Women in finance
We wouldn’t have it any other way
From day one, we’ve set out to disrupt the banking sector. Our goal was to shake things up and create something dramatically different from the norm. But it wasn’t just about giving our customers a bank that was truly unique, it was about treating our people differently too.
That’s why we’ve designed our employment policies and roles to appeal to all. Every position in our bank, no matter the department, is open to everyone. Gender doesn’t even come into it when we’re making a recruitment decision; it’s about what you can bring to the table.
So, when the government reviewed the representation of women in senior managerial roles in financial services in 2015, we’re happy to report that we were already streets ahead of the competition.
The review made four recommendations to the industry:
Firms should have one member of the senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
Firms should set internal targets for gender diversity in senior management
Firms should publish progress annually against these targets in reports on their website
Firms should have an intention to ensure pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity
The HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter is designed to get firms to commit to implement these recommendations, and we signed up straight away.
Having created a culture of inclusivity at Atom, we’re proud to say that we are targeting all the important conditions of this charter, and will measure our success against it using the following benchmarks:
What we’ve done so far
We have brought recruitment in-house to take greater control over hiring campaigns, and increasing our reach into our local communities
We’re supporting regional initiatives that drive an increase in gender representation across industries such as engineering, technology and physical sciences
By actively promoting flexible working and family-friendly benefits we’ve become known as an attractive family-friendly employer
We endeavour to ensure we meet the needs of our diverse workforce beyond gender
We encourage and support our people in their careers
We’re working on initiatives to help grow and promote women to move up the organisation
We’ve nurtured close links with other challenger banks to support each other and attract more women into the world of finance
Since signing the Charter, we have seen our female representation at Board level rise to 50% from 23.26% in 2019 and 42.85% in 2021.
Overall, female representation at a senior level has steadily risen year on year to 33.33%. We are confident that representation at this level will continue to increase and we will reach our target of 45% female representation by 2025.
We continue to prioritise our Charter targets, meeting two of them ahead of schedule:
There is equal pay across all genders for the same or similar roles
At least 33% of the Board total will be female.
We believe a more diverse and inclusive business would lead to better outcomes and experiences for our customers.
We are on track to meet the remaining Charter target by our deadline and will continue to prioritise each of them right across our business.
We are undertaking a targeted programme of work to address the gender imbalance in our sector. However, this focuses on not only the workplace but also on encouraging more women to study STEM related subjects.
We have just successfully piloted our first internship programme, which directly supported students based in the North East of England. This has led to the piloting of our first graduate programme.
We plan to launch further internship and graduate programmes, which will also involve staying connected with students throughout the duration of their studies. We know that the output of activities will take several years to materialise, but we’re confident it will have a positive impact on our industry.
Any questions?
Atom is a big happy family, and we’re determined to keep it that way. So, if you have any questions about the way we’ve implemented the Women in Finance Charter, just get in touch and we’ll chat.
