FSCB Employee Survey Results 2021

On average, scores in 2021 lost about half the gains made last year.

On average, scores in 2021 reversed most of the improvements seen in 2020 relating to responsiveness, leadership and personal resilience, but scores on ethical behaviour held close to 2020 levels.

New ways of working expedited by the pandemic brought flexibility and improved work-life balance on the one hand, but communication and decision-making challenges on the other; and mental wellbeing concerns associated with reduced socialising.

94% feel accepted by colleagues at work, but 14% were worried about judgements being made about their ability based on stereotypes related to their identity or background, and 5% feel excluded by unfair treatment, cliques and other factors.

• On average, scores in 2021 lost about half of the gains made in 2020. The largest declines – reversing all or most of the previous year’s improvements – related to responsiveness, leadership, and personal resilience. On questions relating to ethical behaviour, by contrast, scores held close to 2020 levels.
• Employees reported several positive effects from new ways of working during the pandemic. These included more flexibility, improved work-life balance, quicker decision-making and greater productivity. Negative consequences, however, included: difficulties in supporting customers, communication / decision-making issues, blurred work-life boundaries, and mental wellbeing concerns and reduced social contact.
• 94% of employees said that they felt accepted by their colleagues at work. 14% were worried that people at work draw conclusions about their ability based on stereotypes about their identity or background. 5% of respondents felt excluded and said this was because of, among other factors, unfair / prejudicial treatment, the existence of cliques, work arrangements, the way teams communicate and make decisions, and the actions of leaders.
• In 2021 we gathered data for the first time on religion and sexual orientation as well as a range of other demographic characteristics. Controlling for other factors we found differences in responses relating to disability and ethnicity. Employees with a disability responded to our core Survey questions much more negatively than those without, and especially on questions related to personal resilience. Minority ethnic groups (and particularly Asian/ Asian British and Black/Black British employees) responded more negatively on average than did White British employees, with the largest differences on questions related to unethical and inappropriate behaviour.
• With only a few exceptions, there was however no major differences in scores on the core Survey questions according to respondents’ stated religion or lack of religion; whether they were gay or lesbian or heterosexual; and whether their parents came from professional, intermediate or lower socio-economic backgrounds.
• New joiners at a firm (those with a tenure of less than a year) have always responded more positively across our core Survey questions than those who have been at the firm longer. We know from other surveys that this is true for other work environments as well, not just banking. In 2021, however, new joiners appeared materially more positive than those who had been in their careers for longer – more so than in previous years. Our regression analysis indicates that this had a greater explanatory effect in several questions than any other demographic collected.

The 2021 FSCB Survey reverted to May, after taking place in September 2020 due to Covid-19.

In this, our sixth annual assessment exercise, we received over 45,000 responses from employees across 24 banks and building societies in the UK.^[1]

[1] The following firms participated in the 2021 FSCB Survey: Bank of Ireland UK, CAF Bank, Cambridge & Counties Bank, C. Hoare & Co., The Co-operative Bank, Darlington Building Society, Ecology Building Society, HSBC, Handelsbanken, Harpenden Building Society, Hodge Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Monmouthshire Building Society, Morgan Stanley International, Nationwide Building Society, OneSavings Bank, Penrith Building Society, Rabobank, Redwood Bank, Reliance Bank, Scottish Building Society, Tesco Bank, Unity Trust Bank, Vanquis Bank.

• On average across all firms, scores tended to improve between 2016 and 2017; trend sideways in 2018 and 2019; and improve again in 2020, before declining in this latest year 2021. This picture remains the same after adjusting for changes in the composition of firms involved in the Survey during that period.
• Scores across our core Survey questions had improved on average by 3 points in 2020; around half of these gains on average were reversed in 2021. The largest declines were on questions related to responsiveness, leadership, and personal resilience:
  • 72% of employees said senior leaders in their organisations mean what they say, lower than the 77% who said this in the previous year (2020);
  • 68% of respondents in 2021 said their firm responded effectively to staff feedback compared to 73% in 2020; and,
  • 24% said that working in their organisation had a negative impact on their health and wellbeing compared to 20% in 2020.
• Despite the declines in 2021, scores across most questions remained relatively higher than in 2019, including in the three areas mentioned above. While people’s experiences and different way of working through the initial period of the pandemic may have been partly responsible for some of the increases in scores observed in 2020, on some questions scores held at or close to their 2020 levels; this was particularly the case on questions related to ethical behaviour:
  • 10% of employees in both 2021 and 2020 said they saw instances in their organisation of unethical behaviour being rewarded, compared with 13% in 2019; and,
  • 14% of respondents said that they saw people in their organisation turn a blind eye to inappropriate behaviour in 2021, compared with 15% in 2020 and 19% in 2019.

• One of the main themes we explored in this year’s Survey was perceptions of new ways of working in response to the pandemic. At the time of the Survey, 71% of employees said that they were working primarily from home while 21% reported working mainly on-site at a work location such as an office or branch, compared with 71% and 25% respectively in September 2020.
• When asked which changes in ways of working in response to the pandemic, if any, had a positive effect and should be continued or developed further, the most frequently mentioned changes were: working from home (46%), flexibility (35%) and improved work-life balance (18%). 10% also mentioned quicker decisions and greater productivity, and 8% said this way of working had allowed them to help customers better.
• In contrast, when asked what changes, if any, had negative consequences and should be reversed or amended, respondents most commonly said that there were no negative consequences (29%). This was followed by difficulties in supporting customers (14%), concerns about returning to the office (13%), and communication / decision-making issues (13%). 10% talked about blurred work-life boundaries, 10% pointed to excessive pressure and 9% mentioned diminished socialising and mental wellbeing concerns.

• We continued to explore the theme of inclusion in our 2021 Survey with additional questions. 94% of employees said that they felt accepted by their colleagues at work (the same proportion as in 2020). However, only 59% felt included in informal networks that might matter for their career and 14% said they worried that people at work might make conclusions about their ability based on stereotypes about their identity or background. This latter proportion was highest among Black/Black British respondents with 45% of respondents saying they were worried about being stereotyped, followed by 29% for Muslim respondents and 28% for Asian/Asian British employees.
• We asked the 5% of respondents who said that they felt excluded by their colleagues at work what the primary cause for this was. Categorising their free text responses, we found the main reasons for feeling excluded in participating banks and building societies to be, among other factors: unfair / prejudicial treatment, the existence of cliques, work arrangements, the way teams communicate and make decisions, and the actions of leaders.

• For some demographic groups we continued observing the same patterns in 2021 that we observed in previous years:
  • Women tended on average to answer most Survey questions more positively than men
  • White British individuals responded more positively on average than other ethnicities, and particularly relative to Asian/Asian British and Black/Black British respondents. The largest differences were on questions related to unethical and inappropriate behaviour; for example:
    • 24% of Asian/Asian British respondents and 21% of Black/Black British respondents said it was difficult to make career progressions without flexing their ethical standards compared to 11% of White British employees; and
    • 19% of Black/Black British respondents and 17% of Asian/Asian British respondents said they saw people in their organisations turn a blind eye to inappropriate behaviour compared to 12% of White British employees
  • Employees with a disability answered our 36 core Survey questions substantially more negatively than those without, and particularly so on questions related to personal resilience:
    • 56% of those with a disability said they felt under excessive pressure at work, compared to 38% of those without a disability

We are continuing to analyse the 2021 results alongside the last six years’ of survey data and will post updates on our website. We are also working in collaboration with a number of organisations to explore the theme of inclusion in financial services. This includes partnering with the Financial Services Skills Commission to gather additional data, and working with Dr Aneeta Rattan and Dr Raina Brands of London Business School and UCL School of Management, who helped develop our additional questions on inclusion for this year’s survey, on intersectional differences in the way that employees respond. We will be running another Change Ambassadors training programme with Dr Daniel Beunza of Bayes Business School in Spring 2022, enabling employees in financial services to learn ethnographic techniques that they can use and adapt to promote inclusion within their firms; and we are working with the Bank of England to analyse the relationship between our survey results and actual outcomes (on which, more to follow over the coming months).

The core questions of the FSCB Employee Survey ask respondents to what extent they agree or disagree with 36 statements (selecting from the answer options: ‘strongly agree’, ‘somewhat agree’, ‘neither agree not disagree’, ‘somewhat disagree’, ‘strongly disagree’). This is followed by a free text question asking respondents what three words they would use to describe their organisation.

Thinking about how your organisation has changed its ways of working in response to the pandemic, what change(s), if any, have had a positive effect and should be continued or developed further?
[Free text]

Thinking about how your organisation has changed its ways of working in response to the pandemic, what change(s), if any, have had negative consequences and should be reversed or amended?
[Free text]

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement (‘strongly agree’, ‘somewhat agree’, ‘neither agree not disagree’, ‘somewhat disagree’, ‘strongly disagree’):

I feel accepted by my colleagues at work

I feel excluded by my colleagues at work

I worry that the people I interact with at work may draw conclusions about my identity or background

I feel included in the informal networks that matter for my career

[If respondents selected ‘strongly agree’ or ‘somewhat agree’ to ‘I feel excluded by my colleagues at work’] In the previous question you said that you feel excluded by your colleagues at work. What contributes to these feelings of exclusion? If helpful, you can share an example from your work life (without identifying any specific individuals) that illustrates why you feel this way.
[Free text]