Wealth management and advisory firm Saltus has created a diversity committee to help it attract and retain a wider pool of talent as it continues its growth drive.
Speaking to FTAdviser, company partner Megan Jenkins, who is chairperson of the new diversity committee, said Saltus had created a diversity committee to help steer the company's recruitment and retention strategy.
It launched formally in 2022 and although it is in its "infancy" the company has plans to broaden ideas out across the company, according to Jenkins, who also helps to manage the graduate programme.
It is important for us to change our world.JenkinsShe said: "We have been starting to do research and build a reference document, thinking about our vision and strategy and how to achieve greater diversity and inclusion."
The rationale is clear for the company: to boost diversity and inclusion to improve colleagues' working lives, broaden their client service and feed into Saltus' growth strategy.
Jenkins explained: "We are a small business and while we won't change the world, it is important for us to change our world, and that is what we are doing.
"Our wider growth strategy is acquiring like-minded businesses and thinking about the culture of those firms. We are keen on being a more diverse company that can attract more diverse companies in terms of our own merger and acquisition activity."
To start with, however, the company has had to look at its own processes in terms of culture and candidate recruitment.
Jenkins said: "The big stand-out at the moment is in recruitment, and our research so far has fed into the Saltus Academy that we run for graduates."
This means the company has focused on editing its job adverts and thinking how it can attract a more diverse pool of candidates.
Jenkins said: "We have seen great success over the past few weeks, with a good, broader range of candidates coming to our assessment days."
Jenkins noted that there are still few female financial advisers in the UK - there are still less than 20 per cent, she said, adding that the company was determined to work differently to help boost diversity.
"Naturally I am passionate about this. I want to bring more female and young and diverse talent into the industry."
Where others saw problems, I was able to see solutions.BransonShe said: "In the past, we have not seen broad range of candidates coming through but recently we have definitely noticed a difference in how we engage with graduates and how we deliver the message."
While the company has not done apprenticeships yet, it is something Saltus will consider as it grows, but it is looking at internships and getting their advisers involved in the Personal Finance Society's schools programme this year.
"There is so much we want too but we need to start slowly and understand what we need to put in place now", Jenkins added.
Reception
The company has also started a weekly 'huddle' to do sessions such as teach-ins on neurodiversity. The aim, according to Jenkins, is to raise awareness of issues such neurodiversity and how Saltus can create a more inclusive environment for staff.
For example, one recent huddle talked about autism and dyslexia and what line managers need to learn and do to make the workplace an inclusive environment for people who are neurodiverse.
"We want to give people the confidence to say they suffer from dyslexia, for example, and we did find after the session that some people have never disclosed this condition to their line manager", Jenkins said.
By allowing people to come forward - rather than relying on diversity questionnaires which are simply tick-box data gathering exercises that do not encourage people to disclose information - Jenkins said she believes staff can feel more confident and encouraged.
Earlier this week (March 29), Sir Richard Branson wrote of his own dyslexia. He said: "I’m proud to be a dyslexic thinker and I have used it to my advantage to shape the Virgin brand.
There is an obvious issue with diversity in the wider industry.Jenkins"It wasn’t until I dropped out of school at 16 that I was able to cast my lack of interest in mental arithmetic, my wandering mind, and short attention span in an entirely new light. I recognised these were actually the result of epic imagination.
"Where others saw problems, I was able to see solutions. Insurmountable challenges became endless opportunities. I was able to easily simplify things and see the bigger picture."
The company is also creating a diversity policy and has been talking to some clients about it. "I have clients who are also involved in diversity projects and who sit on diversity committees, and they have been asking about the policy Saltus has.
"We want our company to reflect our clients and we want to be able to attract clients because they can see themselves with Saltus. This is really important for us", Jenkins said.
She added there is "an obvious issue with diversity in the wider industry" but for Saltus it is about making small changes for colleagues and clients.
Last year, as reported by FTAdviser, the company bought Farnham-based Fish Financial to boost its financial planning arm.
At the time, Saltus said this purchase was part of its growth strategy, which is to identify established owner-managed firms that share its approach to wealth and investment management.
Earlier this year, Saltus appointed Alex Spreckley as managing director of financial planning to further develop its advisory proposition.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
