Our Colleagues.
Empowering our people, sustainably
Our people are our most valued asset. And we know that a healthier, more inclusive environment for our people makes us stronger, by helping us deliver new perspectives and make a positive difference. It’s common sense.
From championing diversity, equity and inclusion through our DEI Steering Committee, to delivering exceptional apprenticeship and graduate programmes, we’ve established a variety of initiatives to drive progression, diversity and development, while supporting our employees’ mental and physical wellbeing.
In 2022 we received our Investors in People silver accreditation – 18 months ahead of our goal.
Our colleague targets
50% of senior management roles to be filled by women by 2026
20% of leadership positions to be filled by colleagues from underrepresented ethnic groups by 2025
20% of colleagues to be in the over 50 age bracket by 2026
To retain silver accreditation for Investors in People and achieve gold accreditation by 2026
“We have a portfolio of programmes that we offer to colleagues.”
"What’s really important to us from a workplace and people perspective is about creating a great place to work and we support and develop our colleagues in a number of different ways."
Kevin Fisher, Group People Director.
Small steps for long-term change
We’ve established our Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee and a number of colleague-led Togetherness groups to represent gender, age, disability, LGBTQ+ and ethnic diversity across everything we do as a business and to inspire new initiatives. We're also proud to have joined the Business Disability Forum, to be Age Accredited by 55 Redefined, and to be a signatory to the Women in Finance at Work Charter.
Over the last two years we've supported more than 60 colleagues through professional qualification, including our apprenticeship and graduate programmes. And during our annual internal Learnfest week we delivered 732 hours of learning in 2022 to help colleagues develop a range of personal and professional skills.
The wellbeing of our colleagues is hugely important to us. We've established an Employee Assistance Programme offering colleagues eight free counselling sessions, and a nine-month programme with a vocational coach for those living with mental health difficulties. We've also introduced a network of trained Wellbeing Champions to provide our colleagues with a safe and confidential environment to talk about their mental health.