Our commitment to inclusion and diversity is demonstrated by our wide range of initiatives, together with the commitment and engagement of our employees on this important mandate.
Creating a more supportive and inclusive workplace
We are very pleased to see an increase in the number of employees, both male and female who are working flexibly, supported by our family friendly policies. The move to flexible working is critical and the ability to capitalise on agile working solutions enables us to unlock increases in innovation, engagement and productivity.
We are also incredibly pleased to see a large increase in the number of employees taking Shared Parental Leave. Supporting both parents to be active care givers in their first year is crucial to establishing equal responsibilities going forward.
We are aware that creating a truly inclusive culture requires longer-term societal change. Here we continue to engage with Inspiring the Future (a charity which encourages people to speak to school children about their jobs and career routes) and participate in career development events with local schools to increase awareness of career opportunities in the financial services sector.
Our employee networks create connections across the business, highlighting role models and establishing a culture where all of our employees feel able to bring their whole selves to work. These groups plays a central role in informing policy and better understanding the needs of our employees.
We continue to utilise our memberships of many external organisations which support inclusivity in the workplace, such as Cityparents, to share best practice with other companies and translate learnings into meaningful outcomes for Mizuho EMEA.
Mentoring
We are proud to offer several mentoring programmes to our employees including internal, reverse and external cross-company programmes. These aim to support a pipeline of targeted talent, which includes programmes that focus on developing our female talent. The mentoring schemes aim to build strong relationships between mentors and mentees, and provide a tangible way to offer practical learning and development for our employees.
In June 2018, Mizuho was shortlisted for two awards in the 30% Club and Women Ahead #Inspiredbymentoring awards including Dynamic Mentoring Organisation of the Year and Dedicated Programme Partner of the Year.