On 14 December, the Brussels Capital Region authorities conferred their Diversity Label on BNP Paribas Fortis. The award was handed over by Benoît Cerexhe, Brussels Minister for Employment and the Economy, to Bert Van Rompaey, Chief HR Officer, and Claire Godding, Diversity Manager.
See all photos in the gallery below.
The Bank regards this award, which is valid for two years, as an endorsement of its Diversity policy, “and, even more importantly, as an encouragement to continue our efforts, relentlessly,” underlined Claire Godding. “Diversity is a rich resource. We need to draw on everyone’s talents. We want to really set the example in the field of non-discrimination.”
“We recently took stock of the achievements of our Diversity Plan 2011-2012 and there are many reasons for satisfaction, notwithstanding that we still have a long way to go. We’re particularly proud of our MixCity network, launched just over a year ago. Today it boasts over 900 members. This initiative is designed to raise the profile of female talent, promote a balanced gender mix in positions of responsibility and strengthen the links between the Bank’s various activities.”
Another sign of the times is that today half of all new branch manager appointees are women. “And now the Bank has achieved the same gender parity in the recruitment of trainees – university graduates who go through a multi-disciplinary training programme before joining a particular department,” Claire Godding went on.
“We’re also working in various ways to make life easier around the bank for persons living with a physical impairment, both customers and our own staff, by eliminating obstacles to their independence – inter alia making changes to the physical layout of our branches so as to improve access – and fostering solidarity with them.” (*)
“During the summer months we welcome onto our premises young people from all types of different backgrounds looking for holiday jobs. In the same vein, we seek to hire people with a variety of different profiles and educational qualifications. By promoting diversity among our employees, we acquire new types of skills and take on board new ways of looking at things. Diversity among our staff helps us to meet customers’ needs and provide them with a better service by drawing on the full range of available skills and also to respond to social and ethical imperatives.”
The bank’s diversity management efforts include a range of internal communication and training initiatives. For instance, we launched an e-learning test which was taken by over 14,000 employees. This training module handles in a simple and open way many topics, including the difficulties faced by homosexuals in the workplace and everyone’s role in accepting other people’s differences.
“So we are pleased but we must not rest on our laurels,” concluded Claire Goding. “We’re now gearing up to implement our 2013-2015 Diversity Plan. Like the previous version, our new Plan is based on several aims: avoid all discriminatory processes and conduct; match the growing diversity among our customers; integrate diversity in the broad sense of the term into our recruitment and career development policies; create added value from the diversity within our teams, at all levels.
With everyone’s involvement and the added support of the public authorities, we’ll continue to go forward on the right track.”
Some figures. BNP Paribas Fortis has about 18,000 employees on its payroll, breaking up into 53.9% Dutch-speaking and 46.1% French-speaking people. 4% is of foreign nationality. Gender parity is almost perfect – 49.8% women, 50.2% men. However, women's advancement into leadership positions still needs to be improved.
(*) See also our article on voice-equipped ATMs