International Top-Down Implementation of D&I: Customised Plans at ING

Whenever a company starts to take its D&I activities outside its ‘home’ country, a number of new complexities are added to the already existing challenges. The recurring key question in that situation is: How much standards can the global corporate heaquarter set for international units, and how much freedom in adapting or tailoring should it allow? It has long become clear that none of the extreme solutions can be effective and that a healthy balance of a set framework and flexibility must be found. The international finance group ING, which has just been split up in a banking and an insurance firm, designed such a ‘both and approach’ over the past couple of years.
ING has long been an advocate of diversity, believing that a diverse, inclusive workforce makes the company better at what it does and more attractive as an employer. At the same time, diversity means more for ING than hiring people from different ethnic backgrounds, genders, ages, sexual orientations, physical abilities and personal philosophies. The company aims at creating an inclusive, corporate culture and workplace – one that welcomes, supports, respects, challenges and benefits from the inherent diversity people bring, such as differences in mindset, competencies and approach. Working towards such an ambitious, holistic goal, ING knows about the critical importance of top management support. “We believe that diversity and inclusion come from having the right leaders in the right roles, driving the right decisions,” says Lorenzo Civile, Global Head of Diversity at ING Bank. “It starts with management commitment at the top of the organization.” One important principle to effectively drive D&I in a business organisation is to apply methodologies that are common and well-known by managers: Measurement, gap analysis, target setting. At ING, women made up 50.3% of the global workforce in 2010, but only occupied 26.4% of senior management positions. These figures, although consistent with the gender imbalance typical in the financial sector, are now high on the bank’s agenda. ING’s Executive Board decided in 2010 to set a 33% target of female representation among ING’s International Management Council (MC) by 2015 which currently consists of 14.9% of women, up from 12.8 percent one year ago. “Admittedly, we still have a long way to go, especially since we are aiming to increase diversity throughout the management layers in ING,” Civile says. “But by embedding diversity into our performance goals of our leaders and rolling out initiatives to help measure progress, we are making clear improvements.”
Recognising that a single strategy to promote diversity and equal opportunities for the entire workforce is not a feasible option for a global company like ING, ING last year introduced a strategy that allows leaders to respond to the particular diversity challenges and opportunities they face in their countries or businesses. “These so-called Customized Diversity Plans are instrumental in embedding diversity in the DNA of our businesses and HR processes,” Civile says. “They will help leaders define gaps in your diversity profile and help improve, for instance, the number of women in senior leadership positions. In doing this, not only gender balance at the top will be reviewed, but also in our succession planning and pipeline of available talents in the organization.”
The customised plans are another methodology by which the bank applies a well-established principle of business management to the area of D&I. This will certainly help drive results along the lines of the D&I agenda. On this point, ING says it isn’t where it wants to be yet, but they are making progress and are dedicated to closing the gaps identified. These are two more ingredients for future success.