A panel of senior leaders in the financial services sector has called for greater transparency on company employee data and ethnicity pay gap reporting.
The call was made at a Reboot roundtable attended by asset managers and asset owners to address ethnicity pay reporting.
They also discussed how to use their influence to reduce racial inequality in the UK.
Reboot is a campaign group of senior financial services professionals working to drive dialogue on race and ethnicity in the workplace.
The roundtable highlighted the crucial need for transparency among UK businesses if they are to successfully address race inequities in the workplace through disclosure of ethnicity pay gap reporting.
The ethnicity pay gap, unlike the gender pay gap, is not yet subject to mandatory reporting in the UK.
However, the group said engagement from asset managers, on behalf of their clients, will become a strong catalyst for adoption.
Reboot wants the financial services industry to address its own issues with diversity. Its latest Race to Equality in UK Financial Services report found seven out of 10 (68%) of ethnic minorities had experienced bias at work in the last year.
And nearly half of those surveyed believe those from ethnically diverse backgrounds are not offered as many career opportunities as white colleagues.
The participants identified six critical steps for asset managers to help tackle the race inequality problem.
They include actively engaging with portfolio companies on their DEI data including ethnicity pay gaps and making it a board level priority.
Other recommendations include engaging and educating own employees on the role of data collection.
Justin Onuekwusi, Reboot ambassador and co-founder of #TalkAboutBlack said: “There is not one solution to this challenge, it is complex. #TalkAboutBlack has identified the kinks in the hosepipe.
“If you’re going to help un-kink the hose, you need to know what the kinks look like. Over the years, the kinks have a cumulative effect: those children who have no role model, who don’t get the mentoring they need and who never make it onto the corporation’s radar or wish list, do not get hired or promoted. Unkinking one kink isn’t enough. The central premise is that every single one of those kinks needs to be addressed or, still, no water will flow.”
Stephanie Butcher, senior managing director & co–head of investments at Invesco, added: “Making continued progress in DE&I in our industry is going to be key to ensure future success. There is no doubt that a more diverse and inclusive asset manager will be in a stronger position to serve its clients and deliver better outcomes.
“We’ve had several initiatives focused on advancing women in the past decade and are broadening our focus to ensure equity and advancement for employees of colour. As organisations begin to collect demographic data on their employees, ethnicity pay gap reporting could serve as a useful tool in identifying and addressing potential gaps to ensure we create a more equitable industry in the future.”
The roundtable was conducted at Invesco’s UK offices and featured 12 participants, ranging from CEOs and CIOs to heads of responsible investing, from leading investment and lobbying groups such as LGIM, Nest, State Street, Invesco, Newton IM, CIPD and Schroders.
