The Financial Times are working on Gender Diversity… to my surprise and delight!

Working just down the Thames, I’ve often walked past the Financial Times building and I’ve heard the stories about the white, Oxbridge men that are known to work there. So when I saw that the Business Culture Awards were hosting a webinar about the FT’s Award Winning Diversity & Inclusion strategy, I had to log on! Here are my takeaways.

Priscilla Baffour, Global Head of D&I at The Financial Times set the scene:

• The FT is over 130 years old and this legacy can bring challenges
• There has been a lot of disruption in the industry; new competitors like Buzzfeed and Business Insider; technology providers, social media and voice-assistance changing how people consume the news
• This impacts how content is distributed, how revenue is generated, and makes the war for talent even harder. 
• In 2017 the North Star was set to gain 1 million paying readers by 2020. From a people perspective this meant new skillsets required, innovation, pace and an evolving culture in a business which has a reputation for being homogeneous.

The D&I Strategy

• Data – Created a solid baseline to help identity where to focus. Ran their first D&I survey which two thirds of employees completed and reviewed their demographic data to get accurate gender information from employees which has since expanded to include socio-economic backgrounds.
• Training – Delivered leadership training about embracing difference for all leaders. Also launched a programme in 2018 giving women a choice of development and support including senior sponsorship, networking and mentoring which 60 women partook in.
• Communities – Established 12 organic networks led by individuals across the regions including my favourite (FT Sustainability) and FT parents to raise awareness and create a culture of belonging. All communities have a budget to manage and a senior executive sponsor.
• Inclusive practices and processes – Testing whether hiring practices, leave policies and flexible working policies really were inclusive for the workforce.
• Employee engagement and communication – Driving transparent comms, quarterly surveys, and constant updates on the corporate homepage about the D&I commitments made.

Examples Interventions

• The Technology department like many, was only 30% female and they targeted gender parity by 2021. They hosted workshops at schools and college, explained the brand and different opportunities outside journalism, and brought people into the FT for technology career days.
• Redesigned recruitment including the FT Talent Challenge which consists of 2 days to work on industry tasks and real FT issues, supported by the FT team. Participants are then given the ability to pitch their ideas to leadership.
• Ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the industry so the FT strengthened partnerships with schools and clubs, offer work experience placements, newsroom tours and mentoring. They also financially support The Student View project which provides pop up news studios in schools across the country – I’d like to give news reading a go!

The Impact

From a gender split of 29:71 women to men in 2017, the FT are now at 40:60 in 2020. They are confident they will get to 50:50 by 2022.

Last March they reached their goal of 1 million paid subscribers a year ahead of schedule and all leaders have inclusive leadership training and personal objectives that deliver the D&I strategy. 

I asked if non-binary would be a logical next step to measure and support which Priscilla agreed is on the agenda, starting with re-configuring the HR system and enriching people data to account for more measures of D&I.

A great webinar – thank you for proving me wrong about the FT! 

If you'd like to talk about how better HR data, processes and systems can support your inclusive culture, let's meet for (virtual) coffee! Contact me at [email protected] - 07867 423662.