Diversity In Finance Awards

Fidelity International: Winner of the Championing Race Equality Award 2022

The judges liked Fidelity International's clear strategy for improving race equality, which has already led to some impressive and quantifiable results.

The business set three company-wide goals for its global diversity and inclusion strategy:

• Inclusivity: Create a culture of inclusion where everyone feels they belong and can thrive.
• Diversity: Build a workforce that reflects the full diversity of the communities where it works at all levels.
• Reputation: Embed reputation as a diverse and inclusive company.

To meet these goals, Fidelity International created a framework to embed and progress D&I efforts:

• The global D&I leadership council provides strategic direction and accountability.
• Executive sponsors define the global vision and action plans for each of the D&I strands.
• D&I networks engage employees in shaping and realising the D&I strategy and its cultural diversity network's action plan.

The cultural diversity network has raised awareness of cultural differences and encouraged a global mindset with a variety of training and awareness-raising events. These have ranged from sharing employee stories for World Day for Cultural Diversity to hosting external speakers on topics including race and cultural healing.

It set clear goals in 2020 to work on during 2021 and, in October 2021, during Black History Month in the UK, the network published the first annual update on its progress.

It implemented UpReach's REALrating recruiting tool to identify early-career hidden talent and to ensure a fairer and more inclusive application process for prospective candidates.

It is redesigning its global recruitment process to ensure that it is more equitable and inclusive.

Fidelity International also collaborated with Entrepreneurs in Action to deliver a new positive recruitment experience for apprenticeship applicants, and co-designed a CV-less recruitment process where candidates were assessed on their performance in a series of group activities.

This provided clear outcomes:

• 17 out of 27 applicants were offered roles in Fidelity.
• 35 per cent of the successful candidates were Black and an additional 30 per cent were from other ethnic minority backgrounds.
• Other aspects of diversity were also well-represented among the successful candidates: 47 per cent female; 12 per cent people with disabilities; 12 per cent LGBTQ+; and all from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

In addition, the company launched a global sponsorship programme in autumn 2021 to provide financial aid for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in Dalian, India and the UK. This programme will be open to people from all ethnic backgrounds and will focus on social mobility.

It also participated in industry-wide efforts such as #10000BlackInterns to tackle the under-representation of black people in the asset management sector, and the Catalyst After School Programme. Fidelity also participated in the TargetJobs Aspire Black Heritage Event.

The company has also introduced five recruitment principles, launched mandatory training for hiring managers, undertaken an audit to review its process, procedures and behaviours when focusing on being inclusive towards diverse talent, and is taking actions based on the key findings and recommendations from the audit.

It is also offering a Talent Accelerator programme in conjunction with #TalkAboutBlack, and has launched the Diverse Leaders video series in October 2020 to promote role models and showcase global talent and leaders.

It found significant gains have been made across the 2021 Inclusion Index in almost all demographic groups. The biggest shift in sentiment has been for black colleagues, who scored on the index an average of 11 points higher versus 2020.

A spokesperson for Fidelity International said the company "is committed to providing a diverse, safe and inclusive workplace to everyone regardless of ethnicity, social background, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or disability.

"Our success in creating an open, welcoming environment for everyone has allowed us to attract and retain the best talent and also brings huge benefits for our people, customers and our business.

"We are honoured to be in the company of the other finalists and extend our warmest congratulations to the other organisations that have been recognised for their commitment to championing diversity and inclusion."

Phoenix Group: Winner of the Employer of the Year 2022 Award (Large Firm)

Once again, this category received a record number of entries from large, multi-national companies as well as small start-ups and advice businesses.

There were several impressive entries, resulting in two winners, one for a small business and one for a large business – and Phoenix won outright in the Large Firm category.

This was a reflection of the work Phoenix has done across all fields of diversity, equality and inclusion over the preceding 12 months.

The company listened to its Black, Asian and minority ethnic employee network Mosaic, when it said to the chief executive that it asks colleagues "sensitive questions about their sexuality, ethnicity, socio-economic background and more".

It expected pushback but instead the network was given the support to deliver one of the UK’s most ambitious diversity data initiatives, one that Phoenix said has become a "blueprint for the entire industry".

This is just one example of the empowered grassroots movement, combined with senior leader support, that has characterised the company's DE&I strategy over the past 18 months.

First, the company set out its vision and objectives, to help everyone flourish, regardless of background or how they identify. It focused on achieving these objectives by putting in place new strategies to:

• attract/retain diverse talent;
• increase employee engagement;
• improve the customer offering and experience, evidenced by client retention/acquisition, and;
• support overall business growth (growing assets under administration).

This was achievable because of the data capture exercise. Called ‘Who We Are’, the initiative was crucial in understanding the intersectionality of diversity across the Phoenix Group.

It involved:

• securing full support/buy-in at board level;
• working with organisations like the Office for National Statistics, PwC and universities to gain best-practice insight;
• building a dedicated app and microsite, providing a safe, confidential way to capture diversity data and educate/engage colleagues;
• conducting surveys, which captured data on age, social mobility and education, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, caring responsibilities and more. This was aggregated and anonymised.

Approximately 6,000 employees completed the survey within two months (77 per cent of the workforce), and this work is being shared externally, including with the Financial Services Skills Council, to help other companies improve their data capture.

In addition to the data study, Phoenix has supported the work of networks for: Carers, Affinity (LGBT+), Armed Forces, Balance (gender inclusion), Enable (disability inclusion), #ignite (for older workers), Mind Matters (mental health); Mosaic (BAME); and PYPN (early careers).

All these feed into the company's DE&I steering group. The company also has an inclusion forum, allowing network leads to collaborate on intersectional DEI initiatives/plans, and has set up a Leading with Purpose programme, focused on inclusive leadership. This is attended by 400+ senior leaders every eight weeks.

The Phoenix Group is a vocal champion of DE&I. For example, chief executive Andy Briggs is also the government business champion for older workers, and is on the board of the Association of British Insurers.

Phoenix is also tackling racial inequality/social mobility, supporting schools in some of the UK’s most disadvantaged areas and signing up to the Social Mobility Pledge.

It also runs Insight Days, with presenters from all backgrounds, to show students the other side of financial services, and has removed university degree grades/subject requirements in preference for a strengths-based assessment.

Phoenix has also partnered with Career Ready to offer four-week paid summer internships, 12-month mentoring schemes, and CV writing/interview technique/mock interview masterclasses.

It has also partnered with institutions promoting social mobility in young people, including Developing the Young Workforce, and the Social Mobility Foundation.

Over the past 12 months, staff have volunteered 6,000+ employee hours, providing mentoring and/or wellbeing support, such as delivering literacy programmes to Ark Kings Academy pupils.

As a result, in 2021 Phoenix was ranked as a top 75 employer for social mobility in the SMF Social Mobility Index. Moreover, its Mosaic network has helped steer change across the business. The group has:

• signed up to the #10,000BlackInterns programme;
• signed the Race at Work Charter;
• run a reverse mentoring programme, sponsored by the Mosaic network, with 50 mentoring pairs, and;
• regularly invited guest speakers to share their own experiences of race via open forums with network members/colleagues.

It has also focused on supporting women. As one of the first signatories to HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, Phoenix Group built on this to:

• publish targets, such as aiming for more than 30 per cent of its top 100 roles to be held by women;
• mandate a 50:50 gender split for candidate shortlists.
• provide tools/initiatives that empower, including the everywoman platform;
• run a flagship leadership development programme, Changing the Game.
• sign the ABI Making Flexible Work Charter, and 30% Club;
• provide dedicated menopause training, and;
• provide paid carer’s leave and a dedicated employee assistance programme.

It has also promoted ways to improve disability inclusion, such as:

• joining the Valuable 500, a movement putting disability on business leadership agendas;
• signing up to the government’s Disability Confident scheme, and earning Disability Confident employer status, and;
• providing opportunities for disabled young people, such as through the Kickstart Scheme.

The company also impressed judges with its tangible evidence of success:

• In 2021, 56 per cent of external business leadership hires were female.
• Women in top 100 roles increased to 27 to 21.
• 42 per cent of proposed successors are female (vs the Phoenix Group's 40 per cent target).
• It employs more women (54 per cent) than the financial services average (45 per cent).
• The proportion of LGBTQ+ colleagues is 5 per cent (vs UK LGBTQ+ population 2.7 per cent).
• The proportion of black and minority ethnic colleagues is 9 per cent.
• Phoenix's average employee age is 40.2 (higher than the industry norm of 39).
• 71 per cent of all colleagues said Phoenix was a great place to work – a 16 per cent rise on the previous year.

A spokesperson for the company said: "Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion sits at the very heart of Phoenix Group’s purpose and it is absolutely fantastic to be recognised for our work in this field.

"Being part of the FTAdviser Diversity in Finance Awards offers a moment to celebrate the outstanding work of our colleagues in this space, as well as share some of our significant successes.

"It is also an opportunity to collaborate with and learn from others to ensure Phoenix Group continues to develop and deliver the best experience we can for all our colleagues, our communities and our customers."