CASE STUDY: A Global Insurance Company’s Culture Risk Audit

A global insurance company used Plaetos to find out precisely what their biggest vulnerabilities were, in which divisions, why they existed, and how to fix them.

THE CHALLENGE

A global insurance company needed to urgently meet a “request” by the financial industry regulator to provide a current, independent culture risk audit. The imperative was:

• Public fallout from a parliamentary royal commission into banking (that uncovered widespread and egregious breaches of compliance by a number of financial services institutions)
  

• Our Plaetos Partner (a professional services firm in charge of the audit) had no time to convene face-to-face focus groups to understand and validate responses to the audit’s survey questions.

THE APPROACH

Every employee of the global insurance company’s APAC offices was invited to participate in a Plaetos forum. The focus questions across three conversations (see box below) took a deep dive on concerns raised in the culture audit surveys. It was critical to understand true employee responses to understand the issues raised, but also to crowd-source solutions. The discussion was a reality check on risk treatments ahead of presenting to the regulator.

THE RESULTS

The Plaetos anonymized conversation data gave very granular insights into risk exposures through the unfiltered words of their employees. They talked about problems with the practicalities of implementing some of the risk policies (with specific details), areas of bad behavior, and the pressures that meant some were afraid of speaking up. Our PlaetosEQ problem/solution algorithms were able to elevate ways to fill some of the holes identified in the discussion. Our partner was able to quickly devise a culture risk assessment report for the regulator, and roll-out a revised Culture Risk Framework and Program. Plaetos data revealed to the client’s board:

• Precisely what their greatest vulnerabilities were;

• In which divisions of the company;

• Why the gaps emerged, and,

• What employees thought would plug those gaps

Our partner’s expertise meant a data-backed program for much improved culture risk mitigation.

PLAETOS HELPED US DIG DEEP

The feedback through Plaetos helped our Partner meet the commitments of their ‘Hail Mary’ request.

“Plaetos helped us show precisely what was happening and why, rather than just present our interpretations of issues.” —Professional Services Firm (Plaetos Partner)

Leaders who use Plaetos know their people are their most powerful information source. With Plaetos, it’s finally possible to ask your people about the big issues, even the risky ones, in a way that they feel safe to be candid. It’s the only way to know you can trust your data.