Bank of Ireland has been awarded the Gold Investors in Diversity EDI Mark – the highest accreditation awarded by the Irish Centre for Diversity, Ireland’s leading awarding body for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) accreditation.
The Gold accreditation recognises Bank of Ireland’s actions, policies and processes to continuously improve EDI right across the organisation and at all levels. The accreditation follows Bronze in 2020 and Silver in 2022 demonstrating ongoing progress by the Bank over the past three years.
To achieve the Gold Investors in Diversity EDI Mark organisations must conduct an in-depth assessment of EDI practices across principle pillars including diverse and inclusive leadership, recruitment, retention and progression, and how impacts are recorded and monitored. Bank of Ireland provided a range of evidence across these pillars, including the introduction of the Family Matters policy earlier this year, supporting a broad range of family and individual circumstances. The family leave policies are “day-one” entitlements for colleagues, meaning they can avail of benefits from the first day of employment and include seven weeks top up of parents leave, 13 weeks’ paid leave for partners (paternity plus parents leave), provision for foster care leave, paid surrogacy leave and paid fertility leave. In 2022 we were one of the first in the sector to introduce Menopause leave for colleagues experiencing menopause-related symptoms, with up to 10 days of paid leave available.
Bank of Ireland has a range of active colleague networks which were also recognised in the accreditation process. These networks support the bank on policy and process improvements in relation to gender balance, LGBTQ+ inclusion, family, accessibility, multiculturalism, and intergenerational issues. 85% of Bank of Ireland colleagues believe that the Bank values having a diverse workforce.
Bank of Irelands Group CEO Myles O’Grady said: “Having a diverse and inclusive workplace is really important to us at Bank of Ireland because it improves how we deliver our strategy, serve our customers, and innovate for the future.
“Our ambition is to be one of the best places to work, with different talents, skills, backgrounds and perspectives working together to make Bank of Ireland better and stronger for the future. It’s also extremely important to us that our 10,000 colleagues reflect the diversity of our more than 4 million customer base, so that they can better understand their needs and serve them.
“Progress takes time and is hard won, and there is always more to do, but I’m proud of the progress teams right across the Bank have made in recent years.”
Caroline Cummins, Managing Director, Irish Centre for Diversity comments: “Bank of Ireland’s journey to Investors in Diversity Gold has demonstrated a firm commitment to Diversity and Inclusion – both internally and externally.
“The suite of D&I initiatives includes progressive policies such as a Menopause policy; leveraging its reach across society for a partnership with HIV Ireland that is helping to break down barriers and address stigma; community partnerships with bodies such as Family Carers and more, and support for colleagues to drive the Inclusion they want to see, including their ‘MyStory’ Women of Colour platform, which is now being adopted by other companies. In addition, they have demonstrated that the Management team has embraced progressive values and leads by example.
We look forward to sharing more of their journey of continuous improvement.”
