Diversity in the City
Aiming for a financial career in the square mile? Find out why City and finance employers are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce.
Working in the City is a dream for many graduates and major recruiters are well aware of this. They go to great lengths to ensure they get the best employees out of the thousands that apply. Part of this process involves making sure that opportunities to work in major corporations are available to as diverse a range of potential employees as possible to reflect the society in which they work and the clients they represent. Although there may sometimes be a suspicion that an organisation’s earnest affirmations of the importance of equal opportunities is just a way of telling graduates (and equalities commissions) what they want to hear, most employers do in fact take their responsibilities towards diversity seriously.
The status quo is changing
One of the main problems that established City employers face in recruiting a cross section of graduates is the image that many people have of the stereotypical banker as being ‘pale, male and stale’. But employment practice is doing its best to change this perception by ensuring that recruiters have a duty to make the jobs they have on offer available to anyone who is able to do them well, regardless of their gender, age, race, religious belief, sexual orientation or disability.
In a profession where the number of female graduates recruited is rising every year, City and finance firms now need to place particular emphasis on recruitment from other diversity groups – many are now focused on attracting more employees from ethnic minorities. Organisations that operate worldwide are particularly dedicated to recruiting a varied employee base because of the multinational nature of their businesses. In this respect, employers may find it particularly useful to recruit graduates who can speak different languages if their client base has a high proportion of non-English speakers.
The one area where diverse recruitment has yet to penetrate deeply in all City organisations is in senior management, where the established pattern of progression is still predominantly that of white men, but the desire that many recruiters express to retain good workers and to promote from within their organisation suggests that diversity-oriented recruitment may well establish balance at the top in years to come.
Support networks inside and outside City organisations
The government has gradually introduced legislation to make discrimination in the workplace illegal, from the 1970s when the Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts were passed, to the most recent age discrimination legislation introduced in October 2006. These legal mandates exist not only to make it easier for an employee to appeal against unfair treatment at work but also to ensure that employers take sufficient steps to prevent this from happening in the first place.
All kinds of organisations and support networks exist both inside large City organisations and also independently of them. These are committed to ensuring fair work conditions for the minority groups that they represent. Internal employee networks allow colleagues to share knowledge and deal with problems that are particular to the companies they work for, while independent commissions, lobbying groups and trade unions can also represent the interests of employees from a range of different organisations.
Recruitment and retention
City and finance organisations are based on intellectual, rather than financial capital: people are therefore the most important assets of any financial organisation. A central idea in many recruiters’ diversity policies is that by employing a diverse and multicultural workforce, the organisation will benefit from the different viewpoints brought to the business by its variety of staff, therefore reflecting the communities that they serve.
Having gone to all the effort to recruit employees from diverse backgrounds, organisations are becoming increasingly keen to keep them. As a result retention levels in the City are now quite high as a system of internal promotions keeps employees moving through the company and satisfies their career aspirations.
Many City employers now support initiatives such as the TARGETchances events. These provide female, ethnic minority and LGBT students with the opportunity to find out more about working life and careers in professional business sectors, such as law, professional services and investment banking. Most of these employers typically have a number of specific employment practices in place that are common to other organisations in their business area to protect their staff. These include equal benefits for employees’ same-sex partners, flexible working hours, childcare vouchers for new parents, multi-faith prayer rooms, specialised-counselling services and diversity training for all employees. At the very least most City recruiters will have developed and implemented a diversity policy and many will have appointed a specific person or group to listen to the workforce and to advise senior policy makers on their needs and concerns.
City recruiters look for the brightest and the best
Diversity initiatives in the City are designed to open doors for as many potential employees as possible, rather than to give minority groups an unfair advantage. While recruitment programmes are targeted at these groups, the fact remains that City employers are still looking for the brightest and the best among all their potential employees, and by actively seeking to include underrepresented groups they are casting their nets as wide as possible so that their choice is greater. If an employer that you are applying to shows a desire for a diverse workforce, it’s very unlikely that you will be overlooked as a potential new recruit on the basis of your race, religion, gender or sexuality; instead you’ll be given the chance to shine and to achieve your full potential in a supportive environment, whoever you happen to be. A diverse workforce creates a rich and stimulating environment for all.
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