National Inclusion week

The theme for 2023 is Take Action Make Impact, a call to action for everybody from leaders, to I&D professionals, to teams of all sizes and individuals. Take Action Make Impact is a powerful message which aims to get organisations and individuals thinking about what actions they can take and what positive impact these actions could and should have for marginalised colleagues.

Women have long been a marginalised group across industries of all types and at WIBF our focus is to transform opportunities for women within every aspect of banking and finance. As a network we have championed women and their impact on our industry for over 40 years and currently have over 2600 members across the UK and over 70 corporate partners.

Our Accelerating Change Together (ACT) research programme is one of the ways that we work to better understand the impact of gender across our industry. It aims to provide actionable recommendations and effect policy change to better retain and promote women in the financial services workforce. We work alongside the Inclusion Initiative at the London School of Economics and Political Science and The Wisdom Council to deliver this work.

In recent years we’ve published the GOOD FINANCE Framework initiative – a unique framework designed to create a better work environment for all employees. The framework identifies 10 themes and proposes concrete actions for organisations wanting to retain and develop their most talented employees, including women. The themes range from opportunities, norms and incentives, to flexibility and difference. You can read more about it here – https://www.wibf.org.uk/thought-leadership/

With Take Action Make Impact in mind, now is an opportunity for us all to revisit the framework and to take action in our own roles to make a difference. Whether as a leader of an organisation, a team leader, or an enthusiastic team member we can all act now to be more inclusive with those around us and to support marginalised groups.