From Outsiders to Insiders: Solving the 33% Belonging Gap in Financial Services

Despite years of effort to modernize, diversify, and digitize, the financial services industry is still grappling with a stubborn and costly issue: disconnection.

While 4 out of 5 financial services professionals say they want to belong, a third say they feel like outsiders. That’s not a minor morale problem—it’s a massive connection gap.

Belonging is the foundation for engagement, retention, and resilience. And the price of ignoring it? Turnover, burnout, stalled innovation, and a workforce that’s present but disengaged.

Here’s the opportunity: this gap is solvable—and the upside is big. Organizations that close this gap don’t just feel better, they perform better. Employees who feel a strong sense of belonging at work are significantly less likely to quit. In some studies, workers with high belonging are up to seven times more likely to stay than those who feel excluded.

Research consistently underscores the benefit of workplace connections. For example, employees who have a friend at work are up to seven times more engaged. Those with strong social support are significantly less likely to experience burnout. And workplaces with a strong culture of connection generally see higher retention, better learning and knowledge sharing, greater innovation, and improved worker wellbeing.

Connection doesn’t just support the work—it powers it.

The Hidden Cost of Disconnection

Financial services runs on precision and performance. But behind the quarterly reports and digital dashboards, there’s a more human equation in play. And right now, that equation is breaking down.

For example, Mercer’s 2023–2024 “Inside Employees’ Minds” study found that while employee engagement rose in many sectors, it declined in financial services, where workers were less likely to feel a sense of belonging to their team.

That same year, Deloitte found almost half (45%) of women in senior leadership roles at large U.S. financial firms said they were likely to leave their employer within a year (41% for next generation women).

Employees across the industry are increasingly isolated. They feel unseen by leaders, unsupported, and unsure of their future within the organization. This growing sense of disconnection shows up in:

• Unmet hiring goals: In 2024, the sector filled only 49% of planned roles.
• Burnout: Recent research from Calm found one in three (36%) of workers in finance feel stressed or anxious more than half or nearly all of the time.
• Turnover: In a 2022 McKinsey study, half (51%) of employees who quit their jobs said they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work. Organizations that overlook belonging often pay a steep price, as turnover costs can range from 50% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary.
• Innovation drag: Deloitte found that employees who don’t feel “part of the group” are significantly more likely to hold back their ideas. Self-silencing becomes the norm, and collaboration suffers.
• Customer impact: Employee disengagement affects customer experience. Gallup found that organizations with highly engaged teams see 10% higher customer loyalty ratings on average, alongside an 18% increase in sales.

When people feel disconnected, they don’t take risks, they don’t speak up, and they don’t stay. That’s not just a culture problem—it’s a competitive one.

Connection as Competitive Advantage

Workplace connection isn’t a luxury; it’s leverage. Employees who feel like they belong are:

• 2x more likely to go above and beyond at work
• 70% less likely to experience burnout
• 7x more engaged
• Part of organizations that are 21% more profitable

And the inverse is also true. Teams where people feel like outsiders often see a domino effect of miscommunication, lowered trust, and dwindling productivity.

So what’s getting in the way of connection?

The way we work has changed faster than the way we lead. Distributed teams, evolving job functions, and mounting performance pressures have all made it harder for people to build and maintain meaningful workplace relationships.

Get this: According to research published in Harvard Business Review, the top use for GenAI in 2025 is for therapy and companionship. Just last year, the leading use case was idea generation. That shift says a lot about what’s missing in the workplace.

The Connection Code: A Framework for Belonging

Belonging doesn’t happen by chance. It requires intention, structure, and consistent reinforcement. That’s where the Connection Code comes in—a four-part approach to embedding connection at every level of the organization.

1. Connected Leaders: Set the Tone
   Connection starts at the top. Leaders must model the behaviors they want to see—empathy, vulnerability, curiosity—and create environments where knowledge sharing, collaboration, and inclusion aren’t just encouraged, but expected.

   Strategies that work:

   • Coach for connection: Develop leader capabilities in relationship-building, inclusive leadership, and active listening.
   • Train managers to be relationship stewards: Teach them to recognize isolation and create moments of meaningful interaction.
   • Build resilience into leadership norms: Encourage wellbeing, boundaries, and healthy performance habits.
   • Normalize authenticity: Help leaders show up as their full selves and encourage others to do the same. When leaders model openness—sharing challenges, admitting mistakes, and speaking from personal experience—they signal that authenticity is valued, not penalized.
2. Connected Talent: Empower the Workforce
   A connected workforce learns faster, adapts better, and stays longer. Building peer relationships across teams—through mentoring, cohort groups, and social capital programs—is essential for breaking silos and supporting internal mobility.

   Strategies that work:

   • Support knowledge networks: Use mentoring, peer coaching, and group coaching to build shared capability and belonging.
   • Teach interpersonal skills: Help employees master the “human” side of hybrid work—conflict resolution, communication, empathy.
   • Make connection part of the job: Reinforce that social connection supports performance. Build time into meetings for team bonding and check-ins.
3. Connected Life: Support the Whole Person
   Financial services is a demanding industry. But the expectation that people should separate their personal lives from their professional ones is outdated—and unsustainable.

   Supporting employees as whole people isn’t just a retention strategy; it’s a performance imperative.

   Strategies that work:

   • Offer tailored support: Coaching for caregivers, parents, and other life transitions.
   • Normalize wellbeing: Prioritize sustainable performance, not burnout as a badge of honor.
   • Stay flexible: Flexibility is no longer a perk—it’s a baseline expectation.
   • Keep the conversation going: Make work-life fit a regular part of team dialogue. When leaders acknowledge personal responsibilities, it signals that employees don’t need to hide the realities of their lives outside of work.
4. Connected Culture: Systematize Belonging
   Belonging needs scaffolding. Systems and signals help ensure that connection isn’t just a moment—it becomes part of the culture.

   Strategies that work:

   • Measure what matters: Track connection, belonging, trust—not just engagement.
   • Sponsor connection: Host low-cost, high-impact social opportunities that create shared experiences.
   • Build in slack: Create breathing room for relationships to grow—people need time and capacity to connect meaningfully.

Belonging as Business Strategy

The future of financial services will be defined by more than just tech transformation or regulatory shifts. It will be shaped by how deeply organizations understand and invest in what makes people stay, grow, and thrive.

That starts with connection.

The belonging gap isn’t just a people problem. It’s a business performance problem. And it’s one we can solve by treating connection not as an afterthought, but as an operating principle.

Why Talking Talent

At Talking Talent, we’ve spent the past two decades helping organizations build cultures of real connection—where people don’t just work together, but thrive together.

Our coaching, facilitated discussions, and inclusion programs are designed to close the belonging gap by supporting leaders, empowering talent, and reinforcing systems that drive sustainable performance.

We’ve spent years helping global financial firms turn connection into capability—building cultures where people don’t just stay, but lead.

If you’re ready to close the belonging gap, we’re ready to help.