Mastercard believes gender balance is crucial to the success of our business and the personal and professional development of our employees. In the UK, Mastercard has signed HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, which is a pledge for gender balance across financial services.
As part of the charter we are committing to the following internal targets for gender diversity in our senior management:
- At least ‘one qualified’ female candidate on the slate for all mid to senior level vacancies in the UK;
- A target of 40% females in the UK senior team by 2020; and,
- Continual development of a range of progressive policies to support flexible working in the UK.
On an annual basis we will share detail around our male / female ratios at senior management level, and across the UK business as a whole. We will also link the individual reward of our UK senior executive team to achievements against our internal gender diversity targets and by ensuring that gender objectives are embedded into our UK goals.
In line with the charter’s commitments, Mark Barnett, Divisional President of UK and Ireland is Mastercard’s senior executive responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion.
An update on our progress:
Since becoming one of the first signatories of HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, we have worked hard to make progress on our targets.
As of 1 October 2017, Mastercard UK has met its targets, due to be achieved by 2020.
Our UK management team is made up of more than 40% women. We remain committed to addressing diversity and inclusion across the business, and continue to explore opportunities to enable this further. Key initiatives in this area have included Relaunch your Career, Mastercard’s returnship programme for mid-senior level women and men from across the industry, enhanced paternity leave at 6 weeks fully paid, and maternity leave at 18 weeks fully paid. We have extended the availability of flexible and remote working across the group, and regularly review our recruitment processes, to continue to ensure balanced candidate slates. Additionally, we will continue to invest in high potential development activities to support the growth of our female talent.
