Women in Finance Charter
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion
We are committed to diversity and inclusion because it’s good for our employees, for our business, and for society.
We want all our great people to bring all of themselves to work, so that they can liberate the best in themselves. We know that diversity fosters innovation, which is part of our DNA. And we believe that inclusive diversity promotes social cohesion, which benefits society.
Diversity and inclusion chime with our core purpose, our values, and our shared value model, which make us great and set us apart.
Vitality is a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter. We have committed to gender parity at senior management levels by 2025. Currently (August 2024), 49.5% of our senior managers are women (compared with 42.7% in 2019).
To help us achieve this target, we have implemented a raft of initiatives:
- Set a target of 60% external female hires into £60k plus roles
- Included this target in our corporate scorecard, which is linked to employee bonus scheme
- Enhanced our recruitment and selection practices to source more talented women
- Consulted our Women’s Forum on gender-related initiatives
- Continued an annual mentoring programme for high performing, high potential employees – at least half the mentees are female or from an ethnic minority background
- Continued to apply a gender lens to succession planning and talent management
- Introduced progressive parental leave (equal entitlements for both parents) and flexible working policies
- Completed an audit which confirmed that equivalent work attracts equivalent pay at Vitality
- Showcased women’s achievements via internal communications platforms
- Launched the second round of a leadership development programme in partnership with everywoman
- Signed up to the Association of British Insurers’ transparent parental leave and pay initiative
- Introduced leadership competency assessments for senior roles to reduce unconscious bias in the selection process
- Introduced a flexible retirement benefit
- Co-ordinated a parent support buddy scheme
- Published a menopause and menstruation policy
- Offered menopause, parenthood and fertility support services to employees
All these initiatives have helped reduce our gender pay gap by 12.7% since 2018.
Initiatives planned for this year include:
- Becoming accredited as a menopause-friendly employer
- Launching a series of parenting support initiatives
- Providing interview skills training and promoting diverse interview panels
- Launching round three of our leadership development programme for women
- Rolling out neurodiversity training for managers
Gender inclusivity is core to Vitality’s brand
Vitality is committed to helping women live longer, healthier lives. We bring this to life in the way we design our products, the brand ambassadors we work with (such as Jessica Ennis-Hill, Ellie Simmonds, and Heather Knight), and the partners we sponsor or work with, including England Netball, This Woman Runs, ECB, AFC Bournemouth Women, and Stockport County Ladies FC. We work closely with our ambassadors and partners to inspire women to build exercise into their lives in a sustainable and impactful way.
Vitality will publish a report later this year which examines the reasons for low activity or inactivity in women, including the impact of the workplace and family life, and how they can be addressed.
Judy Parfitt, Chief People Officer
31 August 2024