An inclusive culture
Working with gender equality, diversity and an inclusive corporate culture is a fundamental part of our values. This means making the most of the employees' potential. It also means broadening the recruitment base to become, to an even greater extent, a bank that reflects the community in which we operate. Accordingly, all types of discrimination and harassment are totally unacceptable, a message which is also clearly stated in the Group-wide guidelines for employees.
Increased knowledge and awareness
Initiatives are being taken in several parts of the Group to further increase knowledge and awareness of gender equality and diversity. In Sweden, for example, we have gender and diversity training for members of management teams, employees in human resources and trade union representatives. In the UK, all managers are taking professional development courses to learn how sub-conscious prejudices affect us.
Our gender equality goal
Gender equality at Handelsbanken means that everyone at the Bank, regardless of gender, must have the same rights, opportunities and conditions to develop and contribute to the Bank’s development.
The objective is to respect and make the most of each employee’s competency, experience and value, so that they can develop as individuals and in their professionals roles. Our objective is to have a staff with an even gender balance, where at least 40 per cent are women or men, in all parts of the Bank – in terms of the various professional roles, areas, units and countries.