Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and it’s got us thinking about what we’re grateful for this year. At Diversitas, we work with wealth management leaders, career influencers, and students exploring a profession in financial planning, to bring more diversity, equity, and inclusion to the industry.
Since our goal is to build professional hope for young people and career changers in an industry that is working diligently to be fully inclusive, here’s what we’re grateful for this year:
Societal strides around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
Generally speaking, over the last few years, society has made great strides in driving change and having conversations around inclusivity. Whether it’s human resource professionals working on diversity strategies or business leaders creating action plans for inclusion, change is on the horizon.
A LinkedIn survey revealed that posts and company updates around diversity and inclusion on LinkedIn experienced an accelerated rise, more than tripling in volume for both companies and LinkedIn members in the last year globally. These posts covered topics such as Pride Month, the Black Lives Matter movement, and a desire for people to make a stand.
According to a survey from the American Productivity & Quality Center, in the last year:
- 36% of companies increased staff dedication to DEI
- 32% increased DEI budgets
- 31% created new avenues for handling DEI complaints
- 30% invested more in employee resource and affinity groups
If you want to increase diversity in your firm, there needs to be a strategic effort in place. Actively searching for people of color and reaching beyond your network is critical. We are grateful to see companies putting strategic efforts in place to provide equal opportunities.
Wealth management communities embracing DEI
We’re also grateful for the change happening within wealth management companies, groups, and communities.
Forbes released its list of The Best Employers for Diversity in 2022, with two financial and banking companies listed in the top 10.
However, diversity among corporate-level employees or board members still needs to be improved
At Diversitas, we know making change comes in a series of small steps, and we’re grateful for the direction in which things are moving. We owe so much gratitude to our team, our board members, partners, and sponsors, in addition to all of the industry experts that have shared their knowledge with our audience.
Gratitude, in any form, can set the tone for what happens next. Being grateful for what you have means you can thoughtfully consider the future. We are thankful for how far we’ve come and look forward to the future!
For more information about Diversitas and how you can get involved, email us at diversitas@diversitasfp.org. If you are interested in a career in financial services, please check out open opportunities here.[vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”default” el_class=”post-sidebar”]