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Getting more females on company boards is not the only means of increasing the number of women in the workforce.
Life insurance companies, are now taking several initiatives to boost female agents in its total agency force. Further, several such life insurers have an almost equal proportion of male and female agents.
Ashish Vohra, senior director & chief distribution officer, Max Life Insurance said that they have more than 17,500 female agents which forms about 45% of their total agent population.
"We are making several efforts specifically to reach out to prospective women agents. We have partnered various corporates such as Tanishq, Nestle, VLCC Healthcare, Kaya Skin Clinic etc. who particularly cater to women segment. These engagements help us in creating conversation opportunities in those settings in which women are comfortable and ready to discuss new ideas," said Vohra.
While women agents in insurance companies have been favoured, there have been cases of females quitting or taking a sabbatical during the maternity period. This is a similar situation like other corporate companies too and to prevent this insurers are taking various structured steps to retain the female talent. These programmes not just help new mothers to balance their family and careers, but also help women who want the option of flexi-timing.
Tata AIA Life Insurance has an initiative called 'Fenomena', wherein they offer a rewarding career opportunity for women with the convenience of flexi timing. Sachin Joglekar, Senior Vice President - Chief Agency Officer, Tata AIA Life Insurance said that as a result of greater focus on bringing more women into the fold, approximately 51% of their new licensed advisors in last quarter (July-September 2013) have been women.
"We have taken a series of initiatives to reach out to the women who would be interested in taking up life insurance agency career. To encourage women to take up life insurance as a profession and open new career opportunities for them, we have launched a special initiative called Fenomena that offers a rewarding career opportunity for women with the convenience of flexi timing. The initiative has been designed especially for modern day Indian women, who want to create an identity for them in society and enjoy their success," said Joglekar.
Tata AIA holds special Fenomena recruitment programs are also held at their branch offices where the women attendees are taken through the process to become a successful advisor and encouraged to enroll.
These companies have also been holding public awareness campaigns to ensure that more women enrol as agents. Joglekar informed that they are also holding Fenomena road shows in various companies where a team comprising senior sales persons, team leaders, present the Fenomena story and encourage employees to give references of neighbors, friends, relatives to whom they would want to gift such a rewarding career.
Max Life runs a programme called 'Avenues' that helps women convert from a four hour working schedule per day to a full time working employee. "As some of our women agent advisors gain confidence in business, they take advantage of this programme to further their career or to re-launch their full time career after taking a break," said Vohra.
Others are not far behind. Reliance Life has introduced a women-centric distribution channel called Face-to-Face with a view to servicing orphan customers and providing post-sales service to policyholders. Reliance Life Insurance has over 28,000 female insurance advisors across all distribution channels in the country. Our female advisor base accounts for almost 30% of the company's total advisor force.
Anup Rau, CEO of Reliance Life explained that this was a learning from the experience of Nippon Life in Japan, who mainly work with female agents. Reliance Life Insurance has 376 female Life Planning Officers under the Face-to-Face channel, with housewives being one of the key target segments for recruitment.
"They are trained to service orphan policyholders, develop a relationship and then cross-sell to existing customers and build their network through references. These officers are paid a regular stipend and trained every day at the branch before they start their day," said Rau.
Going forward, insurers believe that the number of female agents will just an increase. Sanjay Tripathy, Senior Executive Vice President - Head Marketing, Products & Direct Channels, HDFC Life said that insurance penetration in India is low and at they recognize that female agents can play a significant role in reaching out to all the segments of the society.
"We do have a significant number of female Financial Consultants ( Agents ) across all branches, including the ones located in smaller towns. Just to illustrate, presently 45% of our top 200 consultants are females. And this is not an aberration. I believe their percentage can go even further. This will also help create an additional source of income for house wives or to women who are unable to take a full time job due to family commitment," he added.
Life insurance companies, are now taking several initiatives to boost female agents in its total agency force. Further, several such life insurers have an almost equal proportion of male and female agents.
Ashish Vohra, senior director & chief distribution officer, Max Life Insurance said that they have more than 17,500 female agents which forms about 45% of their total agent population.
"We are making several efforts specifically to reach out to prospective women agents. We have partnered various corporates such as Tanishq, Nestle, VLCC Healthcare, Kaya Skin Clinic etc. who particularly cater to women segment. These engagements help us in creating conversation opportunities in those settings in which women are comfortable and ready to discuss new ideas," said Vohra.
While women agents in insurance companies have been favoured, there have been cases of females quitting or taking a sabbatical during the maternity period. This is a similar situation like other corporate companies too and to prevent this insurers are taking various structured steps to retain the female talent. These programmes not just help new mothers to balance their family and careers, but also help women who want the option of flexi-timing.
Tata AIA Life Insurance has an initiative called 'Fenomena', wherein they offer a rewarding career opportunity for women with the convenience of flexi timing. Sachin Joglekar, Senior Vice President - Chief Agency Officer, Tata AIA Life Insurance said that as a result of greater focus on bringing more women into the fold, approximately 51% of their new licensed advisors in last quarter (July-September 2013) have been women.
"We have taken a series of initiatives to reach out to the women who would be interested in taking up life insurance agency career. To encourage women to take up life insurance as a profession and open new career opportunities for them, we have launched a special initiative called Fenomena that offers a rewarding career opportunity for women with the convenience of flexi timing. The initiative has been designed especially for modern day Indian women, who want to create an identity for them in society and enjoy their success," said Joglekar.
Tata AIA holds special Fenomena recruitment programs are also held at their branch offices where the women attendees are taken through the process to become a successful advisor and encouraged to enroll.
These companies have also been holding public awareness campaigns to ensure that more women enrol as agents. Joglekar informed that they are also holding Fenomena road shows in various companies where a team comprising senior sales persons, team leaders, present the Fenomena story and encourage employees to give references of neighbors, friends, relatives to whom they would want to gift such a rewarding career.
Max Life runs a programme called 'Avenues' that helps women convert from a four hour working schedule per day to a full time working employee. "As some of our women agent advisors gain confidence in business, they take advantage of this programme to further their career or to re-launch their full time career after taking a break," said Vohra.
Others are not far behind. Reliance Life has introduced a women-centric distribution channel called Face-to-Face with a view to servicing orphan customers and providing post-sales service to policyholders. Reliance Life Insurance has over 28,000 female insurance advisors across all distribution channels in the country. Our female advisor base accounts for almost 30% of the company's total advisor force.
Anup Rau, CEO of Reliance Life explained that this was a learning from the experience of Nippon Life in Japan, who mainly work with female agents. Reliance Life Insurance has 376 female Life Planning Officers under the Face-to-Face channel, with housewives being one of the key target segments for recruitment.
"They are trained to service orphan policyholders, develop a relationship and then cross-sell to existing customers and build their network through references. These officers are paid a regular stipend and trained every day at the branch before they start their day," said Rau.
Going forward, insurers believe that the number of female agents will just an increase. Sanjay Tripathy, Senior Executive Vice President - Head Marketing, Products & Direct Channels, HDFC Life said that insurance penetration in India is low and at they recognize that female agents can play a significant role in reaching out to all the segments of the society.
"We do have a significant number of female Financial Consultants ( Agents ) across all branches, including the ones located in smaller towns. Just to illustrate, presently 45% of our top 200 consultants are females. And this is not an aberration. I believe their percentage can go even further. This will also help create an additional source of income for house wives or to women who are unable to take a full time job due to family commitment," he added.
