Diversity and inclusion statement

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.

Our work so far

We take a broad view of diversity and inclusion and our strategy seeks to work on five themes: gender, disability, LGBTQ+, ethnicity and being an inclusive organisation.

Accreditations

Initiatives

There are a range of initiatives supporting each area of our D&I strategy. For example, in respect of ethnicity:

We have provided unconscious bias training for several years now. In addition, we have given all our line managers Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training and tried to evaluate its effectiveness. 88% either strongly agreed or agreed that they could apply what they had learnt in the EDI session and 85% said the training was very good or excellent. The training is intended to ensure recent increases in our BAME co-worker population continue with higher conversion rates of applicants to appointments, as well as support managers in promoting and managing greater diversity and appropriate behaviours in the business. This training will now also be mandatory for all co-workers.

We have introduced apprenticeship and university placement schemes to nurture future talent at the beginning of their careers, consciously partnering with institutions with students from diverse backgrounds.

When recruiting, we have looked at using new platforms and channels to attract more diverse applicants for roles with us.

We have promoted our openness to flexible and part-time working opportunities to appeal to the widest range of talent.

Progress

As a result, the last two years have seen some progress, in respect of ethnicity:

Our work outside of our organisation

Our role in addressing D&I extends beyond our role as an employer and we try to support and influence public consciousness and show our support through public events and profile.

We have been proud sponsors of Bristol Pride Film Festival since 2018, following a request from some co-workers, and our support is co-ordinated by a group of co-workers rather than senior management.
We have also proactively sought to build relationships and provide platforms for role models from diverse backgrounds as a way of expressing the bank's support and views on diversity, including June Sarpong to present ‘Diversify’ at our 2019 Annual Meeting, working with Gillian Burke and supporting events for Mya-Rose Craig’s ‘Black to Nature’.
Rather than hold our own International Women’s Day events, we choose to support and amplify other women’s work. In 2019 we supported the inaugural show of new Bristol-based theatre company ‘Black Women Let Loose’ to perform the inaugural show of ‘Shades of Our Lives’ and we will look to support further performances in the future.

Our work continues

We have a clear three-year Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, sponsored by our CEO Bevis Watts, with key deliverables that we report on regularly and we will continue to review the development of initiatives within our strategy.
In direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement, and at the request of some co-workers, we are creating a new forum that will be made up of co-workers to act as a sounding board and advise senior management on what they would like to see happen in order to create a more diverse and inclusive environment across the business. This follows best practice we have seen in other organisations.
We are implementing a Contextual Recruitment System (CRS) alongside our current recruitment system that will enable us to give all candidates fair and equal treatment.
We will continue our work to source and publish more diverse case studies and photography of Triodos customers, particularly those from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups on our website.
We will also continue to use our social media channels and website articles to profile more environmental and social campaigners from diverse backgrounds. We will also ensure that the calendar of events we publicise and engage with includes a wider spectrum of religious holidays and cultural events.
Our Business Banking team are also reviewing how we can apply greater scrutiny to the approaches to D&I within the organisations we finance.
Our parent company operating in Europe, Triodos Bank N.V., has signed the Diversity Charter, with a commitment to increasing diversity and creating an inclusive culture. Triodos will continue to work on a clear vision on diversity and inclusion in the coming period and will actively involve its co-workers. Based on this vision, Triodos Bank will draw up an action plan within six months and will report annually on the implementation of the action plan.