Why Mentoring and Coaching Are Key to Maintaining Diversity in Finance

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Companies of all sizes and across nearly every industry segment are facing headwinds when it comes to engaging, retaining, and optimizing their workforce. In addition to the mass experiment of remote-hybrid work, triggered by the pandemic, and persistent issues of employee dissatisfaction and burnout, many organizations are also experiencing historic highs in employee turnover. Systemic bias and lack of equitable representation throughout organizations—particularly in mid-level and senior leadership roles – add more layers of complexity to an already perfect storm affecting today’s talent. This is especially acute in the finance and accounting field, as a 2021 study found.  

A report from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that $223 billion every five years is lost to turnover due to poor workplace culture and toxic work environments. And talent consultancy Korn Ferry found in an executive survey that “the vast majority of respondents (84%) say a lack of attention on diversity and inclusion contributes to employee turnover.”  

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is key to addressing many of these challenges—and investing in training and resources for mid-level finance leadership is essential. It’s here in the middle where the workplace culture and day-to-day experiences of most employees are shaped. And it’s also here where careers of historically marginalized talent…