The D&I strategy sets out the PPF’s ambitions, challenges and future plans as well as how progress is to be measured over the next five years, reflecting also on the achievements made so far.
As part of a commitment to encourage a more diverse and inclusive culture the focus will be on valuing people’s differences and individuality across the organisation. The PPF prides itself on being a diverse and inclusive employer and aims to become an employer of choice, having the right people working to ensure the diverse needs of a growing membership are met.
Katherine Easter, Chief People Officer, said: “We are committed to being at the forefront of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, to attract and retain people as well as continue to deliver excellent service to our members. We will continue to challenge and change mindsets internally and externally and are introducing a number of initiatives to achieve this including becoming a disability leader by the end of 2020/21.”
Over the next few years emphasis will be on building the PPF’s diverse and inclusive culture at all levels of the organisation, with a target that 85 per cent of staff will agree to the PPF being a diverse employer that supports inclusion.
However there are challenges in certain areas such as attracting women into roles in traditionally male-dominated fields, closing the ethnic diversity gap to reflect the local area and encouraging employees to disclose any disability or long-term health conditions.
To tackle these and beyond, our apprenticeship scheme is introducing more diversity at junior levels with a long-term prospect of nurturing new talent as well as changing industry perceptions through the Diversity Project, an initiative that champions a more inclusive culture in the savings and investment profession. Other future plans include implementing a reverse mentoring programme and to become a Disability Leader by the end of 2021/22.
Digitally, the introduction of new technologies will provide more ways for people to engage with the PPF and we will use our member forum to better meet our members’ needs.
Continuous efforts will be made to measure progress against these, using a combination of employee demographic information, employee feedback and comparing data against external standards such as the Women in Finance Charter, Race at Work Charter and Disability Confident Employer Scheme.
The PPF has already made notable achievements including introducing a range of employee-led networking groups including Working Families Alliance, Kaleidoscope (LGBTQ+) and the Race Action Group through which the PPF became an official signatory to the Race at Work Charter in December.
Other successes include achieving Disability Confident employer status, signing the Women in Finance Charter and meeting the 40 per cent target early as well as joining the Diversity Project.
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