Driving the business case for diversity and inclusion is at the heart of what we do
We help create a strong voice for women in private equity, moving the topic of gender diversity, equity and inclusion to the top of the industry and firm’s strategic agenda.
Aims & objectives
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AWARENESS
Create a strong voice for women in private equity
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COLLABORATION
Work with industry leaders and sponsors to increase the number of female professionals in the industry
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CO-OPERATION
Support firms to be more inclusive and to attract, retain and promote female talent in individual firms
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INSIGHT
Publish data and insights on gender representation and barriers to inclusion in the industry, establishing benchmarks for progress
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DEBATE
Contribute to public and regulatory dialogue on diversity, equity and inclusion in financial services
Working with industry leaders
Maite Ballester Explains how collaboration is the key to industry advocacy
A collective endeavour
Level 20 firmly believes that change will only be achieved by working together with the industry and its advocates. We work with firms, industry bodies, advisory partners, regulators and academia to address challenges and conduct research & data driven insight to benchmark and support progress.
How we work
Working with industry leaders, male and female, as well as Level 20 partners and volunteers, we deliver initiatives to continue to support our sponsors — an overview of which can be found in our guidelines document below.
Following our research publication with the BVCA, Level 20 also worked with the BVCA and others to respond to the important discussion paper on diversity and inclusion in the financial services sector from the Bank of England and FCA; ensuring consideration of private equity in the regulatory change agenda.
Level 20 guidelines
We recently updated our Level 20 guidelines and continue to encourage private equity firms to implement them within their organisations.
- Aligning DE&I with strategy
- Clear strategic commitment to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion at the firm/in the industry
- Including a focus on increasing the number of women in senior roles across all parts of the firm
- Creating an inclusive culture
- Create avenues for minority voices to be heard and acted upon in a psychologically safe environment, and opportunities for all to participate in firm networks
- Create and support an inclusive culture that allows diverse talent to grow, progress and thrive in their roles, and the organisation as a whole
- Improving leadership skills and behaviour
- Leaders at all levels held accountable for diversity, equity and inclusion targets, and continuous improvement
- Challenge behaviour that acts against the firm’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, with role modelling of behaviours starting at the top
- Recruiting the best talent
- Widening the talent pool to diversify candidates for positions at the firm, whilst ensuring robust measures are in place to support the success of the best candidates during the selection process and upon entry to the firm
- Retaining talent during key stages
- Be open-minded to exploring different ways of working to achieve business goals whilst recruiting and retaining the best talent
- Establishing fair reward and promotion protocols
- Key firm processes designed with transparency, fairness and a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion at their core
- Measuring DE&I and its impact
- Measure both the actions taken to increase diversity, equity and inclusion, and the impact of the initiatives; with a clear link between these KPIs and performance, measurement and reward
- Implementing DE&I specific frameworks and interventions
- Commitment to ongoing, bespoke education around diversity, equity and inclusion at the firm; with participation expected from all levels of seniority and areas of the firm
