Attracting and retaining diverse talent in male-dominated industries

The fintech industry is large and covers a wide range of financial services.

Fintechs should put processes in place that improve company culture and reduce bias

From payments and transfers to cloud infrastructure and bank accounts – there are a multitude of different fintech companies. To put it into perspective, London alone has 2,500 fintechs and KPMG reported that fintech investment in the UK reached $37.3 billion in 2021.

But there is a problem at the centre of this growing industry – it hasn’t adequately challenged its bias. Bias is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, the ‘inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair’. Fintech has a gender bias problem and needs to change how the industry approaches and combats it.

Women are still underrepresented. This is especially true in leadership team positions where they make up 11% of all board members and 19% of company executives, according to the Fintech Diversity Radar. The report shows that 1.5% of the 1,032 best-funded private fintech firms globally are founded solely by women. Of that, they receive just 1% of total fintech venture funding.

This also affects how companies are run, how people think and what decisions are made. This is because a diverse workforce – whether across ages, genders, cultures or religions – is good for creativity and social justice. A team with a variety of worldviews and backgrounds can help open up conversations to new, unexplored and different ideas.

Creating an inclusive company culture

But all hope is not lost. There is change happening. A recent report by EY found that over 76% of women in fintech believe their firm is inclusive and 56% feel it’s diverse. Adding to that, 94% of junior to mid-level female fintech employees said they are able to express their views and suggestions at work and 78% said they feel able to be ‘authentic at work’.

However, there are still some bumps in the road – the same survey found that 63% of junior to mid-level female employees believe their gender impacted how they were perceived at work, compared to just 27% of male employees.

This research shows that even though we are making positive changes, and the next generation of female fintech workers feel more included and authentically themselves at work, there is a perception gap compared to their male counterparts.

Even though the conversation about diversity in the workplace has been going on for many years, we need to keep having it so change really occurs. The problem with biases and behaviours is that we tend to fall back on what is ‘normal’ to us. If we don’t keep the conversation going, we may lose all that we have gained. For change to really occur, everyone has to be open to challenging themselves and the constructs they have normalised.

For an organisation, this means you must constantly address any biases. This can be done via training or targets. You have to be able to call out tendencies that show the unconscious nature of these biases by bringing data into people’s processes.

There are many proactive steps that a company can take to be inclusive, including flexible working arrangements so that working parents can do the school drop-off, paid maternity and paternity leave to ease decision-making on who goes back to work, medical benefits and clear-cut career paths of progression within the company.

You have to have conversations that promote learning, via internal groups, people forums or surveys. As leaders, you have to know how these biases affect people and help them voice discomforts (e.g. talking about salaries or promotions or voicing impostor syndromes).

Creating a diverse recruitment strategy

People tend to hire from within their professional networks, but this approach can shut out talented individuals. Put simply, you’re missing out on talent by not having a diverse recruitment strategy.

You have to open job opportunities for everyone to apply, instead of selecting people because you know them and find them talented. You have to have interviewing conditions that make candidates feel comfortable enough to truly show their talents.

Companies should change their hiring practices to ensure that they’re reaching a diverse workforce. This includes looking at recruiting people from across the country, outside the city bubble. Companies can also partner up with organisations that support and develop diverse talent, as well as work with schools, colleges and universities from across the country to hire a workforce that is representative of the country.

Upskilling, training and advancement opportunities

When it comes to finding new opportunities to advance and upskill, sometimes the very company you’re in can be the best option. Studies show that in comparison to men, women are less likely to put themselves forward for roles where they feel they don’t meet the full criteria listed on a job spec.

Tackling the underrepresentation of women at the top of organisations is imperative. Companies need to develop a holistic approach to building a strong and sustainable female talent pipeline. This requires inclusive strategies that tackle organisational culture, systems and processes that are preventing change. This is why companies should have mentoring, upskilling and training programmes to help do just that. Wherever possible, try to have trainers and mentors from diverse backgrounds. Not only can this foster an accommodating and accepting work culture, but it also means that different people from different backgrounds are learning from each other.

From an internal point of view, adding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training as a mandatory requirement for all members of staff can help everyone within the company understand unconscious bias.

Promoting a clear work-life balance to retain employees

Companies should ensure they are creating a supportive work environment that promotes a strong work-life balance. In addition, making flexible working available to all will mean that more candidates are available from different groups.

To support female employees more effectively, businesses should embrace family-centric policies and ‘stop the clock’ schemes. Having this in place will encourage both the attraction and retention of female employees in technology and finance roles.

Attracting and retaining a diverse mix of talent in traditionally male-dominated roles involves putting specific processes in place that improve company culture and reduce bias. The key processes companies can implement in order to become more inclusive include correct training, diverse recruitment and developing a good company culture. If companies begin to work on these, they can make real progress towards a more diverse and equal workforce.