After signing up to HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter in 2019 and then being officially included in the updated list of signatories in 2020, we’re excited to share that we have an update on our progress so far!
The Women in Finance Charter is an initiative that was launched by HM Treasury in collaboration with New Financial, in order to “build a more balanced and fair industry”. All signatories are required to make a pledge to take real action against gender inequality, which involves:
- Having one dedicated member of our senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
- Setting targets for gender diversity in our senior management team
- Annually publishing reports which document progress against these targets on our website
- Having a real intention to ensure that the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity
Our Culture Director, Nasrin Hossain, said:
“Being part of the Women in Finance Charter is a proud achievement for Shepherds Friendly. We work extremely hard to ensure our company culture is as inclusive and fair as possible. With a female CEO and Board Chair leading our business, we’re already setting a strong example for the industry when it comes to gender diversity. Being a signatory of the Charter is yet another step forward for the Society in terms of equality.
“As a mutual, we are committed to our values which focus on our members and our people. One of our core principles is that we are committed to creating an environment in which our staff feel valued and motivated to achieve the best possible member outcomes. Treating our staff fairly and promoting a culture based on equality are both essential to this.”
Our pledge
When we originally signed the charter, we targeted ourselves to reach 30% female representation in senior management, and we’re delighted to announce that, for the second year in a row, we have surpassed this goal. See below how we managed to achieve this major success.
- 30th September 2023 – 32%
Previous years:
- 30th September 2022 – 32%
- End of 2021 – 27%
- 30th September 2020 – 26%
As you can see, we have maintained our great progress, and we’re extremely pleased to see that we are still encouraging an inclusive and fair organisation.
All those who have been working in or have been promoted to senior management over the last 12 months have been doing a fantastic job, and we’re really glad to be seeing more women in senior leadership roles at the Society.
Being above our target is something we’re proud of, but we still want to further improve female representation in our senior management team. To achieve this, we will continue to undertake development activities that will support the career progression of female members of the teams to senior management positions. On top of this, we will continue to ensure that our gender split remains around 50/50, the current split is:
- 55% male
- 45% female
Improving female representation in our IT and Development teams is also something we’re continuing to aim to do this year and beyond. So far, we have successfully appointed two female candidates to our Development team, and we will continue to diversify this area of the Society.
We will continue to share our progress and updates about our involvement with the Women in Finance Charter.
Keep an eye on our social media channels for all the latest news about the Society.
