Maternity coaching is a win-win for both employer and employee, argues City pundit July 3, 2022 Despite decades of reform, and an even longer period of campaigning, the City and Britain’s wider business community are increasingly recognising that gender inequalities persist in the workplace. While the inequalities might not be as obvious as they were in the past, when blatant discrimination was both legal and, to a degree, expected, things like [...]
Consulting and finance firms hire more black candidates when using anonymous ‘skills-based’ tests in the hiring process June 26, 2022 City employers are more likely to hire black candidates if they rely on anonymised, “skills-based” assessments in the hiring process, instead of more traditional interview methods, new research shows. Finance and consulting firms hired 79 per cent more black candidates when they relied on skill-based assessments, over more traditional methods such as cover letters, group [...]
Saturday Read: The City still has a long way to go as women make up less than one in four of all promotions June 18, 2022 Women still make up less than a quarter of senior promotions within financial services businesses. Of the 5,815 senior level promotions and hires that took place in the financial services sector in the last year, just 1,365 were women, or 24 per cent, based on FCA data. Despite some progress being made over the previous [...]
Diversity goals: Improving trust encouraged 80 per cent of employees to share data voluntarily, PwC partner says June 17, 2022 There is an increasing amount of trust when it comes to handing over personal data voluntarily, with a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) saying it has shot up from 15 per cent in 2018 to 80 per cent this year. The comments came during an event hosted by Datasite featuring an expert panel discussion about improving [...]
Campaigners warn childcare costs holding back careers in the City and beyond June 13, 2022 CAMPAIGNERS have warned “uniquely high” childcare costs are holding back not just the City’s diversity drive but economic growth. A new study by union the TUC suggests the average nursery bill for a family with a toddler was just shy of £5,000 in 2010 but has grown to more than £7,000 just a dozen years [...]
Closing the gap: gender lens investing and the future of finance May 31, 2022 | City Talk Public perception of gender equality issues runs in a repetitive cycle. We’ve all seen it. A scandal breaks out, or a study discovers yet another damaging disparity. Think pieces are written, hands are wrung, and companies promise to do better. Then the public’s attention moves on until another cycle starts. Actual change comes very slowly, [...]
Exclusive: FTSE100 companies grossly overestimate their performance on diversity, equity and inclusion May 17, 2022 Nearly two years on from the BLM protests, companies of all sizes are failing to enact the cultural and operational changes that they promised at the time. An audit of the FTSE100 by agility firm Agility in Mind found that despite almost all (99 per cent) having an inclusive mission statement, less than half (48 [...]
City exclusive: Women occupy less than one in six senior positions at London hedge funds May 9, 2022 The financial industry has long been dominated by men, whether in banking, insurance, or hedge fund management. Even today, it has emerged that women occupy just 15 per cent of senior positions in the City’s hedge funds. A new study that was exclusively shared with City A.M. found that, within hedge funds, only one in [...]
Boardroom Diversity supported by eToro May 3, 2022 | City Talk eToro, the social investing network, has launched a new FemaleLeadership Smart Portfolio which features US publicly quoted companies with diversity at boardroom level, especially featuring women in positions of board members. eToro’s Deputy CEO and Global Chief Operating Officer (COO), Dr. Hedva Ber, says: “Female leadership and boardroom diversity have proven advantages, not just for [...]
How firms are using data-driven diversity March 16, 2022 | City Talk This article first appeared in ICAS’ CA magazine. It may feel like the diversity and inclusion agenda has gathered momentum in recent years. But while there has been a lot of talk, the data suggests that the pace of change at the top of British business has actually been slow. A July 2021 report by the [...]