Ethnic diversity helps you boost market share, says Bank of Ireland expert
Bank of Ireland Multi-Cultural Network committee members Yemi Ajomale, Taniya Srivastava and Christine Simiyu along with Kate Butler, Bank of Ireland inclusion and diversity lead, and Matt Elliott, chief people officer.
Employers who encourage greater ethnic diversity in the workplace are boosting their talent base and their customer appeal to the increasingly diverse Irish marketplace.
So says Deirdre Gavin, head of inclusion and diversity at Bank of Ireland. In 2023, 14% of the bank’s external hires belonged to an ethnic minority, a move aimed to ensure the bank as a whole is more fully reflective of the broader population.
“As a company with almost four million customers in Ireland and overseas, it is very important for us that we reflect the ethnicity of the population in Ireland,” said Deirdre Gavin. “There are numerous studies showing the benefits of ethnic diversity and inclusion to a company.
“Inclusive companies generally outperform their rivals. When your staff reflects the society they’re serving, the company performs better. It makes perfect sense.
“We have collected data from our colleagues, who trust us to treat their personal information with sensitivity. Around 6% of our colleagues identify themselves as being from an ethnic minority.
“Around 7% of the Irish population is from an ethnic minority. As a result, we have an active strategy to remove barriers and to as diverse a range of applicants as possible.”
Bank of Ireland says that it is committed to improving its approach to building an inclusive and diverse working environment in its broadest sense.
As well as its ethnicity inclusive policies, it has a colleague networks, programmes and policies supporting continued improvement on gender balance, LGBTQ+ inclusion, family and carers, accessibility, multiculturalism, and intergenerational issues.
It actively promotes gender balance across all promotions. Since Covid, it has significantly increased flexibility and remote work opportunities, creating regional 14 work hubs.
“You don’t need to be from Dublin to work in Dublin,” said Deirdre Gavin. “Connectivity is a very important part of inclusion. With inclusion and diversity, what we have learned is that progress is not linear.
“This is not a finished product. Diversity is challenging and it is a hard thing to get right, but we are very committed to it. We are doing everything we can to set ourselves apart as an employer of choice.
“We don’t think we know it all. We start by working to ensure that all colleagues can feel safe and protected when they come to work with us, and we’re developing progressively from there.”
Bank of Ireland has recently been accredited as an ‘Investing in Ethnicity Employer’ in recognition of its progress in developing an inclusive and ethnically diverse workforce that is reflective of the population.
The accreditation was made by Investing in Ethnicity, which encourages greater ethnic diversity in the workplace. Bank of Ireland has implemented a number of recommendations made by the organisation, and is taking a range of other steps including monitoring ethnicity at all stages of recruitment, creating dedicated talent programs for career pathways, and providing unconscious bias training for all hiring managers.
Latest Census data indicates that approximately 7% of the Irish population are from an ethnic minority. The Bank’s voluntary data collection (i.e. colleagues may choose to opt in or out of this question when providing personal data) indicates that 6% of colleagues are from an ethnic minority.
This year 14% of external hires to the Bank — equal to 148 roles — have self-declared as being from an ethnic minority. This will speed progress in the group being more fully reflective of the broader population.
Deirdre Gavin said: “We value diversity in our business for a number of very clear reasons. At its core, this is not just the right thing to do. It is also the commercially sensible thing to do.
“We want to understand our customers better, and do more business with them. Our colleagues increasingly reflect the diversity we see amongst our more than four million customers. We also want to be one of the best places to work, offering excellent customer products and services today and innovating for the future. The talent to do this is everywhere. It doesn’t all look or sound the same, or come from the same background.
“We know we need people of different backgrounds and experiences bringing their diverse talents and perspectives to our company. The same goes for Ireland. Diversity is in the spotlight now, and it’s important we acknowledge how vital it is to the future development of our economy and society.”
Bank of Ireland has hosted ‘My Story’ events, wherein colleagues from diverse backgrounds showcase their experiences in navigating their career progress. All managers attend mandatory unconscious bias training.
The bank has removed any impediments to diverse new applications, such as any need for knowledge of the Irish language, or for applicants to have completed the Leaving Certificate.
The bank hosts listening sessions in which executive managers seek to find out what people want from the bank. These sessions directly inform policy.
All of these actions are gathered in a three-tiered strategy to appeal to a multicultural population, removing barriers and tracking performance across a range of metrics.
Sarah Garrett MBE, CEO/Founder Investing in Ethnicity, said: “We’d like to congratulate Bank of Ireland for their accreditation as an Investing in Ethnicity Employer. It’s great to see the organisation investing in ensuring equity for under-represented ethnic groups, and we look forward to working closely together and building on the foundations made in 2024.”
Bank of Ireland has commissioned a significant study into ethnic minority hiring across financial services to better understand barriers to entry and understand the experience of colleagues from an ethnic minority background. The study will help to inform future actions, and will be made public in 2024.
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