Diversity & Inclusion

Blind recruitment ensures equal opportunities for all applicants during the recruitment process.

We’re working with our chosen recruitment agencies to ensure we attract a diverse range of people with different experiences and cultures.

We’re committed to demonstrating our commitment both internally and externally to all facets of equality, diversity and inclusion by aiming to be a Race at Work Charter signatory and Disability Confident Leader employer. We’re also a member of the Financial Services Culture Board.

We’re proud to have signed up to HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, which is a pledge for gender balance across financial services.

When we signed up to the Charter in September 2019 with 35% female representation in senior management. As of 1st September 2021, we’ve reached 39% female representation in senior management. We aim to hit our Charter target of 45 % by October 2022.

While it may seem ambitious, we believe it remains achievable. We’re very proud to say that over the last year, we’ve further increased female representation on the Executive Committee from 20% to 37.5%.

Within Hodge there are currently 29 female employees working towards a qualification in leadership or coaching, with 20 women currently working towards completing their ILM qualification. A further nine are working towards completing their professional qualifications in finance or compliance.

Our colleagues are an essential part of our ongoing ambition to create a high performance culture which supports high standards and levels of service to meet our customers’ needs. So, not only do we recognise the importance of recording our gender pay gap, we also welcome this opportunity to identify the areas in which we can improve as an employer.

The findings in this report will be used to create an action plan to address the issues we’ve identified and establish a baseline from which to measure the impact of the steps we’re committed to taking towards continuing to make Hodge a better and fairer place to work.

We work with local schools to deliver talks encouraging people from different backgrounds and experiences to consider a job in financial services.

The aim is to inspire younger generations and show them financial services offer a wide range of opportunities and there’s a place for everyone.

We’ve been an active member of the Welsh Contact Centre Forum graduate scheme for more than five years. It offers graduates the opportunity to explore the financial services sector which has recently been praised for its adaptability, diversity and inclusion.

We send out regular surveys to employees to gain their opinions on how Hodge is doing in relation to diversity and inclusion, so we can understand how to improve. This helps us see not only how far we have come, but also where we can make progress, to ensure Hodge represents our community well.

In 2018 our colleagues from across the business established a Equality, Diversity & Inclusion group. This included implementing feedback channels to ensure our colleagues are able to share what we’re doing well and areas we need to prioritise.

We are continually reviewing our internal processes and practices, including reviewing our parental leave policy to ensure inclusivity for all parents, regardless of gender or circumstance and refreshing our recruitment policies to ensure equitable opportunities for all applicants.