Schneider Ross > News and Events > News article
LGB Equality At Lloyds Banking Group - Dec 2009
We were very pleased to read that the work we carried out with Lloyds Banking Group has received such positive comment in the press.
See below for full article from EOR:-
Author:Kate Godwin
Date: 01/12/2009
EOR Issue No: 195
In just four years, Lloyds TSB has moved from 81st place in the ranking of the best employers for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) staff to the number one spot. Kate Godwin examines how the bank has made such rapid progress on LGB equality and inclusion.
Key points
Lloyds TSB has made great strides in involving its LGB employees and addressing the culture of the organisation. It has created a workplace where employees on the whole feel able to be open about their sexuality.
The company was perhaps too oversensitive about lesbian, gay and bisexual issues at the outset, and advises other organisations to be “bolder in its approach” from the start.
The company’s own research shows that while gay men feel confident and are happy to work within the organisation, lesbians find it more difficult to come out. The company has identified this as an area needing more work.
"Sexual orientation is an issue that we came to focus on very specifically in 2005, when we launched our sexual orientation strategy,” says Fiona Cannon, Lloyds TSB equality and diversity director.
Sexual orientation had always been an integral part of the company’s diversity programme, but this was the first time a series of targeted actions had been implemented. The bank wanted to communicate to employees that it took the issue of sexual orientation seriously and to create an environment where LGB staff felt valued and able to be themselves.
“We wanted to give members of staff confidence,” explains Cannon. “Confidence that the organisation was committed to making Lloyds TSB a great place to work for everyone, and confidence that coming out wasn’t going to be uncomfortable or in any way be a career killer for them.”
In early 2005, the bank commissioned research from external consultants to help it understand attitudes within Lloyds TSB towards sexual orientation at work. Participants were recruited through an article in the staff magazine which asked them to contact the consultants directly. The company also approached those staff members who it knew to be “out” at work and asked them to be involved and to speak to other employees who were not out but who might be willing to take part in the process.
Some 850 staff took part in the survey and the research revealed that LGB staff could sometimes feel isolated, particularly where they were unable to see other people like themselves who could act as role models, either within their immediate work environment or in management positions. Line managers, who are often key to setting the culture of the organisation, were not seen as being as aware about sexual orientation as about other diversity issues, so did not always challenge occasional homophobic banter.
Following the research, a staff network was created by a group of LGB staff with the support of the bank’s equality and diversity (E&D) team.
Cannon relates how the bank’s sensitivity about sexual orientation meant it took a cautious approach initially. “We were concerned that people who were not out at work shouldn’t feel any pressure so we sent material to their home. We were also slightly tiptoeing around this issue as we were nervous as to how some straight employees would react, but we learnt that we needed to be more at ease with sexual orientation. Why wouldn’t you talk about sexual orientation in the same way as you talk about other issues? Staff told us to stop sending them stuff at home and to be confident as an organisation.”
Staff network
In May 2006 the LGB network was formally launched by Mike Fairey, the group’s former deputy chief executive. The network receives all funding and strategic support from the bank’s E&D team and its purpose is to:
* connect LGB staff across the organisation to help tackle feelings of isolation and to facilitate networking;
* help LGB staff to overcome those barriers that are within their control through a focus on individual development (for example, mentoring and role models);
* provide a way for senior LGB staff to give back to the organisation by supporting others;
provide a two-way consultation with the E&D team – feeding back members’ concerns to the centre for consideration and acting as a sounding board and consultation/focus group to make the sexual orientation strategy relevant and appropriate for the LGB staff population; and
* give a voice to LGB staff and help to raise the profile of LGB issues and successes across the organisation.
The network’s activities include:
* Support mechanisms such as a Google group for informal contact between members and a website that can be accessed through both the intranet and internet for more formal updates and information.
Development of a communications plan to raise awareness and seek new membership, including posters, information leaflets, online application form, pop-up banners and an awareness-raising DVD featuring members.
* Regional launches with LGB staff and business leaders across the UK – the first half of the event concentrating on awareness-raising and the second half allowing LGB staff an opportunity to network.
* Informal events (as requested by the membership) to facilitate local networking. These events have been popular and are now often instigated by members, rather than formally through the steering group.
* Group-wide research to find out what members wanted from the network and what LGB staff who weren’t members would like to see.
The launch of the LGB network gave a strong signal to employees that the company was committed to equality around sexual orientation. In the first year of the network’s existence the deputy group chief executive met with members several times to familiarise himself with the key issues and to be sure that he was in touch with what was going on.
“We’ve always worked closely with our staff networks,” explains Cannon, “but this was even more the case with the sexual orientation network.
“Apart from meetings with the deputy chief exec, network members did a lot of work with those members of staff who weren’t out at work to raise their confidence in the organisation and help them believe there was genuine commitment to this issue.”
Strategic approach
Following the results of the 2005 research, the E&D department set up a working group of LGB staff to help develop the company’s sexual orientation strategy. The strategy links LGB equality and diversity to wider organisational aims and ensures that equality and diversity are not optional extras but core values. Progress is measured and reported to the board at least every six months and work on sexual orientation is discussed at monthly meetings between Cannon and the deputy group chief executive. All of their work is underpinned by a sound business case and is well communicated to all employees.
The strategy was formally launched in May 2006 by the deputy group chief executive. Cannon asserts that support for the strategy from the most senior level in the company enabled the organisation to be upfront about what it was doing. As well as launching the LGB network and strategy, the former deputy chief executive championed diversity progress and plans to the board and was involved in all the communication and research that the bank carried out on sexual orientation.
She continues: “There’s been a real commitment from the top of the organisation to this issue and I think that has fed through.”
Communications
Lloyds TSB established a comprehensive communications programme to ensure that all its employees knew what the company was trying to do around sexual orientation and how it was going to go about it. The company’s strategy and activities on sexual orientation are available to all staff on its intranet. When staff log on to their computers their opening page is the intranet which contains daily news bulletins that have a high prominence. LGB messages have featured regularly in these bulletins, so sexual orientation has become a visible and high profile part of the company’s wider equality and diversity strategy.
Mentoring
The company set up a mentoring programme to support LGB staff. Mentoring is an important part of Lloyds TSB’s strategy for developing employees in the workplace and the company found senior colleagues who were willing to act as a role model, guide and supporter to others.
The bank also ensures it has proper monitoring data at recruitment selection stage so it can see how many LGB people apply to join, succeed at interview, are appointed, are subsequently promoted, and stay or leave.
“With information like this, it’s possible to design the specific measures you need to put in place to move forward,” says Cannon.
Training
The bank provides a range of training courses to ensure its employees understand diversity and create an inclusive workplace at every level of the organisation, from new recruits to the most senior managers.
Staff can only move up the management ladder at Lloyds TSB once they have achieved certain competencies and skills. On the first rung of the ladder, for example, as a line manager, employees need to understand the legal implications of diversity. The bank says it firmly believes that the culture of the organisation is set not just by top management but by all staff who manage others. Line managers have a responsibility to challenge inappropriate or unsupportive behaviour and to create a culture that is accepting of all their staff.
Some 2,000 senior managers have attended a Leading and Managing Diversity course run over two days. The first day is a workshop challenging participants’ perceptions of difference and includes an action-planning session to enable participants to effect real change in the workplace. Sexual orientation issues/scenarios are woven into the workshop and information about support within the organisation is provided. The second day explores attitudes and behaviours, with the aim of helping leaders become diversity champions.
The company believes it is important to target key influencers, decisionmakers, leaders of the future and those in high impact areas of the business. It is believed that if these groups are diversity champions there will be a corresponding upturn in how LGB staff feel. It says that recent research it has conducted into sexual orientation has produced empirical evidence that this belief is correct and that its approach is changing hearts, minds and behaviour.
Culture change
Such a change came to light when Stonewall visited the bank to assess Lloyds TSB’s entry in the Workplace Equality Index. As well as meeting senior executives and scrutinising the company’s policies, Stonewall talked to staff, and it was these discussions that highlighted the progress that the company had made on sexual orientation.
“Staff reported that it was just so different now,” reports Cannon. “They could see what we were doing, they understood it and could see that the bank was committed to equality around sexual orientation. Stonewall was most impressed by the extent to which, and how quickly, culture change had been effected.”
Cannon attributes the speed the company was able to turn things around to its becoming more confident about talking about sexual orientation.
“At the beginning we’d been slightly hesitant around the issue as we were nervous about getting a hostile reaction, but LGB employees told us we needed to talk about the issues in a confident way. Having senior executive support was important in allowing us to be very open about our strategy, so in all our communication to staff we were upfront about what we were doing.
“We were clear about the kind of behaviour that we regard as unacceptable. That means that people understand when they come to work here what’s expected of them and if they don’t like it they have to decide whether it is the right place for them.”
A wider picture
While the initial focus was on staff, the bank also looked at sexual orientation from the perspective of its customers. The introduction of the Civil Partnership Act that came into force in December 2005 meant that Lloyds TSB needed to ensure that its counter staff understood the issues and were welcoming to gay couples. The bank therefore changed its systems and forms to reflect the new legislation and to ensure that all products were fully inclusive of LGB partnerships.
Lloyds TSB also had a training programme called “Customer advocacy” to increase the likelihood of customers recommending the bank to friends, family and colleagues, and sexual orientation was made part of that programme.
To position itself in the external market as an organisation that understands and values lesbian, gay and bisexual people, the company:
* sponsored Pride London 2008 – this gave them an opportunity to participate in the UK’s largest LGB street event and the bank hired and dressed a float so staff could take part in the parade celebrations;
* included LGB representatives in its school visit programme to demonstrate the diversity of the workplace and give young people who may be gay or bisexual a positive view of working for the bank; and
* sponsored the first-ever in-depth survey of lesbian and bisexual women in the workplace.
Future plans
In its own research among staff, Lloyds TSB had found that lesbians find it more difficult than gay men to come out at work and that colleagues are more likely to be accepting of gay men at work than lesbians.
Each quarter the bank conducts a staff engagement survey and measures responses by diversity demographics. In the engagement survey, 13 questions are asked about workplace culture and the results analysed by sexual orientation. In addition, the company periodically conducts more in depth research specifically about sexual orientation. In its 2008 research, for example, staff were asked if the culture had become more inclusive for LGB employees and if they believed that their attitude towards people whose sexual orientation was different to their own had become more negative or positive or had stayed the same. A number of questions were also asked of LGB staff only.
The employee engagement surveys have revealed that while gay men are the most satisfied and happiest in the company, lesbians have the lowest engagement ratings – something Lloyds TSB is determined to tackle.
The LGB network has been revamped over the past year and it now has two senior managers as co-chairs, and a newly formed steering group.
“We’d like to see many more women involved than we currently have,” comments Cannon, “so that’s an area we will continue to work on.”
Challenges
While Lloyds TSB has made huge strides on sexual orientation, the company recognises that there will always be some people in the organisation who disagree with the action it has taken. In a battle for hearts and minds the bank invited to the launch some of those who it knew were most hostile to the LGB network. At this event, videos were shown of gay staff explaining how it felt to work for the bank and the impact of not being valued as individuals and what they hoped could change for the better.
“People heard from our own staff about what it felt like. When they heard some of those things and understood what it meant for individuals, people started to understand what it was we were trying to do and the impact the work could have. Hearing people’s personal stories made a difference.”
When asked if the bank would do anything differently in the light of its experience, Cannon says that the organisation would be bolder in its approach from the beginning. Because the company was alive to the sensitivity and concerns of those employees who were not out at work, the very first meetings of the LGB network were held off site. “I feel we wouldn’t do that again if we were starting from scratch as it felt rather secretive and outside the business.”
Lloyds TSB’s achievement in becoming the UK’s most gay-friendly employer just a few years after participating in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index for the first time, reflects how effective a proactive diversity strategy can be.
In terms of what needs to be put in place to make progress on sexual orientation equality, Cannon believes it is much the same as any other change programme, in that visible commitment from the very top of the organisation is essential. It is also necessary to involve staff as that gives the strategy more credibility and a sense that the organisation is serious about change.
“The hardest thing is making a decision to go for it. It doesn’t require more resources than any other programme,” claims Cannon. “You need to bring on board LGB staff fairly quickly, involve them at all stages in understanding the challenges and developing the solutions, and get senior visible management commitment upfront.”
Kate Godwin is a research offcer for Equal Opportunities Review.
Box 1: Lloyds TSB
In addition to coming top of the Stonewall Index, other highlights of the bank’s diversity strategy include:
* its disability programme being ranked first out of 116 organisations by the Employers’ Forum on Disability in 2007;
* coming first in the Race for Opportunity organisation’s annual benchmarking in 2008;
the proportion of women managers doubling in the past decade; and
* the launch of Islamic Financial Services, which provides current accounts, mortgages, savings and business accounts that enable customers to bank according to Shariah principles.
See below for full article from EOR:-
Author:Kate Godwin
Date: 01/12/2009
EOR Issue No: 195
In just four years, Lloyds TSB has moved from 81st place in the ranking of the best employers for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) staff to the number one spot. Kate Godwin examines how the bank has made such rapid progress on LGB equality and inclusion.
Key points
Lloyds TSB has made great strides in involving its LGB employees and addressing the culture of the organisation. It has created a workplace where employees on the whole feel able to be open about their sexuality.
The company was perhaps too oversensitive about lesbian, gay and bisexual issues at the outset, and advises other organisations to be “bolder in its approach” from the start.
The company’s own research shows that while gay men feel confident and are happy to work within the organisation, lesbians find it more difficult to come out. The company has identified this as an area needing more work.
"Sexual orientation is an issue that we came to focus on very specifically in 2005, when we launched our sexual orientation strategy,” says Fiona Cannon, Lloyds TSB equality and diversity director.
Sexual orientation had always been an integral part of the company’s diversity programme, but this was the first time a series of targeted actions had been implemented. The bank wanted to communicate to employees that it took the issue of sexual orientation seriously and to create an environment where LGB staff felt valued and able to be themselves.
“We wanted to give members of staff confidence,” explains Cannon. “Confidence that the organisation was committed to making Lloyds TSB a great place to work for everyone, and confidence that coming out wasn’t going to be uncomfortable or in any way be a career killer for them.”
In early 2005, the bank commissioned research from external consultants to help it understand attitudes within Lloyds TSB towards sexual orientation at work. Participants were recruited through an article in the staff magazine which asked them to contact the consultants directly. The company also approached those staff members who it knew to be “out” at work and asked them to be involved and to speak to other employees who were not out but who might be willing to take part in the process.
Some 850 staff took part in the survey and the research revealed that LGB staff could sometimes feel isolated, particularly where they were unable to see other people like themselves who could act as role models, either within their immediate work environment or in management positions. Line managers, who are often key to setting the culture of the organisation, were not seen as being as aware about sexual orientation as about other diversity issues, so did not always challenge occasional homophobic banter.
Following the research, a staff network was created by a group of LGB staff with the support of the bank’s equality and diversity (E&D) team.
Cannon relates how the bank’s sensitivity about sexual orientation meant it took a cautious approach initially. “We were concerned that people who were not out at work shouldn’t feel any pressure so we sent material to their home. We were also slightly tiptoeing around this issue as we were nervous as to how some straight employees would react, but we learnt that we needed to be more at ease with sexual orientation. Why wouldn’t you talk about sexual orientation in the same way as you talk about other issues? Staff told us to stop sending them stuff at home and to be confident as an organisation.”
Staff network
In May 2006 the LGB network was formally launched by Mike Fairey, the group’s former deputy chief executive. The network receives all funding and strategic support from the bank’s E&D team and its purpose is to:
* connect LGB staff across the organisation to help tackle feelings of isolation and to facilitate networking;
* help LGB staff to overcome those barriers that are within their control through a focus on individual development (for example, mentoring and role models);
* provide a way for senior LGB staff to give back to the organisation by supporting others;
provide a two-way consultation with the E&D team – feeding back members’ concerns to the centre for consideration and acting as a sounding board and consultation/focus group to make the sexual orientation strategy relevant and appropriate for the LGB staff population; and
* give a voice to LGB staff and help to raise the profile of LGB issues and successes across the organisation.
The network’s activities include:
* Support mechanisms such as a Google group for informal contact between members and a website that can be accessed through both the intranet and internet for more formal updates and information.
Development of a communications plan to raise awareness and seek new membership, including posters, information leaflets, online application form, pop-up banners and an awareness-raising DVD featuring members.
* Regional launches with LGB staff and business leaders across the UK – the first half of the event concentrating on awareness-raising and the second half allowing LGB staff an opportunity to network.
* Informal events (as requested by the membership) to facilitate local networking. These events have been popular and are now often instigated by members, rather than formally through the steering group.
* Group-wide research to find out what members wanted from the network and what LGB staff who weren’t members would like to see.
The launch of the LGB network gave a strong signal to employees that the company was committed to equality around sexual orientation. In the first year of the network’s existence the deputy group chief executive met with members several times to familiarise himself with the key issues and to be sure that he was in touch with what was going on.
“We’ve always worked closely with our staff networks,” explains Cannon, “but this was even more the case with the sexual orientation network.
“Apart from meetings with the deputy chief exec, network members did a lot of work with those members of staff who weren’t out at work to raise their confidence in the organisation and help them believe there was genuine commitment to this issue.”
Strategic approach
Following the results of the 2005 research, the E&D department set up a working group of LGB staff to help develop the company’s sexual orientation strategy. The strategy links LGB equality and diversity to wider organisational aims and ensures that equality and diversity are not optional extras but core values. Progress is measured and reported to the board at least every six months and work on sexual orientation is discussed at monthly meetings between Cannon and the deputy group chief executive. All of their work is underpinned by a sound business case and is well communicated to all employees.
The strategy was formally launched in May 2006 by the deputy group chief executive. Cannon asserts that support for the strategy from the most senior level in the company enabled the organisation to be upfront about what it was doing. As well as launching the LGB network and strategy, the former deputy chief executive championed diversity progress and plans to the board and was involved in all the communication and research that the bank carried out on sexual orientation.
She continues: “There’s been a real commitment from the top of the organisation to this issue and I think that has fed through.”
Communications
Lloyds TSB established a comprehensive communications programme to ensure that all its employees knew what the company was trying to do around sexual orientation and how it was going to go about it. The company’s strategy and activities on sexual orientation are available to all staff on its intranet. When staff log on to their computers their opening page is the intranet which contains daily news bulletins that have a high prominence. LGB messages have featured regularly in these bulletins, so sexual orientation has become a visible and high profile part of the company’s wider equality and diversity strategy.
Mentoring
The company set up a mentoring programme to support LGB staff. Mentoring is an important part of Lloyds TSB’s strategy for developing employees in the workplace and the company found senior colleagues who were willing to act as a role model, guide and supporter to others.
The bank also ensures it has proper monitoring data at recruitment selection stage so it can see how many LGB people apply to join, succeed at interview, are appointed, are subsequently promoted, and stay or leave.
“With information like this, it’s possible to design the specific measures you need to put in place to move forward,” says Cannon.
Training
The bank provides a range of training courses to ensure its employees understand diversity and create an inclusive workplace at every level of the organisation, from new recruits to the most senior managers.
Staff can only move up the management ladder at Lloyds TSB once they have achieved certain competencies and skills. On the first rung of the ladder, for example, as a line manager, employees need to understand the legal implications of diversity. The bank says it firmly believes that the culture of the organisation is set not just by top management but by all staff who manage others. Line managers have a responsibility to challenge inappropriate or unsupportive behaviour and to create a culture that is accepting of all their staff.
Some 2,000 senior managers have attended a Leading and Managing Diversity course run over two days. The first day is a workshop challenging participants’ perceptions of difference and includes an action-planning session to enable participants to effect real change in the workplace. Sexual orientation issues/scenarios are woven into the workshop and information about support within the organisation is provided. The second day explores attitudes and behaviours, with the aim of helping leaders become diversity champions.
The company believes it is important to target key influencers, decisionmakers, leaders of the future and those in high impact areas of the business. It is believed that if these groups are diversity champions there will be a corresponding upturn in how LGB staff feel. It says that recent research it has conducted into sexual orientation has produced empirical evidence that this belief is correct and that its approach is changing hearts, minds and behaviour.
Culture change
Such a change came to light when Stonewall visited the bank to assess Lloyds TSB’s entry in the Workplace Equality Index. As well as meeting senior executives and scrutinising the company’s policies, Stonewall talked to staff, and it was these discussions that highlighted the progress that the company had made on sexual orientation.
“Staff reported that it was just so different now,” reports Cannon. “They could see what we were doing, they understood it and could see that the bank was committed to equality around sexual orientation. Stonewall was most impressed by the extent to which, and how quickly, culture change had been effected.”
Cannon attributes the speed the company was able to turn things around to its becoming more confident about talking about sexual orientation.
“At the beginning we’d been slightly hesitant around the issue as we were nervous about getting a hostile reaction, but LGB employees told us we needed to talk about the issues in a confident way. Having senior executive support was important in allowing us to be very open about our strategy, so in all our communication to staff we were upfront about what we were doing.
“We were clear about the kind of behaviour that we regard as unacceptable. That means that people understand when they come to work here what’s expected of them and if they don’t like it they have to decide whether it is the right place for them.”
A wider picture
While the initial focus was on staff, the bank also looked at sexual orientation from the perspective of its customers. The introduction of the Civil Partnership Act that came into force in December 2005 meant that Lloyds TSB needed to ensure that its counter staff understood the issues and were welcoming to gay couples. The bank therefore changed its systems and forms to reflect the new legislation and to ensure that all products were fully inclusive of LGB partnerships.
Lloyds TSB also had a training programme called “Customer advocacy” to increase the likelihood of customers recommending the bank to friends, family and colleagues, and sexual orientation was made part of that programme.
To position itself in the external market as an organisation that understands and values lesbian, gay and bisexual people, the company:
* sponsored Pride London 2008 – this gave them an opportunity to participate in the UK’s largest LGB street event and the bank hired and dressed a float so staff could take part in the parade celebrations;
* included LGB representatives in its school visit programme to demonstrate the diversity of the workplace and give young people who may be gay or bisexual a positive view of working for the bank; and
* sponsored the first-ever in-depth survey of lesbian and bisexual women in the workplace.
Future plans
In its own research among staff, Lloyds TSB had found that lesbians find it more difficult than gay men to come out at work and that colleagues are more likely to be accepting of gay men at work than lesbians.
Each quarter the bank conducts a staff engagement survey and measures responses by diversity demographics. In the engagement survey, 13 questions are asked about workplace culture and the results analysed by sexual orientation. In addition, the company periodically conducts more in depth research specifically about sexual orientation. In its 2008 research, for example, staff were asked if the culture had become more inclusive for LGB employees and if they believed that their attitude towards people whose sexual orientation was different to their own had become more negative or positive or had stayed the same. A number of questions were also asked of LGB staff only.
The employee engagement surveys have revealed that while gay men are the most satisfied and happiest in the company, lesbians have the lowest engagement ratings – something Lloyds TSB is determined to tackle.
The LGB network has been revamped over the past year and it now has two senior managers as co-chairs, and a newly formed steering group.
“We’d like to see many more women involved than we currently have,” comments Cannon, “so that’s an area we will continue to work on.”
Challenges
While Lloyds TSB has made huge strides on sexual orientation, the company recognises that there will always be some people in the organisation who disagree with the action it has taken. In a battle for hearts and minds the bank invited to the launch some of those who it knew were most hostile to the LGB network. At this event, videos were shown of gay staff explaining how it felt to work for the bank and the impact of not being valued as individuals and what they hoped could change for the better.
“People heard from our own staff about what it felt like. When they heard some of those things and understood what it meant for individuals, people started to understand what it was we were trying to do and the impact the work could have. Hearing people’s personal stories made a difference.”
When asked if the bank would do anything differently in the light of its experience, Cannon says that the organisation would be bolder in its approach from the beginning. Because the company was alive to the sensitivity and concerns of those employees who were not out at work, the very first meetings of the LGB network were held off site. “I feel we wouldn’t do that again if we were starting from scratch as it felt rather secretive and outside the business.”
Lloyds TSB’s achievement in becoming the UK’s most gay-friendly employer just a few years after participating in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index for the first time, reflects how effective a proactive diversity strategy can be.
In terms of what needs to be put in place to make progress on sexual orientation equality, Cannon believes it is much the same as any other change programme, in that visible commitment from the very top of the organisation is essential. It is also necessary to involve staff as that gives the strategy more credibility and a sense that the organisation is serious about change.
“The hardest thing is making a decision to go for it. It doesn’t require more resources than any other programme,” claims Cannon. “You need to bring on board LGB staff fairly quickly, involve them at all stages in understanding the challenges and developing the solutions, and get senior visible management commitment upfront.”
Kate Godwin is a research offcer for Equal Opportunities Review.
Box 1: Lloyds TSB
In addition to coming top of the Stonewall Index, other highlights of the bank’s diversity strategy include:
* its disability programme being ranked first out of 116 organisations by the Employers’ Forum on Disability in 2007;
* coming first in the Race for Opportunity organisation’s annual benchmarking in 2008;
the proportion of women managers doubling in the past decade; and
* the launch of Islamic Financial Services, which provides current accounts, mortgages, savings and business accounts that enable customers to bank according to Shariah principles.