The inadequacy of gender diversity within the insurtech industry and in the insurance industry as a whole – especially at the senior level – is well known. Although women’s representation in leadership positions is improving, progress is still slow.
As diversity and inclusion have become an increasingly important part of business success, Lumera is aiming towards making positive strides in this area. We believe that more mixed teams can have a tremendous impact on businesses, whether that’s greater innovation, improved decision making or increased profits.
Here we present some gender diversity statistics from Lumera during 2021:
• Women make up 31 % of the total number of people working here.
• Female managers make up to 39 %.
• In our Professional Services department, women make up to 42 %.
• Amongst our Application Consultants, women make up to 45 %.
Looking ahead, we will continue to welcome and nurture more diverse talent. A successful approach could include support for women with career aspirations at all levels, and executive development programs for women that help to create a pipeline of future leaders. Furthermore, Lumera works continuously with salary matters from a gender equality perspective to make sure we provide equal pay to employees who are performing work of comparable value. For us, it’s also evident to offer flexible working hours that enable all employees to balance work and family life. By combining different measures that foster gender diversity, we hope to continue to attract and retain women in technology- and leadership roles and to be sustainable for the long-term.
To highlight some of the fantastic and competent women in our workplace, we interviewed Linn Bergelid and Veronica Randleff, both working as System Developers at Lumera, Lina Harge, Application Consultant at Lumera and Katrin Bevemyr, Solution Architect at Lumera. Read more about their roles, how they became interested in their field, challenges they face and why they encourage more people to start working at Lumera.
Linn Bergelid
Describe your role.
I work as System Developer in one of the teams in the development department. Each team is responsible for building and delivering a subset of Lumera’s Life and Pensions administration system. In addition to writing code, a lot of time is spent on collaboration within the team where we attend meetings and discuss different customers‘ needs and how to find the best solution for them.
How did you become interested in your field?
My interest in programming started during my first year at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. I always knew I wanted to become an engineer, as I liked math and science in school, but not in what field. KTH has a fantastic engineer program where during the first year you can study a combination of all programs to try out which field you want to specialize in. Programming was what I enjoyed most. I like the problem-solving in it, like solving small little puzzles, and that there’s often more than one correct solution so you get to be creative when deciding which solution is the best.
What is most challenging in your work?
I face different challenges every day. It’s everything from finding secure and sustainable solutions to complex problems in a long-term system to normalizing a specific customer’s needs into a solution that is applicable for everyone. Even though I have worked at Lumera for several years, I still come across new areas or parts of the system I have not worked with before that force me to learn new things.
What would you tell a friend that would potentially like to join Lumera?
Lumera is a company with an open-minded atmosphere and a positive corporate culture where you have great opportunities to develop and go in the direction you find most interesting. The best thing about Lumera is all the fantastic colleagues you get to work with every day, the team spirit and that there is great willingness to help each other all the time.
Veronica Randleff
Describe your role.
I work as System Developer at Lumera. It includes writing a lot of code, but more importantly, it means cooperating with colleagues in order to design and implement the best possible solutions for our customers.
How did you become interested in your field?
I’ve always loved problem-solving and when I tried programming in high school, I realized that it was the perfect tool for solving many real-life problems. Thanks to programming, I can both solve problems and implement a solution that helps people.
What is most challenging in your work?
Finding a solution is not always that difficult, but finding the best solution for the customer, as well as being technically sustainable, is the most challenging and fun about my job.
What would you tell a friend that potentially would like to join Lumera?
At Lumera, we all work together towards finding the best solution for our customers. Each day I learn so much from my colleagues during our interesting discussions. In my opinion, that is the key to constantly improving in my career.
Lina Harge
Describe your role.
As an Application Consultant at Lumera I work closely with our customers to support how they can use the system for more efficient use. I work with configuration, integration, education and delivery based on our customer’s needs.
How did you become interested in your field?
I became interested in insurtech during my studies, hence I started to look for job opportunities in this field. What interested me in Lumera was that I wanted to work for a large-scale business whose platform applies to numerous customers.
My first impression at Lumera was that this seemed like an inclusive place of work with a fostering culture where colleagues help each other out. What also interested me in applying to this position was to be able to combine problem-solving, collaboration with the customer, and to be a link between Team Development and the customer.
What is most challenging in your work?
Life and Pensions is a relatively complex industry under constant development, which sometimes could make it challenging to understand new situations at hand. This is also what’s fun about my workdays because there is always something new to learn and more ways to fulfill the needs of our customers.
What would you tell a friend that potentially would like to join Lumera?
You will be able to develop and deepen your skills within your area of interest, be a part of a helpful and fostering corporate culture and have the opportunity to work for a fast-growing insurtech company.
Katrin Bevemyr
Describe your role.
I’m a Solution Architect in a customer team. Our mission is to help our customer’s organization use Lumera in the best way. In my role, I handle the technical issues around configuration and integration.
How did you become interested in your field?
I like solving tricky problems and helping others. At Lumera, I get to do just that and in collaboration with my colleagues.
What is most challenging in your work?
It’s a big and complex product, which is a challenge, but it’s also what makes it fun to have the job I have. Understanding the customer’s needs and function as advocate for the customer internally.
What would you tell a friend that potentially would like to join Lumera?
I really like that Lumera solves an important problem for society, i.e. helping managing the pension system. I like the agile organization at Lumera, and that it’s customer focused, and that everyone in the company works as a team to make the best possible product for our customers.
Conclusion
Considerably more needs to be done to attract female talent, not only to the insurtech industry, but to tech industries in general. A company that is not representative of society will be less equipped to relate to its customers and their needs, to innovate relevant solutions, and attract diverse talent.
At Lumera, we want to signal the importance of gender diversity – throughout the whole organization – and continue to foster an inclusive environment that encourages the participation of everyone.
