In 1846 the poet Ramón de Campoamor (1817-1901) wrote: “One day I bought a lantern from a merchant from Diogenes; yours and mine are as far apart as it goes from being to nonbeing. White mine shines; yours looks black; his makes everything sad; mine makes everything happy. And it is that in the treacherous world there is no truth or lies; everything is according to the color of the glass with which it is seen”. “With my flashlight,” he said, “I don’t find a human among the beings. And I find men with mine even in women,” Campoamor continues. The conservative and monarchist Asturian poet did not know that this poem held the key to understanding one of the most serious and common social and economic problems of the 21 subjectivity (discrimination?), which makes some successful and others, with more qualities, never succeed. So there are people who get hired and people who don’t. Why do some rise and others don’t? Often it is apparent traits, rather than real ones, or prejudices both negative and positive, that lead corporations to hire white males with brilliant academic achievements to the detriment of people who are actually more useful but come from ethnic or social minorities and are less bright when it comes to writing .
Often this discrimination is not the result of conscious intent. We are not dealing with the decisions of a racist, although obviously racism is often a key factor, but with someone who believes they are doing what is best for their company. But that’s not always the case (worse: often not) because that decision doesn’t take into account what is now considered a very important factor: diversity. The more diverse a company’s workforce, the more diverse its leadership, the more profit the company will generate. It’s not just a question of social justice, but of profitability.
A diverse company is more profitable. That, at least, is one of the main conclusions of the first report published a few weeks ago by the taskforce set up by the City of London Corporation in November 2020 at the request of the Treasury and Industry Departments and UK companies to promote diversity in UK finance and professional services.
The color of the glass through which many employers look often reflects the prejudices of certain social classes. prejudices that men prefer to women; that of one race against another; to those of a particular religion; those who have had the privilege of an elite education versus those who have access to knowledge through public education, or simply those who have studied versus those who have not; for those who are characterized by a great quality but who perhaps know almost nothing beyond this specialization; the beautiful versus the ugly; the lean versus the fat; straight versus gay or lesbian; those with a local surname versus those who sound like foreigners; or simply to those who speak with an accent from another country or that betrays their social background. In short: in some ways those who are most like me or what I think I am or would like to be or have been.
The city’s task force surveyed more than 9,000 employees from 49 organizations to examine how socioeconomic background intersects with other personal characteristics, such as race or gender. According to EY’s Chris Woolard, “The study highlights the huge gaps that still exist within financial services when it comes to the socio-economic environment and who ends up occupying the most important positions in the industry; underscores the importance of the entire industry moving forward together and that companies pay far more attention to experienced talent to reach their full potential.”
an answer is urgent
For Catherine McGuinness, President of the working group, “the industry urgently needs to act on the results of this survey”. “We urge companies to act now and collect data from employees on the socio-economic environment, set goals and monitor progress to promote a level playing field for all,” he emphasizes.
A few numbers are enough to capture the current situation. For example, among current leaders, 45% are male and 23% are female, highly educated white; 13% male and 9% female, working-class white; 5% are men and 3% women from ethnic minorities with high education; and only 2% men and 1% women belong to an ethnic minority and working class. 64% of senior positions in companies are held by highly qualified professionals (a percentage that needs to be calibrated with the fact that only 37% of the UK population is that highly educated) and 30% of seniors have studied at elite schools, compared with just 7 .5% of the total population. Workers from blue-collar backgrounds are 30% less likely to achieve managerial positions, a number that rises to 50% if they are from a minority ethnic group and 99.9% if they are women from a minority ethnic group.
The Corporation of the City of London has set a goal that by 2030 at least 50% of managerial positions will be from humble backgrounds. And it provides a set of recommendations on how regulators, financial sector bodies and government can support and incentivize job creators to achieve this goal: how to assign clear responsibilities to senior managers, how to monitor their actions to see if they have a greater impact advocate socioeconomic diversity, publish data and highlight successful outcomes. “The need for change couldn’t be more obvious,” says Andy Haldane, co-chair of the task force. “Unlocking the potential of people would reduce recruitment challenges, encourage diversity and innovation, and thereby increase organizational productivity and performance. This is also the best thing companies can do from a social justice perspective.”
Losses from a lack of diversity range from opportunity costs for companies that recruit from a very small part of the market rather than from society as a whole, to costs of employee flight not seeing their recognition recognized or lower productivity: it is estimated that companies with motivated employees are more productive because they feel valued. “Cultures of true confidence support this diversity with an inclusive approach that enables employees to do their best work and creates a safe environment where people can have different viewpoints, challenge accepted norms, and even report what is being done wrong ‘ said Marc Teasdale of the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). “As such, companies that seek and accept diverse and different perspectives, successfully identify and manage risk, are less prone to groupthink, and generally make better decisions are more likely,” he adds.
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