Women continue to be underrepresented in senior positions at asset management firms, while diversity goals and practices vary widely at these companies.
These were some of the findings from the third annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Questionnaire by Meketa Investment Group, the investment consulting and OCIO firm, according to a Tuesday release.
At the median, females accounted for 23% of senior management roles at these firms, while 13% were portfolio managers, according to a chart in the report.
The questionnaire was sent to public and private market managers in Meketa's proprietary database. Of the 923 firms surveyed, 528 responded, a 5% increase from 2021 and a 55% surge from 2020, the release noted. All responses were collected between Nov. 29, 2022 through Feb. 1, 2023.
Among other findings from the survey, 56% of new hires involved white people, while Asian Americans accounted for 14% of new hires, followed by African-Americans and Latinos at 8% each.
Some 59% of promotions were awarded to white people, followed by 14% to Asian-Americans, 6% to Latinos and 4% to African-Americans.
The turnover rate at these firms was 16% higher for men than women in 2022 (54% to 38%), a reverse from the prior year, in which turnover was 4% higher for women. In addition, more than one-half of all job resignations involved white people.
Moreover, more than one-quarter (28%) of surveyed firms said they plan to increase diversity in their workforce over the next 12 months, while 55% said they had no such plans in the pipeline.
The majority (80%) of firms said they were engaging with organizations that promote the recruitment and retention of diverse employees, however, only 56% had formal mentorship, sponsorship or employer affinity programs for women or diverse groups in place.
In addition, while more than half (54%) of firms define goals and measure diversity outcomes at all levels of the organization and across departments, only 42% of senior management at firms have included DEI in their performance objectives over the past year.
"While there is still work to do, we are pleased to see a growing number of female and diverse individuals in equity ownership, senior management, and portfolio management, and are encouraged by the actions taken to achieve better results and create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive firms," said Peter Woolley, co-CEO, Meketa Investment Group in the release. "We look forward to increased efforts by asset management firms and acknowledge that integrating DEI into the teams and cultures takes time and will not happen overnight."
Meketa had about $1.6 trillion in client assets under advisement as of Sept. 30.
