Women of the world: Aligning gender diversity and international mobility in Financial Services

Why international mobility matters 


In 2015, we published two reports looking at the importance of diversity in a fast-changing financial services (FS) industry and how to promote greater inclusion. The first (Female millennials in financial services: Strategies for a new era of talent) explored the aspirations of female millennials (women born between 1980 and 1995) working in FS and what firms can do to enable them to fulfil their potential. The second (Making diversity a reality) focused on how to overcome unconscious biases and other barriers to talent development to make diversity a reality in FS.

The opportunity to work in different countries has been a consistently important part of the appeal of working in FS throughout the millennial surveys we’ve been carrying out since 2008, reflecting the generation’s global outlook and desire for new experiences. 

In an FS sector in which 70% of CEOs see the limited availability of skills as a threat to their growth prospects, the ability to move talent to where demand is greatest is a huge advantage. With women making up only 20% of the internationally mobile population across all sectors, creating a more inclusive approach to the selection and management of international assignments could provide a huge boost to talent availability. 

In an ever more globalised FS marketplace, international mobility can improve FS firms’ ability to reach into fast growth markets and forge the global mindset needed by today’s business leaders. Traditional mobility assignments are relatively long, fixed and potentially costly, but many FS organisations are promoting more flexible options, ranging from short duration project-focused assignments to fly-in/flyout commuting. 

With these talent developments in mind, we have built on our earlier studies by further exploring the intersection between gender diversity and international mobility. 

We hope you find this report insightful. If there are any issues raised within the report that you would like to know more about, please get in touch with us.

Contact us

Jon Terry

Global Financial Services, People and Organisation Leader, Partner, PwC United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7212 4370

Chris Box

Global Workforce Risk Leader, Partner, PwC United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 7804 4957

Bhushan Sethi

Principal, Strategy& US

Emma Grogan

Partner, Reward & Advisory Services, PwC Australia

Tel: +61 0420 976 502

Follow us