Staff at the Financial Conduct Authority have criticised the regulator over a perceived lack of diversity.
Posting on the company review website Glassdoor, several employees critiqued the authority over its current diversity regime.
One employee posted: “The senior management bleat on about equality and diversity but have no interest in making the workplace reflect the warm words.”
A similar sentiment was echoed by other employees, with one poster stating: “They will ask you to take part in their diversity and inclusion campaigns so it looks like they’re so diverse but in reality it’s far from it.”
“The executive will spend weeks on end hosting events talking about their excitement around artificial intelligence, or DEI which is ironic,” another employee wrote.
“Staff are using outdated technologies to manage spiralling workloads, and most of the execs have zero diversity in their own SLTs.”
Positivity
However, the feedback was not universally negative as some FCA employees praised the regulator’s approach to diversity.
“The diverse team of individuals brings a wealth of knowledge and perspectives, creating a truly inclusive workplace,” one employee argued.
“Working at FCA has pushed me to step out of my comfort zone and develop new skills, and for that, I am grateful.
“I would highly recommend FCA as a great place to work.”
Another employee acknowledged that the authority does invest in diversity but argued that this does not manifest itself at every level, stating that there is “not much diversity in management”, and arguing this needs to change.
Additionally, another employee argued the company has the right policies for inclusion and diversity.
However they also pointed out that reality is “if you aren’t a cishet able bodied white male then you will face constant micro aggressions and sometimes overt discrimination”.
“Company approach to racism is really lacking, as is the way disabled staff are treated.
“FCA is willing to make some changes to adapt to disability needs, but it varies by manager and department.”
In response, a spokesperson for the FCA said: "We are committed to building an inclusive organisation and value the feedback we get from employees on what we can do better.
"50 per cent of our senior leaders are women, our pay gaps continue to narrow and we are working towards 1 in 5 of our senior leaders being from an ethnic minority.
"As part of our annual employee survey, we ask colleagues a series of questions linked to diversity and essentially whether they are treated fairly regardless of who they are.
"This year, it was our highest scoring category with over 75 per cent of colleagues responding favourably."
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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