WIBF launch Jobs Board – Press Release

FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS CHAMPION NEW CAREERS PLATFORM IN SUPPORT OF GENDER DIVERSITY

Women in Banking and Finance (WIBF), the UK’s longest established women’s network in financial services, has today launched ‘WIBF Jobs’ an innovative careers platform for the wide array of female talent in the industry. In addition to connecting women to organisations committed to supporting diversity, inclusion and equality, it also showcases the under-represented and under-utilised talent in the sector. As the International Women’s Day 2019 campaign ‘Balance for Better’ highlights, gender balance is not a women’s issue, it is a business issue; and WIBF Jobs provides a business based solution to increasing gender balance in our businesses.

In the wake of the latest tranche of Gender Pay Gap reporting, analysis suggests that the pay gap has widened at some financial services firms and the Women in Finance Charter recently found that at least 2,300 female senior managers would need to be hired by 2022 to hit pay gap targets. However, female progression is often inhibited by a complex combination of cultural, structural and social barriers, which WIBF Jobs has been specifically designed to address.

“The business case for gender diversity has been proven unequivocally” says Vivienne Artz, President of WIBF.  “But both organisations and women in financial services still face challenges in achieving their respective goals. It is now time to put forward solutions. WIBF Jobs is leading the way by prioritising what is often side-lined during the talent pipeline process, and giving financial institutions a holistic platform to tap into an engaged and informed female talent pool” she said.

The innovation behind WIBF Jobs’ approach is a unique directory of partner firms, showcasing their workplace and diversity best practices. This offers candidates complete transparency to compare gender pay gap reporting data, maternity and parental leave policies, availability of mentoring and leadership development programmes, diversity networks, returner programs, and flexible working arrangements.

Significantly, the site also provides access to roles with a variety of working practices, from full time, to part time, fixed term contract and flexible opportunities, at entry level through to leadership positions. In addition, WIBF Jobs offers specifically curated career guidance and tools designed to help women achieve their professional goals, provided by WIBF partner firms and organisations championing change across the industry. Examples include insight into the workplace benefits of flexible working, best practice in diverse hiring, as well as success stories from progressive financial series firms.

“We are proud to have been involved in the development of, and to support, WIBF Job” said Damien Shieber, Head of Culture and Inclusion at Santander UK, one of the first firms to be on-boarded to the site.  “We have come a long way in making our organisation more gender balanced and continue to evolve our Diversity & Inclusion gender strategy to accelerate the pace at which we increase numbers of women in senior management roles. Our goal is to attract, develop and retain the right talent to reach our gender targets”.

WIBF Jobs is a platform for WIBF Corporate Partner firms, which supports their commitment to achieving a better environment for women working in financial services and the advancement of gender equality. Organisations instrumental in the development and launch of WIBF Jobs includes Santander UK, Refinitiv and Macquarie, to whom WIBF would like to extend their thanks.

The long-term goal for WIBF Jobs is to become the go to resource for female talent in the financial services industry, with the addition of NED roles and a directory of female speakers on specialist topics that can be accessed by conference organisers. This will be further enhanced by leveraging academic research and data gained from the platform, supported by WIBF led events and thought leadership.