Insurance Australia Group has welcomed its 50th intern through the Australian Disability Network's internship program, a milestone the insurer says reflects nearly a decade of work to build accessible hiring pathways since the partnership began in 2017.
IAG marked the achievement by hosting the AusDN Sydney Connection Event, bringing together organisations working on disability inclusion to discuss shared challenges and progress.
Han Ly, the 50th intern to join IAG through the program, said the placement had helped build her workplace confidence. "It's really developed my genuine sense of belonging within IAG," she said.
The timing lands the milestone against a wider industry problem. The Insurance Council of Australia has warned that nearly 30% of the current workforce will be at retirement age by 2030, a gap the ICA's Talent Roadmap was designed to address. Insurance employees skew older than the broader workforce, with 58% aged over 45 and only 18% under 34, compared with 40% of the broader Australian workforce under 34 across the wider Australian labour market.
Programs like IAG's AusDN partnership sit within a broader push by insurers to widen where they recruit from, as competition for skilled staff intensifies. Australian insurers ranked talent attraction and retention as their third-highest business challenge in 2026, behind premium affordability and data and cybersecurity, according to Gallagher Bassett's Carrier Perspective report. In response, 68% of insurers said they were increasing investment in training and development this year, up from 48% in 2025.
IAG is not the only insurer running structured inclusion programs. Suncorp has publicly detailed its own diversity initiatives, including work aimed specifically at supporting an ageing workforce alongside broader inclusion commitments, pointing to a sector-wide shift rather than an isolated effort.
IAG's executive general manager for talent, culture and inclusion, Gill Folkes, said the AusDN partnership had shaped how the company approaches accessibility more broadly. "What began as creating opportunities and employment pathways for people with disability has evolved into a broader focus on accessibility across our workplaces, systems and culture," Folkes said. “The Internship Program has helped us learn from lived experience, build disability confidence across our teams and better understand the barriers people can face.”
Independent data suggests these programs deliver measurable results, not just goodwill. Across AusDN's Internship Program last year, 100% of participating host organisations reported that their intern's work met or exceeded expectations, and 95% said they would take part again.
Beyond demographics, industry figures point to a perception gap deterring younger and more diverse candidates from considering insurance careers at all. AXA XL Australia's Catherine Carlyon has said prospective employees often view insurance as rigid and uncreative, a perception that discourages younger talent pools from entering the sector.
That combination of an ageing workforce, a shortage of new entrants and negative perceptions of the industry has coincided with a rise in targeted pipeline programs at some insurers.
IAG's activities sit within its Access and Inclusion Plan, launched in 2025, which sets out commitments to remove barriers for people with disability across its workplaces, systems and customer-facing services.
