O.C. Tanner has published a damning report which has brought to light the alarming presence of discrimination within the workplaces of the financial services industry.
According to its findings, 41 per cent have witnessed instances of clear discrimination, while an additional 38 per cent have been conscious of inadvertent discrimination.
The Utah-headquartered employee recognition company’s ‘2022 Global Culture Report‘, from which the above insights have been derived, analysed the perspectives of over 38,000 employees and leaders from 21 countries around the world including 1,098 from the financial services industry.
The research reveals that organisations are stifling growth and development opportunities for some employees through both blatant and unintentional means. The result is that 36 per cent of financial services professionals have felt excluded from promotional opportunities at their organisation, with just 69 per cent believing that everyone is on a level playing field when it comes to growing and developing their careers.
Despite the fact that so many organisations in the industry hold diversity as a high priority, David Danzig, the company’s European director, explains that, in light of the report’s findings, “inclusivity efforts are clearly falling short.”
To achieve true inclusivity within the workplace, inclusion must be built into multiple aspects of the employee experience, rather than being seen as a separate ‘initiative’; the report advises.
From ensuring everyone is given a voice and leaders are taught how to lead with inclusion in mind, to investing in the right technologies, the company emphasises that inclusivity will only be fully achieved when it becomes an intentional priority.
With just 62 per cent of financial services professionals stating that their organisation is more interested in understanding them than categorising them, and only 57 per cent feeling that their opinions are fairly represented within their organisation’s leadership team, the research highlights that there’s still much to be done to build inclusivity into all aspects of the employee experience.
“Leaders need to take a fresh look at their organisational cultures,” continues Danzig, “and assess whether they’re fully inclusive, or whether their diversity and inclusion strategy is simply papering over the cracks. Only when many unique individuals are represented, respected, treated equally and integrated into everyday working life, can inclusivity efforts be viewed as truly working.”
