Re-watch & write-up: Equality, Diversity & Bias in FinTech 28/05
Joe Roche / 28th May 2021
On the 28th May, the Northern FinTech Community came together to discuss Equality, Diversity and Bias in FinTech.
For those who were unable to join the event live, we have produced a recording and a write-up. Please see below for the write-up and click the image below to view the recording.
We were joined by our guest chair Julia Streets. Julia is the Founder and CEO of Streets Consulting, Host and Executive Producer of the DiverCity podcast.
Our first speaker was Charlotte Sweeney OBE, Founder of leading Diversity and Inclusion Consultants Charlotte Sweeney Associates. Charlotte shared her perspectives around Inclusive Leadership, including some brilliant stats from a research project (Deloitte, 2018) on diverse businesses featuring ½ a million business leaders.
Diverse businesses are:
- 3x more likely to be higher performing
- 6x more likely to be agile and innovative
- 8x more likely to achieve better business outcomes
Inclusive leadership saw:
- 17% increase in team performance
- 20% increase in decision making quality
- 28% increase in team collaboration
“It’s our responsibility to demonstrate what we expect” – Charlotte Sweeney OBE, Founder of leading Diversity and Inclusion Consultants Charlotte Sweeney Associates
On retaining talent:
- 72% would leave for a job that was more inclusive
- 30% of millennials have already left for a more inclusive job
- 33% of people did not feel comfortable speaking up or offering opinions
“These are factors businesses cannot ignore” Charlotte Sweeney OBE, Founder of leading Diversity and Inclusion Consultants Charlotte Sweeney Associates
“Diversifying our own networks is a critical step… actively looking for people with a different view to us” – Charlotte Sweeney OBE, Founder of leading Diversity and Inclusion Consultants Charlotte Sweeney Associates
Our next speaker was Dr Stuart Flint, President at Leeds-based AI specialists Scaled Insights. Scaled Insights have over 2 decades of experience working with Bias.
“Unconscious bias is evident in our society… it is impacting judgements and behaviours and it is impacting our ability to address inequality.” – Stuart Flint, President, Scaled Insights
Stuart spoke about BiasProof – an implicit bias detection and training tool, designed to help identify and quantify bias across teams and organisations. BiasProof is available online and is mobile enabled, helping leaders understand unconscious bias in their teams. Individual’s scores are kept private, whilst workplaces will see an aggregated overall team score.
We then gathered our speakers together for a panel discussion chaired by Julia. Our speakers were joined on the virtual stage by:
- Winston Pearson, Senior Product Manager, AccessPay
- Karen Elliott, Senior Lecturer & Associate Professor (FinTech), Newcastle University Business School
- Jem Henderson, Entrepreneur Engagement Manager, Tech Nation
“If you’re not taking this seriously, there will be other organisations that are” – Julia Streets, Founder and CEO of Streets Consulting, Host and Executive Producer of the DiverCity podcast
“If organisations truly want to change, they will be transparent” – Karen Elliott, Senior Lecturer & Associate Professor (FinTech), Newcastle University Business School
“Wealth management is important, but what about poverty management?” Jem Henderson, Entrepreneur Engagement Manager, Tech Nation
“We can’t change things if we can’t measure them” – Jem Henderson, Entrepreneur Engagement Manager, Tech Nation
“Diversity of thought is critical to be the best that we can be” – Winston Pearson, Senior Product Manager, AccessPay
“Hold your recruitment firms to higher standards…understand who you’re trying to attract and where they hang out” – Winston Pearson, Senior Product Manager, AccessPay
“Hard to reach groups – they are harder to reach because of our biased approach” – Stuart Flint, President, Scaled Insights
“We need to bring the affected round the table” – Winston Pearson, Senior Product Manager, AccessPay
“It is important to make sure we are inviting people to the table in a non-threatening way. There also needs to be an acknowledgement that it is natural to develop biases” – Stuart Flint, President, Scaled Insights
