WTW research into diversity: more than gender

Recent Willis Towers Watson research discusses the role of diversity in ethnicity as well as gender to broaden economic benefits from greater diversity. WTW has published its ideas on ‘cognitive diversity’, with the firm saying that diverse investment teams, particularly those that are ethnically diverse, generate better returns overall. While there are caveats, the researchers say, with more research required.

There are many different ways a company can have diverse people, including age and ableness, with other research from the Netherlands showing the impact of age on trustee-level decision-making. But further to this, there is diversity in experience, work and life, and backgrounds.

The WTW Diversity in the Asset Management Industry paper published this October is the beginning of a positive set of steps towards change that require data behind them to be generally accepted. The research used WTW’s own diversity scores, with ethnicity showing up as being more statistically relevant than gender. Experience, however, doesn’t have much positive power.

The diversity score is a starting point, fitting into the broader ESG universe across social and governance practices. WTW has informed their managers that cognitive diversity will be considered as it selects managers for mandates.