Five years to change and better represent its employees is the goal that the British group HSBC has set itself. The bank has promised to at least double the number of its black employees in management positions by 2025, chief executive Noel Quinn said in a note to staff.
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd, a black American killed by a white police officer, the official launched discussions with his black employees to "better understand their concerns and hear their suggestions".
Update of recruitment procedures
“Our black colleagues feel that HSBC has not been strong enough on the issues that concern them,” he wrote. In the light of these exchanges, the leader of the group in particular undertook to improve the census and transparency of its ethnic statistics.
As part of the bank's plan to improve diversity and increase career opportunities for "our black and ethnic minority colleagues", Noel Quinn also pledged to update recruitment procedures to combat discrimination .
A starting point "
Stressing that each country where the bank is present faced its “own challenges” in this regard, the group will also take specific measures according to local contexts. “The commitments we make are only a starting point,” he continues, assuring his employees that the group will expand its projects on these subjects.
HSBC has 235,000 employees worldwide, but has relaunched its restructuring plan providing for 35,000 job cuts, after having suspended it due to the pandemic of new coronavirus.
About two weeks ago, another British banking group, Lloyds, pledged to increase the number of its black executives fivefold within 5 years, so that they represent around 3% of its executives, the proportion of black people in the UK population.
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