Tell us about your organization.

Arbella is a regional property and casualty company selling personal and business insurance products in Massachusetts and Connecticut and business insurance products in Rhode Island and New Hampshire. We sell our products through independent agents who are critical partners of Arbella. Our people-first culture includes our employees, agents, and customers. And we are proud to be listed in the Boston Business Journal’s Best Places to Work for fourteen consecutive years.

The insurance industry as a whole has typically been a fairly homogeneous group made up of mostly white males. Our founders, John Donohue and Frank Bellotti, set out to change that dynamic from the early beginnings of the company in 1988.

Why did you join the talent compact?

Arbella’s corporate culture and values align with the goals of BWWC’s 100% Talent Compact. Since 1988, Arbella has been dedicated to transparency and gender equity. We know it takes hard work and intentionality. Our company comprises 60% women and 40% men, while our top executives are 40% women and our Board of Directors are 33% women. Joining the Compact gives us access to critical resources, helping us continue our diversity and equity efforts.

What are the biggest challenges you face in your organization as it relates to gender and racial wage equality?

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement, we recognized we had work to do in the areas of diversity and inclusion (D&I) John Donohue, our CEO, was instrumental in making our company diversity efforts a priority.

He received the full support of his entire executive team, who have been critical in pushing this initiative to the forefront. Our commitment entailed a thoughtful plan to change recruitment strategies, partnering with diverse local colleges and executive search firms specializing in diversity to attract new talent into our organization.

Progress has been made, with a 5% increase in overall staff diversity to date. We are looking for that percentage to grow as we continue our effort. Our focus includes retaining these hires and implementing equitable opportunities for development and promotion. It is imperative for us to better represent the communities we serve at all levels of the company.

What programs have you developed to promote that directly or indirectly address closing wage gaps in your organization?

Regarding pay equity, we conduct annual compensation reviews, looking closely at our salaries to ensure no gender and racial wage gaps. The results are then presented to our Board of Directors. Moving forward, we will continue to closely examine our compensation from a diversity perspective. As we bring in more diverse candidates, our hope is they will continue to grow and progress within their careers with Arbella.

We added our commitment to D&I to our company’s core values to hold ourselves accountable, and we created a (D&I) Council to help drive these efforts across the organization. The Council includes individual contributors as well as members of senior leadership.

Because of the commitments from our CEO and senior leaders, our employees feel encouraged and empowered to offer ideas in a multitude of ways. To date, approximately over 70% of our staff voluntarily participate in various D&I programs.

Additionally, the Council brought in a consultant to conduct mandatory D&I training for managers and senior leaders, recognizing the essential need to educate and train our team to achieve our D&I goals.

As we continue our D&I journey, we are acutely aware that diversity and pay equity must continue to be a strong focus and a filter for all our workplace policies, as our people-first culture demands it.