Fostering an inclusive culture is the goal on everyone’s lists. Now, as a wave of financial services firms switch back into hiring mode, diversity is fast becoming a key priority for leaders in the sector. But diversity is no business buzzword and an inclusive workplace shouldn’t be a “nice to have” for financial services organizations in 2018.
Research from PwC recently revealed nearly 80% of FS industry leaders were looking for a broader range of skills when recruiting than in the past. A further 70% of CEOs interviewed even cited the limited availability of key skills as a significant threat to their growth prospects. While it may have previously been treated as a matter of brand or reputation within the industry, creating greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace is now widely accepted as a critical component in any FS firm’s strategy to meet these growing demands.
However, filling skills gaps is only part of the story: in a sector where change is the only constant, organizations need to break the shackles of groupthink to unlock fresh perspectives while ensuring they represent a diverse customer-base.
But where to begin? We need to leverage affinity groups and communities to expand the talent pool. Only by doing this can we demonstrate a tangible commitment to inclusion.
Let leaders set the tone
While trickle-down diversity is by no means a silver bullet solution by itself, your leadership team is responsible for setting the tone of the entire organization. Therefore, active promotion and consistent support for inclusion policies should be a priority for executives, if they are to truly create a diverse culture.
Part of this is about building a compelling case for diversity that highlights the bottom-line benefits, and getting buy-in from management at every level. However, equally as important is the behavior of your leadership team and their willingness to see things from another perspective.
For some financial services firms, reverse mentoring has proven successful in opening leaders to new ideas, and ways of thinking. By spending time with either a junior member of staff or an employee of a different race or gender, they take lessons in creating a more inclusive environment.
Remove bias from recruitment
Talent sourcing is by no means an easy task. When forced to decide between two or more talented candidates, it’s only natural to “go with your gut” and finally put an end to the process. Unfortunately, this behavioral short-cut can often cause unconscious bias to creep in, despite our best intentions. By default, we choose the individual who best reflects our personality, or those of existing employees. By nature, we fear something different to what we have previously known.
Luckily, there are things we can do to tackle unconscious bias: an active awareness throughout the staffing process is a good place to start, but FS firms should constantly track whether hiring and promotion are equal and, if not, identify the biases at play.
Nurture a diverse leadership pipeline
As well as recruiting, unconscious bias can rear its ugly head in performance management and talent identification. The result? A leadership pipeline that mirrors the company’s forefathers instead of the diverse customer base it serves. A recent study conducted by the Harvard Business Review of disclosures made by 50 American financial services companies revealed that women occupy a mere 20% of executive committee roles and 22% of board positions. In fact, only 12% of the CEOs of large U.S. financial firms are women.
If we want to see change in the sector, financial services firms must take responsibility for training members of management staff on the existence and impact of unconscious bias.
Free from the blinkers of bias, managers can spot potential regardless of gender, race, sexuality or social background. Only then can a firm truly say they promote equal opportunities; only then will organizations in this storied sector reap the benefits of a diverse culture.
For more information on how we can help you with your diversity, please contact us.