Implementing a comprehensive diversity and inclusion (D&I) agenda in one developed market can be challenging. Rolling it out across a global network covering countries with divergent histories, cultures and levels of economic development is on another scale of difficulty.
This perhaps explains why most large banking groups publish numbers on gender and racial diversity for employees in their home markets but lump the rest of their workforce together under a ‘global’ tag.
A notable exception to the rule is Santander. The Spanish group, which has operations in 10 markets across Europe and Latin America, is happy to provide a level of granularity on diversity that other banks shy away from.
It has also shown an admirable appetite for setting ambitious targets on D&I. Last year saw the announcement of a commitment to boost the proportion of women in senior leadership positions from 20% at the end of 2018 to 30% by 2025.
The target, which has been tied to executive remuneration, applies to each of Santander’s country operations as well as to the group as a whole.
This means shortfalls in markets such as Mexico, where women account for just 14% of senior leadership positions, will not be obscured by outperformance in the UK, for example, which passed the 30% target last year and is aiming for gender parity by the end of 2021.
To support the initiative Santander has mandated the inclusion of at least one female candidate on shortlists for senior positions, as well as the involvement of women in the recruitment process. D&I training has also become mandatory for senior management this year.
Gender balance
The group is also working to improve the gender balance in traditionally male-dominated areas such as investment banking – which last year saw a 2% increase in female representation – and technology. Other gender commitments announced last year include a pledge to eliminate Santander’s pay gap – which stood at 2% in December 2019 – by 2025, as well as targets for female board-level representation.
These efforts have helped Santander secure the highest score in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index for the past three years in succession, ahead of more than 300 companies around the world.
Female employees will also likely be the main beneficiaries of Santander’s introduction of a new flexible working framework, and global minimum standards for parental leave – including at least 14 weeks of primary leave – and programmes for professionals returning to work.
We are targeting being truly inclusive throughout the organization
Philippa Cox
Santander’s commitment to diversity, however, is not limited to gender. Last year it joined the Valuable 500, a movement to eradicate the exclusion of people with disabilities from the workplace, as well announcing a target of 2% of employees with disabilities by 2021.
As the Black Lives Matter protests in the US and elsewhere have pushed racial and ethnic diversity up the agenda this year, Santander has also been keen to highlight its track record in this area. In the UK, the group’s local unit was one of the first organizations to sign the Race at Work Charter in 2017 to tackle barriers to recruitment and progression faced by black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) people.
This was followed last year by the establishment of a BAME strategic working group and the announcement of plans to increase the representation of the community in senior roles from 9% to around 14% by 2025.
Santander Brasil, which accounts for 24% of the group’s workforce, has committed to increasing racial diversity by boosting the proportion of black ethnic employees to 30% by 2021. To achieve this the bank has partnered with local universities to develop training programmes for young black people.
Internal commitment
More broadly, the group has announced an internal commitment to boost the level of cultural diversity in the workforce – covering areas such as sexual orientation, age and educational background, as well as gender, race and disability – to 70% over the coming years.
“By putting all these commitments together, we are targeting being truly inclusive throughout the organization,” says Philippa Cox, corporate head of culture.
Other initiatives to promote inclusivity include a wide range of internal networks for diverse employees – including veterans, caregivers, racial groups and LGBTI people – as well as the commissioning of an annual global engagement survey by HR consultancy Mercer.
Participation is completely anonymized and any problems identified are addressed at both country and group level. In the latest iteration, conducted in 2019, 86% of Santander employees reported that they had been treated fairly and had not faced discrimination.
Santander’s commitment to D&I starts at the top. Executive chairman Ana Botín – the only female head of a big, global banking group – has been vocal about the importance of diversity as both a philosophy and a business strategy.
Botín has been a member of the group’s responsible banking, sustainability and culture board committee since its launch in 2018, and the responsible banking unit, which has been charged with the diversity and inclusion remit, reports to her office.
“Our approach to D&I is very comprehensive,” says Cox. “We look at diversity from the perspective of all our stakeholders, and it is a key priority for our cultural agenda.”
