Lloyds Banking Group has announced it has set a public target to increase the representation of black and minority ethic (BAME) employees in senior management, the first such target in the FTSE 100.
The group’s commitment aims to increase representation of BAME employees to 8% of senior management and, additionally, to 10% of the total workforce by 2020. At present, 10% of the group’s customers are from a BAME background.
Currently, 8.3% of all staff and 5.6% of senior management are from a BAME background, compared to 12% of the UK labour force and 14% of the UK population.
Fiona Cannon, Lloyds Banking Group director of responsible business and inclusion said: “What gets measured gets done and we are confident we can meet our diversity goals with the right focus and determination.
“We recognise that companies with diverse management teams perform better and have made a public commitment to create a truly inclusive workforce. It is our ambition to better reflect the customers and communities which we serve.
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“Our data shows that while we are making good progress, we think this rate of progress is too slow, so we are committing to bring change sooner.”
The group, whose brands include Halifax, Bank of Scotland and MBNA, has already made progress in improving racial and cultural diversity, through initiatives including:
- Career development programmes for BAME colleagues and leadership programmes for senior management
- Increasing visibility of BAME role models; the group publishes an annual list of ethnicity role models and provides colleagues with opportunities to meet role models and hear their stories
- A colleague network that aims to embrace the diversity of the group’s race, ethnic and cultural heritage and offers an allies programme to help build supporter engagement and advocacy among colleagues.
