Building a more inclusive bank

In 2015 we set ourselves formal targets for our CEO and Executive Committee to have at least 30% women in our global top three layers of each of our businesses by the end of 2020 and achieve a full gender balance by 2030.

• As at 31 December 2020, 14 of our 15 business areas have 30% or more women in their top three leadership levels.
• Our global aggregate CEO-3+ (target) position is 39% (*), a 10% increase since targets were introduced.
• Our top c. 4,000 roles globally are 43% women.
• At a wider bank level, we have 51% male and 49% female.
• The boards of NatWest Group plc and the NWH Group meet consecutively and share a largely common membership. When considered together, the director population across both boards currently meets the Parker target and exceeds the Hampton-Alexander target with a female representation of 36%.  Notwithstanding the largely common membership between boards, NatWest Group remains committed to ensuring that the NatWest Group plc Board meets the targets on a standalone basis. The NatWest Group plc Board currently meets the Parker Target and continues to exceed the Hampton-Alexander target with a board composition including 36% female representation.
• On our Executive Management team, we have a female Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Transformation Officer, Chief Governance Officer and Company Secretary, and Chief Human Resources Officer.
• The mean gender pay gap for NatWest Bank is 30.2% (median: 34.3%) and the mean gender bonus gap is 26.9% (median: 16.7%).  The statutory bonus gap calculated in line with regulation is the number including recognition vouchers (mean 50.2%; median 92.8%). This means that even colleagues who received a small recognition award - for example £10 - are included in the calculations. Most colleagues in our more junior jobs only receive fixed pay - a change made to provide more certainty over earnings; and this means that many colleagues included in the statutory bonus gap calculations only received a recognition award. We currently have a higher proportion of women in these roles. We therefore believe the figures excluding recognition vouchers 26.9% (median: 16.7%) are the most accurate reflection of our gender bonus gap today.
• It's important to remember that a gender pay gap is the difference between the earnings of all men compared to the earnings of all women, expressed as a percentage. It’s not to be confused with equal pay, which looks at whether men and women are paid the same for the same work. We’re confident that we pay our employees fairly and we keep our HR policies and processes under regular review to ensure we do so.
• We’re improving the proportion of women in senior roles – but we’ve more to do. Our positive action approach (PDF 115KB), which we benchmark externally, is helping to ensure that our people policies and processes are inclusive and accessible – from how we attract and recruit, to how we reward and engage colleagues. We’re confident this approach is the right one and through time it will help us achieve a better balance of diversity throughout the organisation.
• We have been rated in the top organisations in Bloomberg's Global Gender Equality Index for the 5th consecutive year, retained our position in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women and continued to report our progress to HMT Women in Finance Charter and the Hampton-Alexander Review.
• We continue to demonstrate our social purpose, including supporting the Financial Alliance for Women to create a How-To Guide on Becoming the Employer of Choice for Women and became a signatory to the British Deputy High Commission’s ‘UK in India’ Network Gender Equality Charter.
• We have over 800 Women in Business (WIB) specialists among our frontline bankers, accredited by the Chartered Banker Institute and certified by Everywoman, who are working with Be the Business on a mentoring programme for women-led and owned SMEs. Currently Be the Business only operate in England.
• Following publication in March 2019, the Rose Review has made real progress in implementing the 8 initiatives recommended. Working closely with HM Treasury, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and numerous public and private sector organisations, the initiatives have started to make a tangible impact in breaking down the barriers to female entrepreneurship in the UK. We published a Progress Report in March 2020 for the Rose Review (PDF 1.4MB). The 2021 progress report for the Rose Review is due to be published in March. 
• Our Gender Employee Led Network has c.10,500 members.

Gender pay gap reporting

Details on gender pay within the bank

For 2017 (PDF 52KB)

For 2018 (PDF 45KB)

For 2019 (PDF 112KB)

For 2020 (PDF 81KB)

HM Treasury Women in Finance

In 2018 we introduced a formal UK target to improve the representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues in our top four UK leadership levels to at least 14% (in line with the working age UK Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic population identified by the Office for National Statistics) by 2025. 

In addition to this, as Black colleagues are under-represented in senior roles across the UK, we introduced a new goal in 2020 to have 3% Black colleagues in our UK senior roles by 2025.

• Of the 83% of colleagues who disclose their ethnicity in the UK, 16% report as Black Asian and Minority Ethnic, which is slightly higher than the UK’s Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic working age population (14%).
• As at the 31 December 2020 we have on aggregate 10% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues in our top four leadership levels in the UK (CEO-4+), representing a 2% increase since targets were introduced. We currently have c.1% of colleagues who identify as Black in our UK senior roles. 
• We’re improving the proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues in UK senior roles – but we’ve more to do. Our positive action approach (PDF 115KB), which we benchmark externally, is helping to ensure that our people policies and processes are inclusive and accessible – from how we attract and recruit, to how we reward and engage colleagues. We’re confident this approach is the right one and through time it will help us achieve a better balance of diversity throughout the organisation.
• We remain committed to the UK Government’s Race at Work Charter by annually reporting our progress.
• Externally, we were confirmed as a Top Ten Outstanding Employer in the 2020 Investing in Ethnicity Top 100+ list.
• Our Multicultural Network, which represents race, ethnicity, faith and cultural groups has c.2,700 members.
• In line with our commitment to transparency under the UK Government's Race at Work Charter and in anticipation of a requirement to disclose our ethnicity pay gap, we have voluntarily disclosed our ethnicity pay gap for NatWest Group combined UK & Ireland. The mean ethnicity pay gap for NatWest Group is 9.4% (median: 14.1%). The mean ethnicity bonus gap for NatWest Group is 24.1% (median: 2.5%).

Ethnicity pay gap reporting

Details on ethnicity pay within the bank:

For 2020 (PDF 68KB)

Banking on Racial Equality: A Positive Roadmap for Change

In June 2020 our CEO established a Racial Equality Taskforce led by the co-chairs of our Multicultural Employee Led Network, to help us listen, learn and better understand the issues faced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues, customers and communities.

The Taskforce brought together partners, colleagues and leaders from across the Group, challenging them to expand, enhance or accelerate existing projects and initiatives designed to reduce inequalities. In October the Taskforce published a report setting out ten commitments, and the actions required to meet those commitments, to make a meaningful difference in tackling inequalities.

Full details of the approach, findings and actions can be found in our report: Banking on Racial Equality: A Positive Roadmap for Change (PDF 3MB)

Our goal is to become a Disability Smart bank by ensuring that accessibility features in our products, services, behaviours and key processes.

• By understanding the needs and experience of colleagues and customers with disabilities we are building a disability smart bank, from employee adjustments to developing customer products and services.
• Of those who tell us if they have a disability or underlying medical condition, 4% report as having a disability. Our data set is limited but it continues to improve.
• We responded to the restrictions of the pandemic and provided development sessions online to continue to support the development and career progression of colleagues with disabilities by addressing common barriers they can face.
• We hold a gold rating in the Business Disability Forum (BDF) benchmark. We also hosted our second Disability Conference in partnership with the BDF, bringing together our colleagues, customers and the wider community to focus on disability.
• We are ranked as a Leader level in the UK Government’s Disability Confident Scheme.
• We are founding signatories to The Valuable 500, a global movement which strives to place disability inclusion at the heart of business strategy with consistent attention at board level.
• Our disability network, Enable, has over c.1,100 members.

Our goal is to continue to deliver a better LGBT+ colleague and customer experience through continuously challenging the status quo.

We have worked hard to understand the issues our LGBT+ colleagues and customers face and engage with them regularly to demonstrate that NatWest Group is a welcoming place, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Of the colleagues who tell us their sexual orientation in the UK, 8% report as Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual and under 1% report as Transgender.
• We offer colleague support for key moments that matter including preparing for and undergoing gender reassignment and ‘coming out’. This includes support for colleagues who may have family members (or friends) undergoing these life events.
• We have introduced the option for our Transgender customers to use the Mx prefix and have removed the need for existing customers to tell us their gender.
• For our colleagues, we have introduced dual-sided work passes that allow non-binary colleagues to present in masculine and feminine expression.
• We have been a Stonewall Global Founding Partner since the benchmarks inception and are a Top Global Stonewall employer.
• In 2020, we had to reimagine the way we show support for Pride. Many of our events moved online, this included a panel discussion on 'Pride is still a protest', attending digital prides around the country and running a social media campaign across our digital channels. We also lit up our offices in Pride colours and raised money for LGBT+ charities.
• Our Rainbow network has c.1,800 members and we now have c.4,000 LGBT+ Allies across NatWest Group.

Our goal is to create a sustainable, inclusive workplace. 

At NatWest Group, we are committed to ensuring that all colleagues are given full and fair consideration for employment and subsequent training, career development and promotion based on merit.

As our inclusion agenda matures, we are moving towards an increasingly integrated approach, e.g. positive action on development for women and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues and resourcing and organisation design principles that pull through greater diversity.

• Colleague sentiment on inclusivity remains high at 90pts, 17pts above the Financial Services Norm (FSN) and 13pts above High Performers Norm (HPN).
• We have a range of integrated propositions in place across our agendas, e.g. our ComeBack programme for returning talent to the workforce.
• Externally, we are rated Exemplary Level in the Scottish Carer Positive Campaign, and a signatory of the European Human Rights Commission’s Working Forward campaign. 
• In 2020 we supported our People Pledge by establishing a programme of Inclusion Champions. With over 1,100 members, the champions form a global network of positive disrupters, who educate colleagues on Inclusion, and will work together to drive change on topics like ethnicity, LGBT+, gender balance, disability awareness and inclusivity.
• We promote family-friendly and agile working for our colleagues including working remotely / flexible working and 12-week paid phase-back following maternity leave.
• We continue to support our goal of being a learning organisation through our Inclusion learning. This includes an annual mandatory GPL, where we raise awareness and build understanding on bias, inclusion collateral on our NatWest Group Learning Academy, and our new “Inclusion with Purpose” module. This module outlines the role – through intentional, positive and conscious efforts – that each one of our colleagues can play in helping to build a sustainably inclusive workplace. Providing team learning centred around good judgement, helping colleagues to explore bias and the potential consequences of our decisions, thinking before acting and speaking – recognising that these microagressions can negatively impact ourselves and others.
• We continue to demonstrate our social purpose, including being founding signatories to the EHRC’s Working Forward, meeting the criteria for the London Mayor Good Work Standard accreditation, and ranking top 5 overall as well as in the top 5 for ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic status and parenthood in the McKenzie-Delis Packer Review.
• Our Families & Carers Network has c.1,900 members, the Armed Forces Network has c.200 members, the Sustainable Futures Network has c.1,300 members and NatWest Group Aspire has c.3,400 members.