Source: Deloitte Center for Financial Services, “Advancing women leaders in the financial services industry, 2023 update: A global assessment”
Figure 5 shows the four elements of the framework in more detail, which are:
1. Collect more data: Comprehensive data collection is an important tool for achieving gender equity. In the UK, employers with more than 250 employees are required by law20 to collect and publish gender pay gap data. This valuable data can be used to highlight blind spots, identify potential candidate programmes and monitor how they are working, allowing FSIs to concentrate resources where they matter most. In addition, while not required by law to do so, it would be beneficial for more UK organisations in the sub-250 employee bracket – representing the vast majority of UK enterprise – to make efforts to collect diversity data too so they can also reap the benefits.
2. Assess the data: Collection is only the start of the journey, and effective analysis requires firms to use their data to measure their performance against their objectives. It can also be helpful to benchmark findings against companies within the same industry and at a global or regional level to reveal leading practices and provide meaningful inputs when setting targets. Technology solutions can help generate insights faster and minimise unconscious bias in the data, leading to better and more actionable insights.
3. Report your progress: Reporting diversity information – internally and publicly – helps to boost transparency and enhance trust in data. In the UK, firms with more than 250 employees are required to disclose average gender salary and bonus gaps, both the median and average figures, together with the proportion of men and women receiving bonuses and how their staff break down by gender across each quartile of their organisation’s pay structure. This is a good start, but firms can go further. For example, reporting progress on diversity goals, to the board and the workforce as well as externally, can be important in making targets stick, increasing accountability and bolstering progress. It is also helpful to share clear metrics for success, which can in turn help firms track progress and create a more equitable environment. Finally, consider focusing on outcomes achieved rather than simply measuring activity and effort to drive a more goal-orientated mindset.
4. Engage with stakeholders: Finally, engage within and beyond your organisation around the results, and the outcomes measured, to demonstrate and amplify the firm’s commitment to gender diversity. This will help to foster engagement and help showcase an industry leading commitment to diversity. This can include measures such as encouraging allyship and sponsorship opportunities, linking performance expectations and measurement to diversity goals, creating opportunities to network – including building and operating women’s networks – as well as investing in more diverse succession planning.As our 2022 global report noted, firms that support transformational opportunities for women, even by creating non-traditional paths to leadership, can become highly sought-after employers. And, by transparently communicating with colleagues and the market on the importance of diversity, the actions they take to drive gender equity and the progress they have made, BCM firms will better position themselves to drive higher rates of retention in the future to the benefit of everyone. Crucially, that same 2022 Deloitte report also found that when women experience a truly respectful and inclusive workplace culture, they are more engaged, productive, and loyal to their organisations. By doubling down on their efforts in key areas like recruitment, retention, promotion, culture change and investment in the women leaders of tomorrow, British banks can vault the symbolic 30% hurdle they are slowly approaching and forge ahead with renewed vigour towards the real finish line of gender parity.
[i] Alison Rogish et al., Advancing more women leaders in financial services: A global report, Deloitte Insights, June 2022
[ii] For further details of our methodologies, including that used to calculate the forecast data presented in this blog, see Alison Rogish et al., Advancing women leaders in the financial services industry, 2023 update, Deloitte Insights, June 2023
[iii] FCA and PRA moving the dial on Diversity & Inclusion, Deloitte UK, October 2023.
[iv] See Women in Finance Charter (HM Treasury Policy Paper, March 2016)
[v] 2022 data sourced from Women in Finance Annual Review (New Financial, March 2023)
[vi] We define C-Suite as corporate leadership, including CEOs, CFOs, CMOs etc.
[vii] We define Senior Leadership as line-of-business leaders, division heads or regional leaders, typically 1–3 levels below the C-suite.
[viii] We define Next Generation as the wider pipeline of female talent within organisations, typically managers or equivalent titles below Senior Leadership.
[ix] Alison Rogish et al., Leadership, representation, and gender equity in financial services, Deloitte Insights, November 2022
[x] Lissa Lamkin Broome, John M. Conley, and Kimberly D. Krawiec, Does Critical Mass Matter? Views from theBoardroom, Seattle University Law Review, 2011
[xi] For clarity, the ‘multiplier effect’ impacts firms at an organisational level only. It is not believed to influence at sector, country or regional levels. Hence, appointments at one firm will not impact their wider sector in the aggregate.
[xii] Deloitte, Women in the boardroom—5th edition, March 2017
[xiii] Note, the banking figures shown here are based on data from 76 UK institutions (30 UK Banks, 31 Global/Investment Banks, and 15 Building Societies/Credit Unions)
[xiv] 2016 data sourced from Women in Finance Annual Review 2017, New Financial, March 2018; 2022 data sourced from Women in Finance Annual Review, New Financial, March 2023
[xv] This is based on a comparison of HM Treasury’s data for Global/Investment Banks and the UK BCM average in 2016 (i.e., 23% vs. 26%) and in 2022 (i.e., 28% vs. 37%)
[xvi] In Women in Finance Annual Review, New Financial, March 2023, the authors estimate that their signatories in UK Financial Services sector would need to add 4,221 women leaders in order to meet their targets. Of this total, 61% (n=2,574) would need to be employed in BCM roles comprising 30% in UK Banking, 27% in Global/Investment Banking and 4% in Building Societies.
[xvii] Fawcett Society, The Coronavirus Crossroads, Equal Pay Day 2020 Report, November 2020
[xviii] Alison Rogish et al., Advancing more women leaders in financial services: A global report, Deloitte Insights, June 2022
[xix] Deloitte Center for Financial Services, Advancing women leaders in the financial services industry, 2023 update: A global assessment, June 2023
[xx] This is mandated under the UK’s Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
