Inclusion and diversity at Aegon

Inclusion and diversitySustainability

Aegon' s vision for inclusion and diversity is to build a fair and inclusive company, where we overcome obstacles to participation and increase our diversity so that everyone belongs, everyone plays a role in fostering inclusion, and we can all live our best life: in our workplace, our marketplace and our communities. Find out more.

As part of our transformation journey, we adopted a global inclusion and diversity strategy in 2022, building on the already strong work of our business units who have signed up to our vision. We aim to ensure our policies and actions permeate all parts of Aegon, and that our leaders, colleagues, and other stakeholders worldwide can each make an active contribution to building a more inclusive and diverse organization.

Our I&D strategy builds on the work undertaken in recent years to develop a consistent and coherent way of working for the whole company. Two fundamental elements of Aegon's inclusion and diversity strategy are:

  1. Authentic action – the recognition that we are on a journey to improve. We seek to turn good intentions into actions to create a positive difference for our people and communities in which we live and serve.

    2. Starting at the top – Aegon's senior leadership are active role models for I&D, including by sharing their own inclusion stories and actively championing areas of diversity excellence.

"I believe including multiple and diverse perspectives is critical. This makes debates richer and it leads to better decisions. I want people from all walks of life to feel seen, heard and valued at Aegon. That will help us better tune in to our customers, quickly adapt to changing markets and achieve great things together."

CEO Lard Friese quote on Inclusion & Diveresity
Lard Friese, CEO Aegon

Our diversity and inclusion pillars

We are committed to a journey of authentic action as we strive to be inclusive across our company. We are starting by focusing on five initial areas: gender blance, race & ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and life stages. We will publish regular updates on key initiatives in 2023. We are pleased, for instance, to report progress during 2022 on gender balance. 

Gender balance

We are working to build an inclusive and diverse culture that encompasses all aspects of the employee experience, starting with talent attraction.

Specific attention has been directed toward addressing the gender imbalances that persist in financial services. In 2022, Aegon's country units continued to refine their hiring practices with a focus on inclusive recruitment, through gender-balanced candidate slates and interview panels.

Aegon's senior executive gender balance targets address the legal requirements of the NL Diversity at the Top Act (2022), enacted to improve the designed gender balance in listed and large Dutch-owned companies. We will also continue to include a non-financial performance indicator for Management Board members regarding gender diversity in all senior management positions. 

2021
The proportion of female representation among senior management increased to 32%.
2022
We met our target of a minimum of 34% female representation among senior management.
2023
We have set a target of a minimum of 36% female representation among senior management.

Employee Resource Groups 

Employee Resource Groups

Aegon's Employee Resource Groups play an important role in making sure all employees have a say in the company’s future direction and that their specific needs are met during our transformation program. Examples across our businesses include:

Race can often be an uncomfortable topic in corporate spaces. We strive to promote inclusion, respect and appreciation for different cultures across our organization. Moving beyond diversity toward a world without racism where everyone is celebrated, uplifted, recognized and included.  

Our ERGS include

  • Black Professionals for Change
  • Rise - Asian Affinity Network

We support employees with a disability within Aegon to realize their full potential and by doing so improve the accessibility of our channels, products and services for our customers. 

Generations promotes the collaboration, development and retention of a multi-generational workplace by sharing talents and resources to build strong relationships and community. By doing is, we are tapping into generational knowledge and energy to build a more dynamic workplace.     

Committed to embracing diversity, we have a strong and active Proud network in place within our global firm. Run by employees, the group is aimed at promoting equity and visibility within the organization and to the wider financial services market.

Our Proud network 

  • Aegon Proud NL
  • Aegon Proud UK 
  • Aegon Asset Management Proud
  • Transamerica Poud

Find out more

We are committed to supporting mental and physical wellbeing of our employees and ensuring that they have access to appropriate support in our workplace. Our aim is to offer our employees a range of services that will help them feel more valued, supported, motivated, and empowered to take control of their own wellbeing. By doing this, we believe that this will contribute to a more engaged, productive, and sustainable organisation. 

The Women's Impact Network is a community of employees enhancing Aegon/Transamerica's success by maximizing women's impact.

Meet our I&D team

Siobhan Martin became our Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity in 2022. We also have people dedicated to advancing inclusion & diversity in our main business units. They introduce themselves here and explain what motivates them.

Siobhan Martin

Siobhan Martin

Global Leader Inclusion & Diversity

I seek to inspires others around the world to deliver leading global Inclusive Leadership Programs to deliver on meaningful change.

Leroy Shumpert

Leroy Shumpert

Senior program manager, I&D at Transamerica

All of us have influence to leave this world better then we found it.

Lindsay Hudson

Lindsay Hudson

Head of Inclusion and Diversity, Aegon AM

I am proud that at Aegon AM we exceeded our goal for representation of women in senior management roles, both globally and in the UK through the Women in Finance Charter.

Kasia Zduniak

Kasia Zduniak

Inclusion & Diversity manager at Aegon UK

Inclusion is not a zero-sum game – nobody has to be excluded in order for somebody else to be included.

Laiza Gomes Da Silva

Laiza Gomes Da Silva

Program manager, Aegon International

My heart is very close to social initiatives where we can give opportunities to people with less privileged backgrounds.