Our Women in Finance Charter commitments:
Since signing up to the Women in Finance Charter, we’ve worked hard to make progress against our target, reflecting the commitment that we have to building strong female representation at all levels of our organisation. When signing up to the charter we set ourselves a target to increases this to 40% in our senior management roles by 2020.
We are proud to confirm that we achieved our target this year and as at 31st August 2022, now have 45.2% female representation at senior management level within Virgin Money.
While we’re proud of the progress that we’ve made, we are conscious that we need to remain committed in our efforts to not only drive actions that improve and sustain diversity, but that also create a truly inclusive culture. To do this we will build on the progress that we’ve made so far and continue to explore new opportunities to enable this further.
Key initiatives in this area include:
- Reviewed our approach to inclusive recruitment by encouraging mixed-gender interview panels, diverse shortlists and values-based hiring, as well as rolling out a training programme for hiring managers to explore in greater depth the impact of bias on the recruitment and selection process and how to mitigate
- Listened to our people through surveys and focus groups to understand how we can shape and progress our gender strategy
- Introduced a ‘Welcome Back’ programme to support our colleagues who are returning from maternity or parental leave, with an aim to increase confidence, personal resilience and support with the transition back into work
- Supported female career development through the Springboard programme, creating opportunities to develop female talent
- Transformed our performance management approach which encourages ongoing personal improvement and a team-based performance management framework removing the risk of any gender bias
- Ensuring that working practises are not a barrier to progression by continuing to review our approach to how and where we work
2016 Empowering Productivity Report
This Report and its recommendations are about fairness, equality and inclusion for men and women. More women than men start out in Financial Services but, as they progress, the majority fall out, especially at middle management level. This leaves almost all of the top jobs in the hands of men.
Achieving a balanced workforce at all levels in Financial Services will undoubtedly improve culture, behaviour, outcomes, profitability and productivity.
Nearly 3,500 people – men and women – contributed to this Report through a variety of channels and I am delighted to be able to make their views heard in this way.
"Only 50% of women, compared to 70% of men believe they have an equal opportunity to advance regardless of their personal characteristics or circumstances."
Broadminded Roundtable
"New Financial's sample of 200 firms active in UK Financial Services showed an average of 23% female representation on Boards, but only 14% on Executive Committees."
Broadminded Roundtable
"We're all used to having bosses that are men, pilots that are men, train drivers that are men. We're all used to having secretaries that are women. We need to have role models for ourselves but we also need to have role models for our children."
Broadminded Roundtable
You can find more information about Broadminded at www.broadminded.org Link opens in a new window
The Charter
The Charter is a commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to build a more balanced and fair industry. Firms that sign up to this Charter are pledging to become one of the best businesses in the sector.
Contact
You can contact the Virgin Money team about the Report at: commission@virginmoney.com
You can contact HMT about the Charter at: womeninfinance@hmtreasury.gov.uk