People & Culture

Being included feels like it should be a right we all have, but this is not always the case, and its something that ABF takes incredibly seriously. Each of us should have an equal voice and perspective, and have the same chances as the person next to us, to succeed. We also know that a diverse workforce that reflects the societies that we serve, is more innovative, engaging, creative and productive. This is an environment we all want to work within, so we are working hard to ensure that we operate in a diverse and inclusive way in everything we do.

To deliver on this, we have separated our approach into three distinct pillars:

AWARENESS. This is about educating ourselves, creating a greater level of understanding and removing some of the unconscious bias that can hold us back. We are developing learning opportunities in collaboration with our ABN AMRO Bank partners that give our colleagues a greater awareness of the value of diversity and inclusivity.

EMPOWERMENT. We feel strongly that the best people to influence this movement, should be those people that are most affected. Their stories, perspectives and experiences will shape how we look at these workstreams, and what we do next. The ABF Diversity & Inclusion Think Tank is a group of ambassadors who meet to discuss internal and external perspectives, and to challenge and provide feedback on our ABF approach.

COMMITMENT. This is where we create process change to ensure that there is a shift in how we do things. This starts with recruitment in ensuring we have diverse applicants and interview panels, so that we get to assess new colleagues from a different perspective. It also allows us to define what skills would benefit ABF over and above the technical ones that are often the first to be considered.