6

Women in Leadership

QBE’s continued progress in increasing representation of women in leadership has been driven through our innovative Inclusion of Diversity approach, which covers the whole employee lifecycle. Examples of our sustained commitment include:

  • Achieved our global Women in Leadership target of 40% female leadership representation by 2025
  • Leadership development and succession planning to foster an internal pipeline of female leaders
  • Introducing new global Inclusive Recruitment Principles setting out best practice for how we design roles, source candidates, shortlist, interview and make selection decisions that support diverse candidates

Belonging targets

Supporting our global approach to Inclusion of Diversity, our Belonging targets focus on fostering an equal sense of belonging across the dimensions of gender, ethnicity, disability status, and LGBTIQ+ identification. These build on our existing Women in Leadership targets and signal that, at QBE, it’s not just about being represented or counted, but also about being included.

The targets aim to have minimal variation (<5%) in the ‘sense of belonging’ employee survey responses, regardless of how an individual identifies.

Challenging gender stereotypes

Our best practice, gender inclusive paid parental leave policy, Share the Care, offers all parents 18 weeks paid parental leave over 24 months, available from your first day of employment with QBE. Visit our Family Friendly Workplaces hub for more information.

Embedding a safe and respectful workplace

QBE has a sustained commitment to raising awareness and supporting our employees and their family members with the impact of Family Domestic Violence. An important part of our approach is partnering with external subject matter experts and the support provided by our Family Domestic Violence Responder Network across Australia and New Zealand.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency

We remain compliant with the Australian Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 for all our relevant reporting entities for the 2021-22 reporting period. We have submitted our 2022-23 Report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency annual compliance report. View our letter of compliance.

Champions of Change

Our commitment to gender equality is further amplified through the ongoing involvement of both our Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer, Australia Pacific as members of the Champions of Change Coalition. This membership offers QBE an opportunity to connect with peers across the industry and beyond to collaboratively work towards achieving gender equality, advancing more women in leadership, and furthering progress towards building an inclusive workplace.

Awards and recognition

  • Australian Human Resources Industry (AHRI) Awards: Most Inclusive Workplace 2023
  • Equileap Top 100 for Gender Equality 2023
  • Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index 2022 & 2023
  • Australian HR Awards: Best Workplace Diversity & Inclusion Program 2020
  • Top 20 Australian Workplaces for New Dads 2019 & 2020, HBF Direct Advice for Dads

For more information on QBE’s commitment to gender diversity, visit our annual Sustainability Report.