Leading businesses and employees through the obstacles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging but has also highlighted opportunities to work differently, a group of insurance industry executives said.

Companies adapted quickly to lockdowns and other restrictions and the changes will likely have a lasting effect, they said.

Amid the changes brought on by remote work, “it’s been refreshing how open clients are to engaging in new ways,” said Lori Goltermann, CEO of U.S. commercial risk solutions and health solutions at Aon PLC.

She was speaking during the CEO panel at the 2020 Business Insurance Women to Watch Awards & Leadership Conference, which was held virtually on Thursday.

The move to virtual and remote meetings has also reduced time out of the office, she said. For what had previously been a two-week trip to London or Bermuda, Aon “might do that in four hours virtually,” said Ms. Goltermann, who was one of the 2016 Women to Watch.

At Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., communication took on an enhanced role after the pandemic hit, said Mike Pesch, CEO of U.S. brokerage services at Gallagher. The brokerage’s internal communication application, which had generally been used to share information on new business and opportunities, became a hub of interaction for employees, he said.

“We were fortunate. We had an app we had rolled out for internal communication purposes” and the technology took on an expanded role during pandemic-related restrictions, Mr. Pesch said.

Diversity initiatives and efforts continued amid the COVID-19 crises, the executives said, and intensified after social unrest midyear in the U.S. brought an added urgency to the issue.

AIG has a strong culture of diversity, said Lynn Oldfield, president and CEO of AIG Canada, a unit of American International Group Inc., who was one of the 2015 Women to Watch.

“The tone from the top … has always been really strong,” Ms. Oldfield said. And the insurer recently has augmented its diversity efforts, for example, by focusing its social media campaigns around allyship.

“I think everything really hit a different gear in June,” shortly after social unrest began, she said.

In response, leaders at AIG “were empowered to be educated” about challenges facing diverse populations and additional time off was granted to employees to volunteer, among other things, Ms. Oldfield said.

Meanwhile, lessons learned about connectivity may assist in widening recruiting efforts, the leaders said.

“It’s important to be able to collaborate, to have the kind of space available for your colleagues to get together,” Mr. Pesch said. Working remotely during the lockdown, however, “has proven to us that we can get the job done.”

Giving employees the choice and ability, for instance, to not make an onerous commute into a city center in order to work could widen the potential candidate pool for any position, he said.

“The ability to be flexible and productive is a huge opportunity,” Mr. Pesch said, adding he can now “find the right person for the job no matter where they live.”

Expanded remote working will “totally change the talent pool,” as companies evaluate which jobs can be partially or even entirely remote, Ms. Goltermann said.

The panel was moderated by Danielle Lisenbey, president of MedRisk LLC, and one of the 2013 Women to Watch.

A recording of the 2020 Women to Watch events, including the CEO panel, is available here.