Women in Financial Services
E2W Round Table event with Julia Hoggett, Head of Market Oversight at the FCA
Mark.Freed / 18 Nov 2019
On the 12th November an amazing group of industry leaders in Recruitment, HR and D&I from leading CIB’s and Asset Managers, got together with business leaders and Julia Hoggett, Head of Market Oversight and Kevin Trainor Head of Resourcing & Talent from the FCA, to discuss recruitment strategies to close the gap.
Mark Freed from E2W presented the challenge – "Why are firms taking a bottom up approach in recruitment strategies to close the gap at the top?" The gender pay gap is caused by fewer females in higher earning roles. So why are the recruitment based solutions, that firms are reporting mostly foucssed on recruiting women into entry level roles?
In the FCA’s presentation Julia re-iterated the FCA’s focus on diversity in all its forms in the industry. Kevin discussed the importance of making diversity a priority in recruitment. Look for diverse candidates first and thinking out of the box.
The following are quotes captured from the discussion:
“If targets are not effectively cascaded down the organisation and understood, the hiring managers will not own the accountability for action."
“If hiring managers demand diverse candidates, then recruiters will have to broaden their net."
“Behaviours and excuses against making decisions that impact change need to be called out.”
“The vast majority of the recruitment strategies to close gap are focused on entry level roles. It is easier to solve the problem at graduate and entry level where there are more female candidates than it is at senior level."
“Demanding diverse candidate short lists can mean looking for diverse candidates first or last. The former works. The later results in diverse candidates being cannon fodder"
“Time to hire remains a priority over diversity.”
“The old boys club and hiring managers hiring in their own image is still prevalent.”
“Women are harder to find, often aren’t active candidates, but when you hire them are more loyal.”
Industry and Diversity thought leaders are calling on us all to ‘call out’ bad practice and behaviours. This week , we launched our own 'call-out' campaign to highlight the mis-match between a firms gender pay gap and their recruitment strategies. Please contact Mark Freed if you are interested in discussing further.
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