Barclays ‘Diversity in the Workplace’ debate

Barclays hosted a ‘Diversity in the Workplace: the Next Decade’ panel debate on Thursday 6th February 2020 at their London HQ at Canary Wharf. Speakers included David Farrow, Head of International Corporate Banking at Barclays, who highlighted the organisation’s successes and challenges with diversity and inclusion. Alex Brown, Head of Sales Management, Barclays, moderated a lively discussion with Shaun Hargreaves Heap, Professor of Political Economy, King's College London; Romeo Effs, Global Managing Director of Involve People Ltd; Dr Lopa Patel MBE, Chair of Diversity UK and Julie Timpson, Head of Cash Management Sales, NBFI and International Corporates at Barclays. Heeral Shah, VP in Corporate Banking & Co-Chair of the Asian Professionals Forum at Barclays, gave the closing remarks. Among the topics discussed were how to integrate minorities into the workplace; the case for diversity; the role of digital in increasing equality and what it means for Barclays clients.

The Barclays ‘Diversity in the Workplace: The Next Decade’ panel debate was organised by Ragavan Balendran, Associate Director - Real Estate Origination at Barclays and colleagues from the Barclays Embrace Network.

About the Barclays Embrace Network

Embrace, the global multicultural network, is dedicated to championing Barclays’ ambition to be the bank of choice for people from all backgrounds, faiths and geographies. It’s objectives are to:

Create and environment at Barclays that is supportive of employees from all all backgrounds, faiths and geographies
Support the recruitment, development and retention of diverse colleagues from all all backgrounds, faiths and geographies
Support colleagues to bring their ‘whole selves’ to work
Promote and celebrate multicultural and faith awareness
Promote engagement opportunities within communities and clients.

The network currently has chapters in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Japan, India and Singapore. In the UK, Barclays have several different forums that operate under the ‘Embrace’ umbrella – Asian Professionals Forum (incorporating Hindu and Sikh forums), Black Professionals Forum, Christian Forum, Jewish Forum and Muslim Forum
Embracing Us is an internal campaign that focuses on challenging and shifting global stereotypes in relation to nationality, faith, ethnicity, race and language. Specifically, it aims to tackle how these stereotypes can manifest in the workplace. The main priorities of the campaign are to:

Educate colleagues about the importance of embracing and promoting a multicultural workplace
Provide colleagues and managers with the tools and knowledge they need to confidently tackle stereotypical thinking wherever they find it.

For further information visit https://joinus.barclays/eme/diversity-and-inclusion/multicultural/