Women in Finance
A pledge for gender balance across financial services
What is the ‘Women in Finance Charter’?
The Women in Finance Charter was introduced following the 'Empowering Productivity' report into harnessing the talents of women in finance. It is a commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to build a more balanced and fairer financial services industry.
This review focused on the talent pipeline at the executive population below board level and found that in 2015, women made up only 14% of the Executive Committees in the Financial Services sector. The Charter reflects the government’s aspiration to see gender balance at all levels across financial services firms. A balanced workforce is good for business – it is good for customers, for profitability, productivity, and workplace culture, and is increasingly attractive for investors.
The Enra Pledge:
In 2019 Enra Specialist Finance proudly signed the charter to underline its existing commitment supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector.
We pledge to create diversity by:
- Having one member of our senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
- Setting internal targets for gender diversity in our senior management
- Publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on our website
- Having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity.
When we joined the Charter in 2019, we wanted to increase our gender diversity to 33% within the senior management population by September 2023. As of September 2021, we have 26% female representation in senior management. We are on track to meet the target we have set, we will measure this by regularly monitoring the % of the target population who are female, as well as monitoring progress against an agreed plan of activity to celebrate and promote diversity, and women in particular, within our business.
We chose the target of 33% as we wanted a target that represented meaningful difference being delivered within the bounds of what is reasonable given the low turnover in the senior management group. Our target requires 2 existing male members of the senior management team to be replaced by females, or alternatively for us to hire 3 additional females into the senior management team by 2023.
This is possible but stretching, given the growth ambitions of the firm, and the low level of management turnover anticipated, but it would represent a meaningful difference to the status quo.
To achieve this we have already taken a series of practical steps to ensure the firm is measuring & monitoring diversity, actively seeking female candidates for shortlists when vacancies arise and seeking to bring our diversity policy into the heart of our business by establishing a colleague-led ESG forum.
We are committed to maximising the opportunity for all candidates and ensuring that Enra is a welcoming place of work for everyone.
Stephen Hogg, Chief Operating Officer of the Enra Specialist Finance said:
"At Enra Specialist Finance we have long recognised the value of diversity among our workforce. Inclusion and diversity are at the centre of our hiring practices and overall approach to workforce management. We are delighted to formalise our commitment to a diverse workforce by signing the Women in Finance charter."