Having a diverse workforce appeals to customers, says Lloyds' director of diversity and inclusion
27th July 2011
Creating diversity and inclusion in the workplace can help businesses appeal to customers.
That is according to Fiona Cannon, director of diversity and inclusion Lloyds Banking Group.
After Lloyds merged with HBOS in 2009, Ms Cannon was responsible for developing an inclusion strategy from scratch for the new group.
In an interview with HR Magazine, she explained that part of this strategy was to make it clear to staff that having a diverse workforce could help them win customers.
This is because a diverse customer base, like that served by Lloyds, feel they can engage better with staff if they can empathise with.
"We had to be clear diversity would support our business objectives," Ms Cannon explained.
"This comes from the various social demographics that make up our customers - and the diverse pool from which we recruit our staff.
"Half our customers are women. Three million of our customers have a disability. The disabled market is worth £80 billion a year to the economy and this is set to grow with an ageing population."
Lloyds Banking Group has an ethnic minority staff equating to approximately nine per cent of its workforce - which is reflective of the UK population.
However, Ms Cannon and the company still have work to do, as this percentage drops to six per cent at senior management, and while 44 per cent of managers in the business are female, this drops to 27 per cent at senior level.
"Our goal is for all our staff to be confident at work. We want to increase employee engagement and customer satisfaction. We have to be reflective of the communities we serve and we are measuring this closely," she commented.
A recent European Commission draft proposal suggested that banks of member states should be made to have a minimum quota of female staff on their boards.
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