The Gender Agenda at Standard Chartered

by Elizabeth Harrin (London)

In the United States, women currently make up almost 75 percent of the banking industry’s entire workforce, but hold only 9 percent of chief executive positions. Conventional wisdom is that it is not much better in the United Kingdom. Yet, against this backdrop, an amazing 20% of women reach senior positions at Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), a bank formed in 1969 through a merger of two banks: The Standard Bank of British South Africa and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. The organization, which prides itself on having one of the most diverse workforces in the global financial sector, knows it can do even better. Enter Maram Habash, Group Diversity & Inclusion Manager, who coordinates the effort to support women as emerging leaders.

“The Group Women’s Council was set up to drive the bank’s ‘gender agenda’ supporting our overall Diversity & Inclusion programme,” she says. “The Council’s objective is to help women in Standard Chartered realise their full potential through personal development and supportive workplace practices implemented in an engaging and inclusive workplace.”

Joanna Fielding, Chief Financial Officer for Standard Chartered Bank China, chairs the Council, which is now in its second year. “Standard Chartered’s strength is the diversity of our people – mirroring our customers and the communities we operate in,” she says. “ We believe that we also have the potential to lead the way on gender diversity.” The Council includes members from each geographic region and the major business and functional units. It operates as a sub-group of the Diversity & Inclusion Council, which looks at promoting opportunities across religious and ethnic groups and supporting those with disabilities as well as initiatives for women.

The Women’s Council works with HR partners from around the world to make sure that the bank’s internal policies and practices are equitable and help create the right environment to attract, develop and retain talented women.

One of the Council’s main objectives is to raise awareness across the bank about the importance of workplace diversity. “This includes identification and promotion of role models, celebrating International Women’s Day across the bank, launching Women’s Networks, and a Women’s Forum website,” says Habash.

SCB held their first Women’s Forum event in 2004, a year before the Diversity & Inclusion Council was created. Last year’s Forum event brought together more than 100 women from 40 countries, all identified as emerging leaders at the bank. “Standard Chartered Bank wants to be an exemplar employer of diversity and inclusion across our markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” says Jaspal Bindra, who chairs the Group Diversity & Inclusion Council, so it made sense that SCB chose the UAE as the location for the Forum. Bindra is also Asia CEO, so an excellent role model for women aspiring to the most senior positions in financial services.

This year the focus at SCB has been on developing a targeted management development programme for female leaders, as the bank recognises that women may need different development interventions to help them progress in their careers. “The key goal of this programme is to provide tools and support to our talented women to help them realise their potential, which in turn we hope will lead to an increase in female representation in senior global and regional management positions,” says Habash.

That hasn’t been the only initiative this year. A home working policy was launched recently in Chennai, India, and this has been so popular that there are plans to roll it out globally. “I can’t articulate how much the quality of my life is improved,” says senior Standard Chartered manager Minu Agarwal. “I am able to do more both at home and work and most importantly, spend useful time with my daughter, Tanya. My productivity has increased and tempers are no longer frayed. The stress levels have gone down and I am a much happier person now.” Minu now doesn’t have to worry about her daughter’s school work and is able to attend school functions.

SCB has also set up a mentoring scheme for high potential women and next month sees the inauguration of the Women’s Leadership Development Programme which is in its pilot phase. In Sri Lanka, the bank has recently organised an Out Bound Training programme, specifically developed to help senior female staff develop their communication and influence skills. “It was a very good initiative to encourage women to improve on their leadership skills and to take up fresh challenges with confidence,” says Sajeewani Jayawardena Wahalawatta, Manager, Legal & Compliance. “The program helped the participants to realise the importance of team spirit and physical fitness. Further, it gave an opportunity to bring out creativity of the individuals. Outings of this nature really encourage an individual to work on personal development,” she adds.
SCB’s commitment to diversity and the support it gives women is having an impact on the bank’s recruitment strategies. “D&I has given us a distinctive advantage over our competitors and improved our ability to attract talented people from very diverse backgrounds, thereby creating a more diverse and inclusive working environment,” says Habash. SCB is one of the top international banks with around 73,000 employees across 70 countries and territories. That’s over 115 nationalities in one company. Habash cites this diversity as one of the reasons people want to work at SCB. “Applicants know that they have equal opportunities in the bank regardless of their nationality, background, gender [and] disability,” she says. “Employees also feel their differences are respected and valued, not just tolerated. With D&I we also created an environment where our employees have a whole life balance so that they are able to give their best at work.”