Modern Insurance Magazine Issue 61

INTERVIEWS
riving
Emma Best is a Product
Manager at Direct Line Group,
and co-lead of their Social
Mobility strand, ‘SoMo’.
Modern Insurance Magazine
sat with Emma to discuss the
meaning of Social Mobility in
the financial services sector,
the secrets to success behind
an employee network of this
kind, and the steps we can
all take to prioritise Social
Mobility for the insurance
industry of the future.
QHi Emma! Let’s start by touching
upon your own journey into the
insurance sector, and how you
came to be where you are today?
AI had what I would describe as an
average working-class upbringing.
Both my parents worked to provide
for us, and my brother and I were the first
in our family to study at university. I was
accepted onto a course that allowed me
to study for a year in Germany, funded
by the Erasmus programme. Going to
university broadened my horizons beyond
my wildest expectations.​
A year after graduation, I’d applied for
countless jobs and had a handful of
interviews, living with my parents whilst
working part time. I’d been brought up to
believe that ‘graft’ was a respected trait in
recruitment, but I didn’t feel that the hard
work was getting me anywhere! ​
My career in insurance started through a
graduate programme. It was incredible
to get a place on the programme, as the
opportunity only comes around once
a year and it’s very competitive. This is
where I found my skillset in Change and
Product Management.
On reflection, I can see so many barriers
into the workplace that I’d prefer weren’t
there for people with my background. It’s
not easy to knock on doors in the industry
if you don’t know where the opportunities
are.
QYou are the co-lead of Direct Line
Group’s Social Mobility Network,
more commonly known as ‘SoMo’.
Can you tell us more about this platform
and what it aims to achieve - not just
within Direct Line Group, but within the
scope of the wider industry too?
AOur mission as a Social Mobility
strand is to advocate for inclusion,
creating an engaged community
where we focus on the promotion of Social
Mobility within the business.
Our primary aim is to provide a thriving
community where everybody can reach
their full potential. ‘SoMo’ is made up of
colleagues from around the business,
and together we help to encourage
more open conversations around Social
Mobility whilst establishing role models
that can inspire and support others
from similar backgrounds. Members are
actively engaged in driving the Group’s
outreach activities, running insight events
and volunteering their time to mentoring
programmes.
Through DLG’s Community Fund, we also
support ‘Making the Leap’ - a grassroots
societal change charity whose aim is to
transform the futures of disadvantaged
young people through the provision of
training, raising aspirations and developing
skills, confidence and a positive outlook
through the process of choosing and
succeeding in a career.
QSo, how do the Direct Line Group
Values factor into this work?
AWe have four values: ‘Win together’,
‘Be yourself’, ‘Own it’, and ‘Speak
up’.
Our values shape the culture at DLG and
represent the best of our people, guiding
the way we work together to perform as
a business and deliver for our customers.
‘Be Yourself’ is particularly important in
relation to Social Mobility, and it’s great
that DLG has chosen to feature this as one
of our newly launched values.
QTell me more about the challenges
you’ve faced in the process of
establishing something like ‘SoMo’
within the corporate finance sector. What
potential challenges might someone
expect who is trying to replicate a similar
initiative within their own business?
DLG have had employee networks
running for many years, but Social
A Mobility initially wasn’t an area that
was represented. Four years ago, a couple
of colleagues started the conversation
to get the Social Mobility strand up
and running, and that’s when I quickly
jumped on board. We’ve had a big reset
since 2021, looking at our leadership and
agreeing upon some clear objectives. We
started again from scratch, getting insight
from people at all levels as to what their
understanding of Social Mobility was.
Doing this was vital in order to build a
strong foundation for change.
As well as raising awareness of Social
Mobility, we also act as a support
network and connect to the HR team,
who help highlight issues and bring new
perspectives into the business. We work
closely across all of our strands, which
means that we can join up activities and
achieve more together – especially since
socio-economic background interlinks
with challenges across a whole range of
communities.
One of the challenges we are trying to
tackle now is a lack of data. When we first
established the ‘SoMo’ strand, our primary
focus was to open the conversation.
However, now we see that to get a good
understanding of where we are and where
we’re going, we really need to have good
data. DLG have now added a question on
background information that we routinely
collect from colleagues, and we continue
to look at ways to improve our data
collection strategies in this regard.
Q
How might these challenges
be prepared for - and most
importantly, overcome?
AWhile employee-led networks
should be inclusive and welcoming
to all employees, you need energetic
leads who have a personal connection to
the network, and who are passionate and
determined to drive change. Alongside
this, senior sponsorship is key in order to
elevate conversations and unblock issues.
At DLG, we have two executive sponsors
for the ‘SoMo’ strand which we find
invaluable when it comes to aligning our
goals and addressing any prospective
issues. Defining ways of working is also
important, because as the profile and
influence of the network grows, so too
will the workload. Having an engagement
structure in place, as well as some
formalised time and recognition for
network leads to fulfil their roles, will be
vital.
QHow can senior leadership teams
engage more with their employees
in the Social Mobility space, and
support those who are hoping to launch
their own awareness campaign or similar
Aemployee network?
At DLG, we bring our network leads
together once a month to stay
connected, review key activity, and
provide input into initiatives such as data
collection. It also gives our network leads
an opportunity to bring issues to the table
so they can be discussed and addressed.
We have an Executive Committee sponsor
who also joins each of these meetings – as
well as sponsors for each of the networks.
This is valuable to us, as it demonstrates
the importance of the work we are doing
and provides the network leaders with a
scope for what some of our challenges
may be within the business.
14 | MODERN INSURANCE