HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter
HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter
Progressive Building Society has signed the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter which has a key priority of harnessing the talents of women in financial services.
It marks the sector’s collaborative efforts to drive meaningful and permanent changes in the representation of women in financial services, to ensure women everywhere are able to fulfil their potential. In signing the Charter, the Society has made the following pledges to improve gender diversity.
Pledges
The Society will set internal targets for gender diversity in senior management.
- Maintain current female participation levels at Management (74% female participation) and Senior Management Committee (38% female participation), improving these where possible, in line with recruitment practices to ensure continued strong female representation;
- Launch a programme that aims to give every female staff member the opportunity to participate in female focussed development opportunities that support career enhancement through Women in Business Northern Ireland (or other suitable alternative) with a target that at least 30 female staff participate.
- Develop a recruitment /promotion strategy that enhances attraction of female applications to Society roles and supports the retention and career development of existing female staff.
- Develop a maternity returners engagement programme that encourages females to return to work (at least 90%), build their confidence, and refresh their focus on their careers within the Society.
Progress
When we signed up to the Charter in 2016, we had 38% female representation at senior management level. As of 30 September 2021, we have 63% female representation in senior management. We are pleased to report that we have met this element of our Charter target by our deadline.
When we signed up to the Charter in 2016, we had 74% female representation at management level which has fallen to 63%. Our analysis of this finds that some female managers who left were not replaced due to structural changes. We are not on track to meet our Charter target by our deadline however are working hard to develop opportunities that increase female representation.
The past year has been challenging due to the impacts of COVID and we have focussed on the safety of our Members and staff. Despite these difficult conditions, we reinforced our commitment to female representation though the launch of a Diversity & Inclusion Policy that sets the tone from the top and enhances our culture where females are encouraged to develop their careers. We have put in place additional resources to support us achieve our targets going forward.
We plan to focus on female hiring, development and maternity returners in the coming years.