Our Progress
We're pleased to announce that we have achieved 37.4% against our initial target of 37% as a rolling 12-month average.
At the end of August 2021 39.4% of our leadership population were female, compared with 36.1% a year earlier.
Although this is clearly pleasing, there is still much to be done before we achieve parity, and we will maintain our focus on this key area until there is no longer under-representation of women in senior leadership.
We've significantly strengthened our data collection processes and this has allowed us to understand the patterns of under-representation, most notably the number of applicants for certain types of roles, and the relative levels of success of internal candidates.
We've invested in a pilot positive action programme designed to support internal candidates and tackle specific differences between men and women in the workplace.
We've also begun training colleagues on inclusive coaching methodology to better support under-represented groups.
We've developed an internal maturity model for diversity and inclusion which helps to focus our activity and ensure we have the right blend of diversity and inclusion themed project and events running at any one time, all the time raising the understanding and narrative that will ensure positive outcomes in the future.