Diversity

At First Sentier Investors, we think about diversity beyond the lens of gender, with factors such as race, socioeconomic background, sexuality and disability being of equal importance. We are committed to improving diversity within our own firm, as well as advocating for change at the company level. We also believe that diversity can only be achieved in an inclusive and equitable environment.

In 2021, we commenced a review of our global strategy for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) which included input from many stakeholders including our board, leadership team and employees.

This strategy will focus on diversity, equity and inclusion across all regions with pillars focusing on:

• Fostering an inclusive culture
• Levelling the playing field
• Engaging our People
• Alignment with our Responsible Investment and Corporate Sustainability strategies

An important step was our inaugural Diversity Census, designed to help us better understand the composition of our global workforce and look for areas to improve. There is a snapshot of results on page 29, noting that the census was voluntary, with a 65% participation rate and the data is representative of those people who responded to each question. 

We know that ongoing engagement with our people is critical to making meaningful change. To enable this dialogue, we re-launched our global DEI steering committee, created an internal microsite profiling DEI activities, and sought feedback through our engagement survey and focus groups. We also established employee communities, initially in EMEA and the US, with a focus on six DEI areas, to provide forums to raise specific initiatives and discuss the lived experience and needs of our workforce at all levels.

Industry collaboration is also important in achieving change. Some examples of programmes we are involved in include: 

• A UK-based industry-wide initiative to support Black interns in investment roles (#100 Black Interns, welcoming our first cohort of two interns into the unlisted infrastructure team in mid-2021).
• Participation in the Girls are Investors (GAIN) Empowerment Investment Internship programme, taking on two interns into our Stewart Investors St Andrews Partners investment team.
• Partnering with the Financial Services Skills Commission, we contributed to the launch of an industry-wide report on the impact of menopause for women in financial services.
   

Increasing female representation at senior management and board levels continues to be a focus for First Sentier Investors. While it’s not the only diversity factor to consider, it’s an important one. We made an ambitious commitment during the year, becoming a signatory to the Financial Services Council Women in Investment Management Charter, which is designed to increase the gender balance within our industry. We set a target for women to comprise at least 40% of our investment management staff in Australia by 2033. While this is a significant step up from the current 26%, it was a considered decision. We know that to achieve it, two-thirds of future investment management hires will need to be women, and we will need to retain them as their careers develop. Nonetheless, we are committed to achieving the goal and have several initiatives in place to work towards it.

Every year, we publish a global scorecard that shows the gender breakdown of our staff. While there has been little change overall, the scorecard is moving in the right direction and we know that meaningful change takes time. There has been a promising uptick (13%) in female new starters within investment teams, which aligns with the change needed to meet our WIM Charter goal.

First Sentier Investors Gender Diversity Scorecard

Source: First Sentier Investors. Data as at 31 December 2021.

This is a snapshot of our inaugural Diversity Census, noting that the census was voluntary, with a 65% participation rate and the data is representative of those people who responded to each question.

First Sentier Investors Diversity Census 2021 Results

All data is sourced from First Sentier Investors as at 22 October 2021.

1 https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/delivering-through-diversity

2 https://hbr.org/2018/01/how-and-where-diversity-drives-financial-performance