DEI Month of March

At MetLife, we believe the key to a positive working environment is creating a collaborative community with diverse perspectives and a united vision. Throughout the month of March we are focussing on DEI at MetLife, with our Committee hosting events to help educate and increase awareness of diversity issues.

Mary Gabriel, the Chair of the DEI Committee shares some insights into the work the DEI Committee is doing.

Mary, what is DEI?

Previously known as the D&I Committee, we realised there was more to be done to link Diversity and Inclusion, so we renamed ourselves as the DEI Committee. The acronym D stands for Diversity, which is about making sure there is a mix of people and perspectives in the  organisation. I is for Inclusion, creating a sense of belonging. E is for equity, which is the bridge between the two - to create fair access, opportunity, and advancement for everyone. It’s about creating a fair playing field.

How is MetLife creating a fair playing field?

We have five streams of focus in the DEI Committee:

1. Women’s Business Network (WBN) – The WBN is focussed on applying the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and creating leadership and career development opportunities for women at MetLife. The WBN has also developed a gender scorecard that is being rolled out in 2022, as well as reviewing other initiatives such as improving people's experience of parental leave and looking at our marketing and procurement strategies through the lens of gender equity.
2. GLAM – GLAM is our LGBTQIA+ stream which focuses on bringing our people together and working on ways for insurers to better support the LGBTQIA+ community, through industry working group Inter Insurance. We celebrate a number of days of significance, including Wear it Purple and IDAHOBIT Day.
3. Culture – The Culture stream celebrates our cultural diversity at MetLife by providing opportunities to learn from different cultural groups. Together we also celebrate cultural days of significance for our people, such as Lunar New Year and Diwali.
4. Disability – The disability stream fosters inclusion for people with disabilities. Focussing on our hiring practices and training, the group promotes disability awareness across the organisation and celebrates disability awareness days, such as World Autism Day and Jeans for Genes Day. We are also empowering our diverse employees through our Neuro Club, which supports neurodiverse employees and those with neurodiverse children.
5. Age – As one of the newest streams, the Age stream is highlighting benefits that age diversity brings to Metlife. Focussing on how we tailor employees’ experiences to leverage their experience and perspectives at different work stages in their lives.

Why a DEI Month?

We realised that many significant days fall within March, so we’ve launched DEI Month of March. It is designed to create space for awareness, reflection and building connections. It is one of the steps we’re taking to encourage  positive change – starting with our own community – and giving everyone at MetLife the opportunity to contribute and participate.

What will you be doing for DEI Month?

We have many events and initiatives across the month but some of the highlights are:

1. MetLife staff are being given a Digital Token donate to their diversity charity of choice,  funded by MetLife.
2. Trivia with Conchita Grande as part of Mardi Gras celebrations.
3. For International Women’s Day (8 March) we are delighted to be joined by the Hon. Linda Burney MP, for a discussion on Gender equity today for a sustainable tomorrow.
4. To celebrate our cultural diversity, we’ll be marking Harmony Day on the 21^st March by creating a cookbook which will contain recipes from the MetLife team that represent their culture.
5. Walk for Autism – A MetLife team is raising funds to help create a world where no-one on the autism spectrum is left behind.

What else does the DEI Committee do?

In addition to creating and fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace, we leverage our diversity of talent to understand and therefore better meet the needs of our customers and the communities we serve. We are doing this by embedding our DEI policy in every part of our value chain across the business, and engaging with other like-minded businesses in our sphere of influence to improve the playing field for our people, our customers, and ultimately our industry overall.

Find out more about working at MetLife.