Employers are increasingly coming to recognise the strong business case for diversity and inclusion. Numerous studies have come to show that the most diverse companies are 33% more likely to financially overperform (McKinsey, 2020). However, diversity with the asset management industry is has been an ongoing issue and one that is still yet to be rectified. A report from the Investment Association published in 2019 said that fewer of 1% of fund managers in the UK identified as black, African or Caribbean whilst women were also hugely under-represented at 13% (Morningstar, 2019). Recruitment plays an integral role in attracting and retaining diverse talent, and according to Glassdoor some two-thirds of job seekers said a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating job offers.
While organisations recognise the advantages of a diverse workforce, developing and implementing a D&I recruitment strategy remains a challenge. At Mason Blake our approach and expertise allow us to work effectively with our clients to improve their diversity recruitment strategy and have access to a more diverse candidate pool across all levels of seniority. We help increase outreach to more diverse candidate pools from entry-level to senior hires through our unrivalled network in the asset management community and the established relationships we have developed within the industry. In addition, we collaborate and partner with groups who specialise in connecting talent from different backgrounds (LGBT+, ethnicity, gender, education) to ensure we have the widest and most diverse range of candidates for our clients.
At Mason Blake we understand the importance of addressing unconscious biases amongst our own staff in order to support our clients with their recruitment practices. We offer all our staff mandatory internal and external training to focus on unconscious bias and behavioural awareness to allow our consultancy to attract and represent a more diverse pool of candidates. We empower our consultants to play an active role in Diversity & Inclusion within the financial services industry. As a firm we contributed to the HM Treasury’s ‘Women in Finance Charter’ debate and one of our consultants took part in the debate with the Treasury Committee around recruitment practices with regards to gender diversity (Women in Finance Treasury Committee).
We also regularly partner with our clients to support their diversity and inclusion efforts. Recently we worked with Legal & General to conduct a Socio-Economic Mobility workshop to attract young students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to the asset management industry.
“At Mason Blake our aim is to be a credible recruitment partner to our clients to help them develop their own diversity & inclusion recruitment strategy. We are truly committed to diversity and inclusion, understanding the pivotal role we play in improving best practices throughout the recruitment process and helping our clients create a diverse workforce.”