Discrimination policy statement

Nationwide has a no tolerance approach to all forms of discrimination, threats of violence, intimidation, bullying, harassment and victimisation. This includes any unwanted physical, sexual, verbal or non-verbal conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

We have a comprehensive policy suite that is designed to help prevent discrimination and harassment, and provides clear procedures to investigate, address, remediate and learn from any incidences, and to ensure all colleagues are treated, with respect and dignity.

Our inclusion and diversity policy supports our strategy to:

• Build a culture where everyone can thrive, and colleagues are empowered to deliver the best for our customers
• Reflect the wider communities we serve within our society
• Uplift our colleagues’ wellbeing

We’re committed to giving everyone an equal opportunity and to eliminate discrimination on the basis of:

• sex
• race
• gender reassignment
• sexual orientation
• age
• religion or belief
• pregnancy and maternity
• disability
• marriage and civil partnership

We continue to develop, apply, and evolve our internal policies to support these commitments. And to prevent discrimination and bias on any basis. We’re not doing this alone; the Nationwide Group Staff Union (NGSU) are working alongside us to achieve this strategy.

Our internal policies also ensure discrimination isn’t tolerated in our processes and practices. These include:

• Recruitment and selection – including gender-neutral job adverts, diverse interview panels and unconscious bias training
• Fair treatment at work policy - treating people fairly, reasonably, and sympathetically in the operation of our policies
• Resolution Framework - promote a culture that recognises the benefit of speaking up early, and seek to find timely and effective resolutions to workplace problems (including bullying, discrimination, and harassment)
• People change toolkit – provide a framework for doing the right thing, in a transparent, inclusive, and fair way, so our people feel supported at every step in the people change journey
• Communications Policy – setting out our communication principles to ensure communications support our Nationwide values and colleagues do the right thing by Nationwide, our customers, and their colleagues
• Training and development – including promotion opportunities, job moves and performance discussions.

We have procedures in place to learn from and rectify situations that may have caused harm to our colleagues, and to take corrective action to help prevent any recurrence. This might include:

• disciplinary action under our Disciplinary Policy
• amending an indirectly discriminatory or unfair policy, practice or procedure
• mediation under our Resolution Framework
• reimbursement
• redeployment, or
• requiring a manager to undertake diversity training.

As part of the Resolution Framework, we ask the employee to specify their preferred outcome, for example, an apology or acknowledgment.

We have measures and progress reports in place to promote inclusion, diversity and wellbeing. These include individual goals for our leaders, as well as strategic action plans that are approved by the board. Education and training programmes are in place to help prevent discrimination and harassment across the organisation. We’re also committed to reducing our gender and ethnicity pay gaps

Our policies and processes have all been designed to ensure that we support our customers, colleagues, suppliers and communities. Our approach is guided by:

• Our customer first behaviours, which shape our culture
• The Nationwide Group Staff Union (NGSU), whose primary aim is to protect the interests of their members at work
• Our employee networks, which ensures our colleagues are heard
• The fundamental aims set out in the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) promotion of social justice, human and labour rights
• The UN Global Compact and The UNEP Principles for Responsible Banking frameworks and insight into best practices
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Our Mutual Good Commitments and Support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Our partnerships and affiliations

Last updated: October 2024