered by our community of individual and corporate members across the insurance, investment and related financial services sector, we are a few thousand people strong.

Key roles that help with inclusion are the leads of our main workstreams (corporates, neurodiverse individuals and active allies, qualified partners, projects and research), who nurture open communication and a psychologically safe environment for our members, partners, allies and ourselves to be able to share experiences and aspirations of a more inclusive (near) future workplace. Appreciating this as a marathon rather than a sprint, we respectfully acknowledge that each person -and organisation alike- is in a different stage in this journey. It is by learning from each other and joining forces to amplify our actions collectively -alongside the government, educational system, regulators, trade, and professional associations- we can achieve greater inclusion for our industry and wider society. 

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Please find the transcript for this webinar available below. 

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