State Street denies bank staff must get special approval to hire white men
Investment bank State Street tonight forced to push back against reports it will insist managers get special approval to hire white men over female or minority candidates.
The bank wants to triple the number of black, Asian and other minority staff in senior roles by 2023 and has mandated lower bonuses for execs if they do not hit these targets. The Sunday Times said the bank would make its staff get special permission to hire a white male candidate – a claim the bank later said was “factually inaccurate”.
The bank has however mandated lower bonuses for executives if they do not meet equality targets.
“All of our leaders have to demonstrate at their annual appraisals what they have done to improve female representation and the number of colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds,” Jess McNicholas, the bank’s head of inclusion, diversity and corporate citizenship told The Sunday Times.
“This is now front and central for State Street — it’s on every senior executive’s scorecard,” she added.
The bank will still hire white men, McNicholas said, but recruiters will need to ensure that women and ethnic minority candidates are interviewed by a diverse panel.
They will be required to put together an interviewer panel of four to five people, and include at least one woman and ideally someone of colour, when looking to fill vacancies for middle-ranking positions, such as those at senior vice-president level or above.
Improving diversity in offices has become a priority for a number of businesses in sectors which have come under the spotlight for a lack of it.
A survey published last week found that over half of the UK’s black financial services professionals didn’t believe they had equal opportunities at work and more than 70 per cent said they had experienced discrimination at work.
The detailed survey of 800 employees from 440 UK financial services firms representing almost £1.4trn in annual revenue by diversity group Reboot also revealed that almost half (46 per cent) of black employees believed the ingrained working culture of their business made it harder for them to progress up the career ladder.