Leading global investment company requires bosses to seek permission when hiring white men

November 8, 2021

Boston-based State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), one of the world’s largest investment firms, is reportedly requiring executives to seek permission to hire white men.

Driving the news: The policy helps fulfill the company’s diversity goals, which include a 10-point action plan to address racism and inequality. By 2023, the firm aims to triple its Black and Latinx leadership (U.S. only; Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic worldwide) and double its Black and Latinx employees at all levels (U.S. only; Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic worldwide).

State Street traces its roots to its predecessor, Union Bank, which was founded in 1792 with the signing of its charter by John Hancock, Massachusetts’ first governor. Today, the company has about 40,000 employees in over 30 offices across the globe.
The new policy reportedly requires recruiters to create panels of four to five employees when hiring middle management staff, including a woman and an ethnic minority person. While white men can still be hired, the panels must show that women and minority applicants are being interviewed.
Executives who fail to meet the targets will reportedly have lower bonuses. Aside from improving representation, State Street is conducting anti-racism training, with about 38,000 employees completing unconscious bias training as of June 2021.

Why this matters: State Street said it is committed to developing an environment that “offers equal opportunities to individuals with distinctive backgrounds and unique perspectives.” The company’s 10-point action plan follows an acknowledgment that 2020 has exposed “stark realities,” including violence toward men and women in the Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities.

“This is now front and central for State Street — it’s on every senior executive’s scorecard,” Jess McNicholas, head of inclusion, diversity and corporate citizenship in London, told The Sunday Times of the new policy. “All of our leaders have to demonstrate at their annual appraisals what they have done to improve female representation and the number of colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds.”
In 2017, the company made headlines after it erected a “Fearless Girl” statue in front of Wall Street’s “Charging Bull” sculpture. However, the statue was later moved to the New York Stock Exchange building after complaints from the latter’s sculptor, according to Fox Business.

Featured Image via State Street Global Advisors

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