By Asishana John
A line up of prominent speakers and advocacy groups would have another rare opportunity to address inclusive workplace cultures at the annual Diversity and Inclusion Festival, DIVE 2021.
They will discuss ways to foster understanding of generations in the workplace during the festival, a global movement within the insurance sector initiated to promote inclusive workplace cultures.
The festival has identified active allyship as a means of promoting inclusion and bridging gaps in the workplace.
The event scheduled to hold on September 22, 2021(today) will feature a panel discussion on the generational and cultural challenges faced in the workplace, looking at tools and examples for how to overcome these issues.
The theme will call on attendees to turn intentions into actions and take responsibility for making changes that will help others be successful.
Designed to take an interactive form, speakers will take turns to discuss ageism and the resulting generational bias that takes place, traditional organizational hierarchies, and limitations for inclusion arising from a lack of active allyship.
Towards the end of the discussion, strategies that should be adopted to drive active allyship will be shared as well as practices that ensure the sustainability of these strategies across all seniorities and age groups.
Omokunbi Adeoti, Human Resources, Divisional Director at Leadway Assurance Company Limited in a statement said, “Attendees in Nigeria should look forward to gleaning insight from knowledge on how and why a good synergy of inclusion of the different generations at work is critical for long term success in the insurance sector.”
Head of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, for AIICO Insurance Plc. Abimbola Shobanjo, highlighted the impact of generational differences in her experience.
“People communicate based on their generational backgrounds and each generation has different attitudes, behaviour, expectations, habits, and means by which they are motivated. Generational differences, relative to how people communicate, might affect misunderstandings, high employee turnover, difficulty in attracting employees, and gaining employee commitment.” Shobanjo said.
Globally, diversity and inclusion has become a pertinent topic for growth, productivity, and innovation in every sector. The insurance sector this year is encouraging people everywhere to become active allies. Active allyship is key to improving diversity and inclusion within the sector and the festival is highlighting that: when it does not affect you personally, still speak up, take a stand.