Lloyds Banking Group has taken a further move into leading the way in establishing gender diversity and equality in the workplace.
It has been revealed that the bank is banning all-male shortlists, meaning that anyone applying for jobs from an assistant vice-president level will no longer be considered unless one-third of the names on the list are women.
In a post on the Wall Street Journal’s MoneyBeat blog, the company used by Lloyds to outsource their recruitment, Resource Solutions received an email stating that, “a minimum of one third of your total submissions must be made up of suitably qualified female candidates. No shortlist of candidates will be progressed until this objective is received without exception.”
In the email, seen by MoneyBeat, it goes on to say that, “the above directive is one that has been shared at a Group wide level and will be a standard approach for F+ hiring [assistant vice-president level upwards] until further notice.”
The company is already committed to its role in gender diversity stating that, “our goal is to be the best bank for customers, communities, colleagues and shareholders. External research shows that companies which have a diverse gender mix at senior levels are more likely to perform better.”
They go on to state that, “in 2014, we made a bold public commitment on gender equality in our Helping Britain Prosper plan; to increase the proportion of senior management roles held by women to 40% by 2020. At the end of the year, 29% of our senior management roles were filled by women. This puts us on track to meet our commitment.”
Lloyds have also created a Breakthrough Network, which ‘provides positive female role models’ and women can advance their careers through networking and mentoring. The company are also sponsors of the Women of the Future Ambassadors Programme, which ‘connects award-winning women with school leavers to provide mentors and role models’. Alongside these groups, Lloyds have also been recognised by the Times as one of the top 50 employers for women – this is for the fourth time.
This news comes as the gender equality within companies has been on the forefront of a political agenda.
The Davies Review, a government-back commission, announced that they had reached their previously set target to get a quarter of women in FTSE 100 boardrooms. The commission has also recently set its sights on establishing pay targets for female FTSE 100 executives.
The prime minister has also recently outlined plans to make companies with over 250 employees show the difference in pay between men and women – in an aim to highlight pay discrepancies.
At the time of this announcement, David Cameron said he hoped it would, “cast sunlight on the discrepancies and create pressure we need for change, driving women’s wages up.”
