I spoke with an HR Director in a global technology company last week. The company has recently appointed a new global Executive Vice President and he told me that a key objective is now to focus on achieving diversity in their teams.
This is an increasing conversation we are having but I can't help but feel that it is more about communicating data to stakeholders rather than enjoy the benefit that having a diverse workforce brings.
Surely diversity shouldn't be solely viewed as a process but instead has to become a mindset or an intrinsic thread of the company's culture?
We have never focused on ensuring we have token candidates that achieve diversity targets on our shortlists. This would be a process. Instead we ensure that we build talent pools for our clients that research and engage with the most outstanding candidates and this mindset has undoubtedly delivered some amazing appointments. Many of these appointments have positively made our client's teams more diverse.
How are you approaching diversity?
While this is a multiyear proposition to addressing a very real, important, and immediate issue, financial institutions must make this change now or they will continue to see the problem perpetuated. The first step is admitting that this is an inequity of their own making, and to stop creating a scapegoat by blaming the “pipeline.” Their historical hiring practices and single-minded set of core beliefs have created the problem, and only by changing their process will they begin to unwind the damage it has done.
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