PROFILES 31
In the 21st century, a diversity policy is practically an essential for the serious business.
Engage’ s Business Editor
Colette Machado spoke to two diversity experts from investment bank
JPMorgan to find out what makes the company’ s diversity policy so unique.
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JPMorgan is one of the world’ s leading investment banks. Not only does it pride itself on being a company where commitment to diversity starts‘ at the top’ but also one where aspirations to embrace diversity fully are shared among all employees.
For the second consecutive year, JPMorgan has been named as one of the top 50 companies where women in the UK want to work( The Times,‘ Where Women Want To Work 2007’), however Abi Amosu, Corporate Head of Diversity for Europe, Middle East and Africa, points out that women are only one group of people the company seeks to develop and nurture.
The firm has more than 70 Employee Networks, initiated by and for employees, across the world. These groups of employees share a common cultural heritage, gender, age or interest and provide their members with a forum to communicate and exchange ideas, provide support and information as well as opportunities for mentoring. with the employees, hear their views and know how they feel at JPMorgan, do they feel a part of the company or outside of it, are they represented within the company, for example.”
As Corporate Head of Diversity, Mr Amosu, who has been with the company for almost one year, amongst his other diversity responsibilities, oversees all employee networking groups and coordinates the dissemination of information, best practice and various initiatives.
Ms Lake says hearing the views of some of the groups has led to the implementation of various changes, networking groups often give feedback that points out what is obvious to them, but may not be so obvious to others – for example our Pride network wanted to hear senior people say‘ Gay’ and‘ Lesbian’ rather than talk about‘ sexual orientation’ in vague terms. This is something we took on board and made a point of fixing.
JPMorgan’ s Diversity Policy is available for staff and others to read in the Employee Handbook and via the company’ s intranet, however it also ensures that regular discussions take place
“ We want to nurture diversity within our organisation. We want to find the best talent and retain them and create a truly inclusive environment where everyone can reach their potential,” says JPMorgan’ s Head of Philanthropy, Sponsorship and Diversity, for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Carol Lake.
( Left) Head of Philanthropy, Sponsorship and Diversity, for Europe, Middle East and Africa,
Carol Lake.
“ We have a networking group for South Asian employees, a group called Ujima specifically for African and Caribbean employees, a Parenting networking group, a flexible working network group, a LGBT [ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual ] networking group and many others.
“ The purpose of these groups is for employees to support one another and also for senior management to engage with external recruiting suppliers who share JPMorgan’ s diversity aspirations.
Finding, retaining, and nurturing talent appears to form the backbone of JPMorgan.
“ JPMorgan is a growing business and what really fuels us is talented people,” says Ms Lake, who is responsible for the firm’ s foundation-giving, enhancing the social responsibility agenda.“ It is about
ISSUE FIVE 2007 engage | uk