At BW, we develop teams who give – and welcome – different opinions, views and cultural perspectives, bringing a real richness to our day-to-day activities.

We believe a diversity of thought achieves better business results, for both our clients and for ourselves.

Building on our culture of doing the right thing, we want everyone at BW to feel they can bring their whole self to work, confident they are included and respected. We value access to a wide talent pool, without any boundaries or bias.

Our D&I networks

Diversity today means more than race and gender. This is why we provide an environment where different voices are encouraged and heard through our internal networks. Our networks work together to build an inclusive and diverse place for us all to work.

Early careers

Gender equality

Inter-faith

LGBT+

Multicultural

Wellness+

Early Careers Network

Our Early Careers Network’s aim is to promote awareness of, and champion, engagement in early careers.

BW regularly supports a wide variety of graduate roles, summer internships, apprenticeships and work experience placements, ensuring those at the beginnings of their careers have the foundations to build their confidence, knowledge and input as they develop.

I’m passionate about ensuring all have equal opportunity to fulfil their potential – and that these opportunities aren’t just down to luck!
Rebecca Jaques Early Careers Network

 

Gender Equality Network

The Gender Equality Network’s role is to promote and champion awareness of, and engagement in gender equality.

Our work in this area has recently been recognised by the Women in Pensions Awards, which saw 22 individual nominations from across the firm and BW nominated in the organisational category.

Read our latest Gender Pay Gap Report

 
As a part-time woman and single mum, our Network’s principles are close to my heart, and I’m excited to be involved in developing the work BW is already undertaking.
Caroline Irving Gender Equality Network

 

Inter-Faith Network

BW is a great place to work, in a country with a high level of religious tolerance, but inclusion goes beyond merely tolerating others.

Real inclusion is wanting the best for each other, and encouraging each other to thrive, even though our backgrounds and beliefs may be different. Our Inter-Faith Network helps to promote this understanding.

My faith means peace, comfort, joy and a reason for being – it’s always there when I need it. I hope to encourage others in BW to freely express themselves in their faith.
Sofia Fiaz Inter-Faith Network

 

LGBT+ Network

Our LGBT+ Network is committed to joining with colleagues and friends to raise awareness, share experiences and work together to provide a safe, open work environment where everyone can thrive and be their best, authentic self regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

Being an LGBT+ Network Lead is all about joining colleagues to raise awareness, share experiences and work together.
Sarah French LGBT+ Network

 

Multicultural Network

Our Multicultural Network demonstrates we can achieve more by working together. Cultural inclusiveness doesn’t mean blending everyone into one, it means respecting and celebrating our differences in order to thrive as a team.

We promote and champion the many different cultures that are shared across our colleagues at BW and beyond.

Diversity means having the opportunity to learn, grow and prosper together by ensuring our thoughts, ideas and perspectives all have a chance to be heard.
Amardeep Sitara Multicultural Network

 

Wellness+ Network

Our approach to wellness at BW is to create an environment where all individuals will be engaged at work, successful at what they do, and able to achieve their full potential, benefiting both their self and their colleagues.

Our Wellness+ Network’s role is to promote and champion awareness of, and engagement in wellness and related areas, from mental health and financial wellbeing to accessibility and inclusion. The value of happiness cannot be underestimated.

We also provide wellbeing consulting services to our clients, including our wellbeing analysis survey.

We can support each other’s wellness by making the effort to really listen to and understand each other’s perspectives and situations.
Wendy Kriz Wellness+ Network
"Our impact as a firm is only as strong as our respect for the diverse nature of those who work here, our industry, our clients, and the societies and communities in which we operate."

How we support D&I

Our business

Our community

Our thinking

Our partnerships

In our business

Our D&I steering group is led by David Stoddard, our COO, and reports to our Management Board. The steering group has a focus on improving inclusion and bringing greater diversity to the firm. Our current initiatives include:

  • Embedding our diversity networks to create spaces for colleagues to share, support and develop, as well as build an inclusive and diverse work environment
  • Increasing engagement with our colleagues, and sparking conversations and thinking about different perspectives through events, discussions and social media
  • Actively tackling the possibility of unconscious bias with measures like our new applicant tracking system, which helps our talent acquisition team reduce and challenge preconceptions

In our community

We support our wider community with our professional skills and expertise. Our colleagues:

  • Volunteer our time as trustees on boards to support charity finance and governance
  • Use our IT skills to support charities set up computer equipment
  • Use our marketing talent to help charities with branding
  • Support students with maths tutoring
  • Provide industry and workplace experience for people to help them get an understanding of our industry and a foot in the door

In our thinking

During the spread of Covid-19 in 2020, we recognised how the recent gains made in many sectors on gender equality began to be undermined, with job losses and caring responsibilities falling disproportionately on women, and gender-based violence increasing exponentially.

In this context, we work to bring focus and attention to the gender pensions gap. We go further than simply telling women to save more – we know the pension system is intrinsically biased towards men, creating stark disparities in wealth at retirement that need to be addressed at its core.

We considered fiscal, behavioural, and societal issues collectively, and set out actions for individuals, employers and policy-makers to create a more robust and inclusive pensions framework offering fairer solutions for all. As we start to ‘build back better’, women’s financial futures must be a core part of our agenda.

Our dedication to gender equality extends to our work in the wider industry, with our gender pay gap analysis and our pay gap analytics service.

In our partnerships

We also look to advance inclusion and diversity through collaboration, joining with others in our industry and challenging ourselves and others to go further, faster.

We are members and co-organisers of the pensions industry LGBTQ+ network group, O:pen, an inclusive organisation for professionals working in pensions who believe in the importance of promoting and celebrating LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion within the industry.

We partner with 10,000 Black Interns to transform horizons and prospects by providing paid work experience, training and mentorship to help provide the foundation for more black people to pursue careers in business.

We are members of the Diversity Project. We are also a signatory of the Asset Owner's Diversity Charter, committing us to helping to build an investment industry which represents a more balanced and fair representation of diverse societies. This includes manager selection, manager monitoring, and leading and collaborating with others in the investment industry to identify diversity and inclusion best practice.

More about us

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