Diversity & inclusion

Diversity & inclusion

The BIS is committed to welcoming and respecting diversity across all dimensions, including gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, nationality, race, ethnicity, physical abilities, age, beliefs, educational background and experience.

Work on the Bank's people policies and practices supports the BIS's ability to attract and retain a diverse workforce by improving policies that help foster a culture of diversity, inclusion and fairness at the BIS.

Sexual orientation and gender are at the core of our personal identities. Rather than discriminate, let's celebrate these spectrums of diversity and create an environment where everyone can be comfortable with who they are.

BIS staff member

Diversity and Affinity Networks

These networks are staff-run and focus on encouraging employee engagement and fostering an inclusive culture.

They also promote awareness of issues related to diversity, including diversity of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, nationality, race, ethnicity, physical abilities, age, beliefs, educational background and experience, or other shared identities or interests.

The Networks create an environment for staff to connect, engage, inspire and support each other to achieve their full potential. We want the BIS to have an inclusive culture where we can bring our "whole selves" to work and where diverse perspectives are welcomed.

The mission of Pride@BIS is to provide a safe and open support network for LGBTQI+ colleagues so that they can bring their whole self to work; to support colleagues with LGBTQI+ family members; and to enable colleagues who are LGBTQI+ allies to demonstrate support. In 2022, Pride@BIS celebrated Pride month by raising the rainbow flag at BIS locations, and distributing rainbow lanyards and posters to staff to show their support. The network also hosted a powerful panel session allowing BIS staff who themselves or whose family members are LGBTQI+ to share their personal experiences, which brought the community closer together.

WE@BIS helps women and their allies support each other to achieve their full potential at the BIS and beyond. It delivers events and programmes focused on building skill, confidence and a sense of connection. A particular highlight during the year was the Athena mentoring programme for women, which saw its second cohort graduate in January 2023. To celebrate International Women's Day in March 2023, the network hosted an inspiring panel discussion on challenging questions related to gender equity and diversity, featuring both internal and external speakers.

EMBRACE@BIS celebrates, promotes and advocates ethnic and cultural diversity and representation in the BIS. To further promote the value of that diversity for the BIS and its employees, EMBRACE undertook initiatives over the past year which included a celebration of the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, the authoring of internal articles recognising the various cultures represented by BIS staff and social events to recognise various cultural celebrations. These initiatives were in addition to EMBRACE's ongoing initiatives such as its regular book club meetings. The highlight of the year was the hosting of an all-staff event: "In conversation with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization".

The Parents and Carers network promotes connection, information exchange, learning and knowledge-sharing amongst parents, carers and others who are supportive of parents and carers. The network also seeks to raise awareness of the challenges they face, and to facilitate a more inclusive culture for parents and carers at the BIS. In 2022/23, in addition to bringing parents together regularly, the network organised presentations to staff and parents on the Swiss schooling system and contributed to a cross-company discussion on working parents. It also held an event for Ukrainian refugee family hosts and their guests.

A key aim of the BIS is to measurably increase gender diversity. Reflecting its full commitment to equal opportunity employment, the Bank has set a 50/50 gender target to fill vacancies for line managers and senior professionals. In 2022/23, our overall recruitment distribution was 33% for female line managers and 31% for senior professionals. While we fell short of our target, the BIS remains committed to improving our gender balance over the long term.

To implement its wider diversity agenda, the BIS has a Diversity Steering Committee made up of representatives from around the Bank. The committee oversees activities related to diversity and inclusion. In addition, to help drive forward our diversity and inclusion agenda, the Bank's first Diversity and Inclusion Adviser was appointed in March 2022.

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