UK Regulators Highlight Lack of Diversity in Financial Services
Financial services regulators in the United Kingdom (UK) have joined forces to tackle a lack of diversity within the sector. Online assessment provider Questionmark has identified six ways that employers can build diversity and inclusion (D&I) among their workforce.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Bank of England (BoE) have come together to explore how they can improve diversity and inclusion in the financial services sector. They have published a discussion paper that suggests more regular reporting and internal D&I audits.1
John Kleeman, Founder of Questionmark said: "One of the best ways to better understand the workforce is to conduct regular staff assessments. They will identify staff experiences and attitudes. Assessments indicate whether D&I training is working and help employers predict where problems may occur in the future."
Six ways that assessments can help build a diverse workforce
- Skills-based decision making ? testing the skills of candidates before deciding to hire them helps employers ensure they are choosing the best person, irrespective of their background. Testing workers who are being considered for promotion helps inspire confidence that D&I is being taken seriously.
- Ensure team members know what is expected of them ? the "Questionmark Anti-discrimination test for People Managers" measures awareness of relevant equality laws in the US and the UK.
- Measure attitudes and spot warning signs ? assessing people's attitudes can indicate where potential problems could occur across teams and business functions.
- Check that diversity training is working ? testing participants after D&I training reveals whether it is imparting the right knowledge.
- Demonstrate a commitment to diversity ? employers can use assessments to demonstrate that workers have been professionally trained. This can inspire confidence in future employees and other stakeholders.
- Anonymous survey of concerns ? employers can't fix a problem they don't know about. A survey of concerns allows team members to confidentially report any barriers or discrimination they encounter.
For more information download Questionmark's report: "Overcoming Bias and Building Diverse Business Success".
Notes to editors
About Questionmark
Questionmark unlocks performance through reliable and secure online assessments.
Questionmark provides a secure enterprise-grade assessment platform and professional services to leading organizations around the world, delivered with care and unequalled expertise. Its full-service online assessment tool and professional services help customers to improve their performance and meet their compliance requirements. Questionmark enables organizations to unlock their potential by delivering assessments which are valid, reliable, fair and defensible.
Questionmark offers secure powerful integration with other LMS, LRS and proctoring services making it easy to bring everything together in one place. Questionmark's cloud-based assessment management platform offers rapid deployment, scalability for high-volume test delivery, 24/7 support, and the peace-of-mind of secure, audited U.S., Australian and European-based data centers.
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1 https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/discussion/dp21-2.pdf
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