ELEVEN businesses in the north have been acknowledged for their commitment to advancing gender diversity in the workplace, receiving Bronze Gender Diversity Charter Marks.
Diversity Mark NI was set up by Women in Business to deliver the accreditation, the first of its kind and awards organisations for their commitment to progress on gender diversity.
The businesses have committed to steps to address areas of unequal gender representation at all levels: removing obstacles faced by women at key points of career development; implementing structural and cultural changes that will help advance gender diversity; and putting in place a strategy and action plan to affect change.
Those who received the Bronze Charter mark were Allstate NI, Alexander Mann Solutions, Belfast City Council, Danske Bank, Gilbert-Ash, Homecare Independent Living, NI Fire & Rescue Service, Progressive Building Society, PSNI, Ulster Bank and Sensata Technologies.
Nichola Robinson, chair of Diversity Mark NI, who is a director at Bombardier, said: "These organisations have shown a genuine commitment to implementing inclusive growth and cultural shifts within the workplace.
“The Charter has enabled organisations to identify and reflect on institutional barriers facing women which impact progression on the career ladder. Through this, organisations have also taken steps to progress the overall diversity and equality agenda and improve the working environment for all employees.”
Roseann Kelly, chief executive at Women in Business, added: “In 2016 we launched our first manifesto and one of the four main pillars was diversity. We appointed male gender diversity champions who, together with Women in Business, have delivered the Diversity Mark NI.
"We are inspired and reassured that such impressive progress has been made over the past year. I encourage other innovative and progressive organisations to sign up. Not only will they be doing the right thing, but there is a correlation between gender diverse companies and better bottom line results.”
