ACT Signatory Journey: We welcome investor interest in our culture
Image: Jill Barber
A conversation with Jill Barber, chief distribution officer at Aviva Investors, on the ‘natural step’ to become an ACT Signatory, the increasingly frequent questions on culture clients are asking and the projects that are supporting recruitment and talent retention.
Aviva Investors signed up to ACT in 2022. What prompted you to join at that time?
Aviva Investors has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion because we think it is the right thing to do and is aligned with our commitment to fairness and social equality. However, we also believe it is imperative for our business to thrive. This is because having a business that is as diverse as the communities we operate in and clients we serve will erode the risk of group think and allow us to recruit and retain the best possible talent – both of which are particularly critical in the current market environment.
Signing up to ACT felt like a natural step in our commitments to these areas.
What have you learned about your business's culture since then? What is working well? What have you identified and improved on?
We have organised 10 different inclusion workstreams all focused on a specific areas of diversity while noting the intersectionality between them– from mental health, working families and LGBT, to disability, smart working and neurodiversity.
Each of the workstreams develops and updates action plans, to promote awareness and understanding, explore how we can better reflect this in our culture and approach to recruitment, promotion, retention etc. A few points to note about our objectives:
Be a business that encourages and is strengthened by its colleagues bringing their whole selves to work
Long-term ambition is to align our leadership and workforce to be reflective of society. We have set interim 3 year targets to help us get there and track progress.
On gender we selected senior leaders as a target rather than portfolio managers because we wanted to create a different culture where you can be senior and influential in our business without directly managing money.
We chose to focus on black colleagues rather than broader ethnicity as that is the most challenging area for us and the wider sector
Social mobility is a critical area to address but setting targets is more problematic because of limited data. We decided on schooling as a proxy but will keep this under review as we gain access to a wider set of data points over time.
How do you build trust and long-term relationships with clients?
A key pillar of the Aviva Investors’ advantage is that we are committed to collaboration. This means we relish being close to the pulse and priorities of clients, and understand the need to deliver, evolve and surpass expectations in a competitive environment. This ambition runs through our partnerships, as we seek to innovate alongside our clients. As we build trust with our clients we prioritise clarity over complexity to ensure we provide clear, outcome focused communication together with consistent proactive support.
Are investors asking about the culture at Aviva Investors? What are they specifically asking about?
Yes, culture is a frequently asked topic. Investors increasingly view it as a key lens through which they assess our ability to deliver stability and long-term outperformance.
At Aviva Investors, culture is not just a set of values — it’s embedded in how we lead, collaborate, and steward capital. We believe that a strong, inclusive, and performance-oriented culture is essential to delivering consistent value to our clients and stakeholders.
Frequently areas of questioning are: How does the culture enable long term high performance; Does the culture support ESG and Stewardship Goals. Leadership and Stability in general and how we promote Diversity of Culture and Thought within teams.
We welcome investor interest in our culture — it reflects a shared commitment to long-term success. We’re confident that our values, leadership, and people position us well to deliver sustainable performance in a rapidly evolving market.
Aviva Investors has a career returners programme. Why is this important? How has this benefitted your business and the employees?
The returners programme offers paid six-month placements to experienced professionals of any gender who have had extended career breaks of two years or more. We have run the programme since 2019 in partnership with Women Returners and retention is at 83%.
Our people leaders have been hugely supportive and bought in to the programme, which encourages diversity of thought and improved representation which drives success of their teams
The programme includes bespoke support, including external coaching, Business Leader, People function-lead development for the duration of the six month.
The programme has evolved to focus on front office investment professionals and distribution, given the lower female gender representation in these areas.
The firm also actively promotes LGBT+ inclusion through its policies and initiatives, can you provide some examples?
Aviva Pride UK Strategy and Pride SteerCo 2025 Planning documents outline a clear mission: to empower LGBTQ+ colleagues to be their authentic selves at work. This is achieved through:
Education and Role Modelling: Hosting events, inviting guest speakers, and sharing personal stories to foster visibility and understanding.
Allyship Networks: Building strong networks of allies, including senior leaders, to visibly support LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Intersectional Collaboration: Working with other Aviva Communities to ensure inclusive practices that reflect the diversity of identities across the organisation
Aviva’s policies are explicitly inclusive of LGBTQ+ identities:
Transitioning at Work: Dedicated support hub for trans colleagues
Parental Leave: Inclusive of all genders and family structures.
Name Change Guidelines: Respecting identity changes across systems.
Gender-Neutral Language: Promoted in contracts and communications.
LGBTQ+ Travel Security Advice: Available for colleagues travelling across the UK.