PR agency Rostrum has joined Government-backed socio-economic diversity organisation, Progress Together in order to address issues within the financial services sector.
Financial services was found to have one of the worst socio-economic diversity rates for employees within leading roles.
Progress Together, which aims to address this disparity, found that socio-economic background is more likely to affect a person’s career progression in financial services than gender or ethnicity.
Women from working class backgrounds face a ‘double disadvantage’, progressing 21% more slowly than their peers from more advantaged families.
White men from higher socio-economic backgrounds are more than 30 times more likely to succeed in financial services than working class ethnic minority women, while people from higher socio-economic backgrounds are twice as likely to make it into a senior role.
Rostrum committed to promoting socio-economic diversity in the sector, as well as offering pro bono support to Progress Together’s communications and marketing team in order to raise the profile of the issue facing the industry.
Mark Houlding, CEO at Rostrum, said: “We are committed to promoting socio-economic diversity within financial services, professional services and the communications sector.
“The UK has one of the poorest rates of social mobility in the developed world. In this country, people born into low-income families – regardless of their talent or hard work – simply do not have the same access to opportunities as those born into more privileged circumstances.”
He continued: “Rostrum strives to provide the best service to our clients, offering diversity of thought to create innovative solutions to our clients’ communications challenges.
“We are only able to do this by hiring the best people from a diverse range of backgrounds and providing an environment that empowers everyone to succeed.”
Sophie Hulm, CEO of Progress Together, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Rostrum on board as an official supporter. By signing up, Rostrum is committing to help Progress Together to level the playing field at senior levels in UK financial services.
“Together with our members and supporters, we are working towards building a sector in which all employees have the opportunity to thrive and progress, regardless of where they started out in life. We’re looking forward to developing our partnership with Rostrum.”
