As a first-generation immigrant and a woman of colour, my own journey – while not unique – is different from many others, and perhaps is one of the reasons that I am passionate about ensuring equity is at the forefront of conversations relating to opportunity. I was lucky enough to go to both a prestigious school and university through a combination of scholarships, hardship loans, and working full time while studying to support myself. In many ways, equality wouldn’t have served me well, as I would not have been able to take advantage of these educational opportunities, had it not been for the allowances and support offered to me through this additional help. These examples of support mechanisms put in place to make things more equitable, allowed me to access opportunities within financial services, and build a life that I would not have been able to achieve without these ‘step-ups’.   

Furthermore, the narrative of equality doesn’t go far enough to address societal issues, especially in relation to women (and minorities) in the workplace. Not only is everyone not starting from the same place, but in addition, people have a myriad of challenges in their personal lives that they’ve had to navigate. Like it or not, statistically, the majority of the burden of caregiving (whether for children or other vulnerable family) tends to fall upon the shoulders of women. Without additional mechanisms to help navigate this, we are asking women to fulfil an impossible role. Add in the challenges that women will face during the menopause (most of which is only just being talked about at an organisation level openly), and it is of little surprise that the data on burnout in women is staggering, and is increasing at an exponential rate, particularly when they get to ‘leadership’ levels. Recent research (HR News, September 2022) cited that burnout was the number one reason that women quit the workforce.

Organisations that don’t focus on working with their staff to help support them, are at risk of losing a key part of their workforce by inaction. This is a particularly pertinent problem taking place within the wider landscape, at a time when the workforce are more selective about where they work, the war for talent is raging, and the papers are full of articles about the ‘Great Resignation’.

As a business, we also ensure that our working policies support a number of working practices, including part-time working, staggered working hours, hybrid working. We are in the process of implementing a scheme with WorkYourWay, an initiative that aims to increase transparency of flexible working for candidates (the majority of whom are women and minority groups). Often, however, treating people in an equitable fashion is not just about the big things, but the day-to-day interactions and support provided. These are harder to tangibly quantify and measure, but we try our best to offer a workplace where people are able to be open about their challenges (be it work or personal), with the expectation being that our business will support them when they need it.

Our ongoing focus on building an organisation with equity at the heart of it, has meant that we are now 50:50 male:female, and nine of our departments are headed up by women. 

We also have numerous examples of where we have approached equity more broadly, including consistently working with schools and organisations that focus on levelling the playing field, for people to get increased access to financial services. These range from IntoUniversity, 10,000 Black Interns and working with inner-city schools to offer work experience, to working with Cambridge Women’s network. 

We believe that equity is about more than fairness. It’s about kindness, humanisation, genuinely wanting the best for the people in your workforce, and working hard to provide that. And that can sometimes look different for each person.