Uncovering the barriers to progression and acting on them
Socio-economic background remains one of the strongest predictors of progression in financial services.
Employees from lower socio-economic backgrounds take nearly two years longer to move from middle management into senior leadership, despite no difference in performance.
The result is clear: talent is being held back, and potential is being lost.
The campaign
Making the Invisible Visible is a sector-wide campaign led by Progress Together to expose the barriers that limit progression and drive action to remove them.
We are bringing together firms, leaders and employees across financial services to:
- 1
Surface the real drivers of stalled progression
- 2
Share lived experience at scale
- 3
Translate insight into practical, measurable action
‘Making the Invisible Visible’ – watch the trailer
Because what remains invisible cannot be fixed.
Why this matters now
The data shows the pattern but not the cause…
What we need to uncover
Progression is shaped as much by culture as by capability.
- 1
Subtle, not explicit
- 2
Embedded in behaviours and expectations
- 3
Reinforced by unconscious bias
This campaign goes beyond data to uncover:
- What people experience day to day
- What holds them back in practice
- What needs to change inside organisations
A call to leadership
Change will not happen without visible leadership. We are calling on CEOs and senior leaders to:
Leadership must define what progression looks like.
A call to the sector
We are asking employees and firms across the industry to contribute their experience.
Without visibility, there is no progress. By bringing lived experience and real examples to the surface, we can:
We are actively collecting:
Whether you are an individual or an organisation, your insight will help shape the direction of this campaign.
