Investment, Insurance, Superannuation
APEX Insights > Learn > APEX Adviser Education Program wins prestigious award
From Left : Vy Pham, Mel Ware, Joanne Allen, Danielle Visser, Kristine Brooks, Natalie Jarvis, Lauren Emanuel, Kat Saivanidis
August 2019
APEX Adviser Education Program wins prestigious award
One of OnePath Life’s main platforms for delivering adviser education is the APEX Adviser Education Program and it’s become a highly valued aspect of OnePath Life’s partnership approach with advisers. The program is designed to go beyond CPD and help Australia’s leading advisers unlock business growth opportunities.
In 2018, the program delivered personal and professional development events and workshops to help financial advisers recognise the biggest challenges women face and how to recognise the issues and communicate with empathy.
Ongoing, it provides financial advisers with tools in the form of an e-wellbeing portal, fact sheets and information on counselling services, to assist advisers in their conversations with women.
Driving real change
The decision to focus the 2018 APEX Adviser Education program on gender diversity and mental health and wellbeing was an award-winning move, but the motivation behind it sought real change.
According to OnePath Life’s Head of National Sales Strategy Natalie Jarvis, adviser education is a powerful tool to promote gender diversity and mental health and wellbeing.
“At OnePath Life, we support advisers in providing value to their clients beyond advice and believe that this can’t happen without high calibre women entering the advice industry.”
Jarvis adds:
“We introduced events and programs last year that helped women in our network engage with us and raised awareness to women, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.”
APEX Adviser Education Program hits the mark with female advisers
The APEX Adviser Education Program has been in market for over eight years. The metrics for measuring the success of the program’s focus on gender diversity and mental health and wellbeing were increased participation and engagement by women at its events.
Prior to the program, female participation was about 20 per cent. By May 2018, this had increased to 33 per cent and in the 18 months to March 2019, approximately 2,000 advisers attended events of which approximately 700 were women.
One of the most successful events was International Women’s Day celebrations held in March this year, with 170 women and 40 men attending events across Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Here OnePath showcased women in leadership including ANZ Wealth Chief Executive Officer Alexis George, ANZ Chairwoman Victoria Weekes and a number of other female leaders across the advice industry and our insurance partners. This attendance represented an 80 per cent female rate.
Attendee feedback from the events also demonstrate the events are hitting the mark with financial advisers.
One adviser wrote:
“I really enjoyed the APEX workshop I attended and found the facilitator to be a major part of the reason. He was very knowledgeable and was able to challenge the group in a variety of ways to get some great outcomes. I took a lot of what I learned back to the office and implemented it here."
And this:
“Very strong. A type of session I don't think I have ever quite seen before. Extremely authentic and very open. Awesome!”
It’s not stopping there
Work continues to build on the success of this program. OnePath Life recently partnered with the Future Women organisation to provide training and content. Working with partners such as SCOR Re will help APEX produce fact sheets to support messages around gender equality.
One of the reasons for the success of the program is the alignment it has with OnePath Life’s wider work to partner with financial advisers to support them in a changing landscape.
For the past 15 years OnePath has sponsored the Rising Star Award recognising the brightest new talent in advice. It is an opportunity for advisers to demonstrate their commitment to excellence in advice. The award is also a fantastic opportunity for the advisers involved, helping them showcase their abilities and develop their profiles and personal brand.
Increased female participation in the Rising Star Award has been a noticeable feature over the past five years, with women winning the award for the past two years. Recognising that some women may be impacted by the confidence gap, OnePath Life supports women by nominating and supporting them through the application and rigorous judging process.
OnePath Life will continue to work in this area with partners like Future Women to increase awareness of the gender pay gap and find opportunities for women to showcase their talents.
Learn more
To find out more about upcoming learning opportunities and events and to access resources
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