Stonewall 2019: Where are all the investment management firms?

“Stonewall has today published the Equality Index Top 100 Inclusive Employers which is made up over 20 different industry sectors. 445 employers took part representing over 3.5 million employees.

The question must be: where are all the investment management firms?

It is clear that the investment industry has a lower level of LGBT+ inclusion maturity in comparison to these other sectors. Whilst some people may view this as a negative, we see this as a positive because there is a real opportunity to get this right by avoiding the mistakes other sectors have made. Therefore, we encourage all firms to develop a diligent and robust strategy before raising their heads above the parapet to focus on the real issues at hand. LGBT+ talent can see straight through potential ‘window dressing’ and this phenomenon is more important to future talent overall. So there is a real need to get this right.

This starts by understanding the 5 ways that LGBT+ inclusion can have a positive impact in the investment industry. We are working with firms to begin developing robust inclusion strategies and our iiBT tool is a stepping stone to getting solid foundations in place. In addition, we are building industry awareness through our education, visibility and outreach projects and we are excited to see the investment industry progress.

Watch this space!”