At Triodos Bank UK, our mission is to help create a society that protects and promotes quality of life and human dignity for all. This means that we value having a diverse workforce and recognise and value the contribution every co-worker makes.
For us, diversity is about bringing different ideas and perspectives to the table, which in turn helps us to thrive and grow a sustainable business. Being inclusive means fostering an environment in which each and every co-worker feels safe to bring their ‘whole self’ to work and we work hard to create this, aiming to ensure the best talent comes to the fore from all backgrounds, outlooks and cultures.
In terms of our loan portfolio and strategy, we have a specific focus on social inclusion, we have financed projects supporting people at risk of social exclusion, housing those migrating to the UK and others benefiting many forms of diversity.
As a business, we have publicly stated at past Annual Meetings our ambition to become more representative of the customers and the communities we serve, and particularly our UK home city of Bristol. This is why throughout 2018 we developed our first formal D&I strategy having worked with the issues for several years. The strategy was built into the budgeting process and we launched a three-year strategy to co-workers in early 2019. This and subtopics are reviewed periodically at Senior Management and UK Board meetings.
The Black Lives Matter movement has also prompted us to think about how we can deepen our work on diversity and inclusion, both as an employer and as a lender, using our voice on related issues.
Here are some of the highlights of what we’ve been working on, as well as further work in the coming months.