Santander has been named in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2015, which lists the UK organisations that are leading on workplace gender equality.
In its fifth year, the 2015 awards are published in partnership with Opportunity Now, the workplace gender campaign from Business in the Community, during Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Week. Santander is a major UK employer with more than 20,000 staff based across its London head office and main regional offices in Milton Keynes, Glasgow, Belfast, and Leicester in addition to a network of over 900 branches.
Santander constantly looks to advance its diversity programme and offers a range of benefits that support female employees including flexible working, childcare voucher scheme and mentoring. The bank also operates a gender network and forum designed to help create and showcase opportunities for skills development and career coaching. Earlier this year, the Santander Breakthrough programme which supports ambitious SMEs with a range of specialist products and services, announced a dedicated programme of support for female entrepreneurs to help them scale their activity.
Caroline Curtis, Head of Executive Talent, Succession and Development at Santander UK, said: “We’re delighted to be named as one of the UK’s Top Employers for Women. Gender equality has long been a core value of our business and this award is a fantastic recognition of the hard work our employees across the country have put in to ensure this. Promoting equality is a business priority for the bank and we hope we can help inspire other employers to follow suit and drive change.”
Kathryn Nawrockyi, Director at Opportunity Now, Business in the Community, said: “Congratulations to Santander on being included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2015. They have recognised that putting inclusive behaviours at the core of what they do and making gender equality a business priority not only benefits the women they employ, but also the organisation as a whole and the clients, customers and communities they serve. Their dedication and commitment to driving change should educate and inspire other employers to make a difference, whatever their size or sector.”
The Times Top 50 Employers for Womenis free for any employer with a UK presence to enter and involves a comprehensive submission process, which is managed by Opportunity Now. All organisations within the Top 50 have demonstrated that gender equality is a key part of their business strategy, with consistent commitment to progressing women in the workplace that covers their entire organisation, not just isolated areas.
Organisations submit detailed information on their internal processes, as well as external activity that promotes gender equality, diversity and inclusion and creates opportunities for women in a wider context. Each entry form is stringently marked against a framework of best practice and assessed anonymously by a team of gender diversity experts within Opportunity Now. The Times Top 50 Employers for Women is unranked, and organisations are listed in alphabetical order.
