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Royal Bank of Canada earns 2010 Catalyst Award for advancing
women and other diverse groups
RBC recognized for adapting women's programs to engage Visible
Minorities, Aboriginal Peoples, Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual and
Transgenders (LGBT), New Canadians, and Persons with Disabilities
NEW YORK, March 24, 2010— RBC's commitment
to enabling the progress of women and minorities and their
climb up the corporate ladder has earned the bank international
recognition as a recipient of this year's Catalyst Award for
diversity. Today, women comprise nearly 40 per cent of executives
at RBC, with 54 per cent of management roles held by women.
Visible minorities account for 14 per cent of executives and
their representation in management roles has doubled from
13 to 26 per cent in the last decade. The global organization
has diverse operations with 77,000 employees who speak over
100 languages, serving 18 million clients across Canada, the
U.S. and 53 other countries.
RBC president and CEO, Gordon M. Nixon will accept the prestigious
Catalyst Award on behalf of RBC for outstanding diversity
and inclusion initiatives that advance the representation
and influence of women and other diverse groups in business.
Catalyst is the leading nonprofit membership organization
working globally with businesses and the professions to build
inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and
business.
"Clearly, supporting diversity is the right thing to
do, but it also represents incredible business potential.
To ignore the value offered by huge parts of the workforce
and the markets we serve would be to miss a significant business
opportunity. The link between diversity and the success of
a business is clearly there," said Nixon. "The question
is not whether we want a diverse workforce-it's already here-but
rather how to attract and develop the best talent which happens
to be diverse. There's a lot of hard work required to move
from simply having diversity to unleashing its full potential."
The global RBC Diversity Leadership Council, which Mr. Nixon
established in 2001 and has chaired since its inception, and
a growing team of diversity champions throughout RBC are part
of Mr. Nixon's vision of ensuring the diversity opportunity
is pursued in all parts of the company.
Zabeen Hirji, Chief Human Resources Officer for RBC, helps
to drive RBC's diversity strategy with its focus on talent
and workplace, clients and communities. "At RBC we've
built a culture where diversity is a core value, where we
value differences and treat each other with respect. We believe
that to succeed, we must harness everyone's talents and energy
and apply them to achieving our common goals. Frankly, it's
a win-win situation: when employees achieve their full potential,
RBC wins too," said Hirji.
RBC's winning initiative includes many components to ensure
employee success, including reciprocal mentoring that matches
employees of different backgrounds and different levels so
that they can learn about diversity from each other; specific
staffing goals, coaching and development plans for women and
visible minorities; and supporting Employee Resource Groups,
which enable and expand the diversity discussion across the
organization.
RBC has also integrated its strategies across employees,
clients and communities, one feature of the company's approach
to diversity that attracted the attention of the Catalyst
organization. For example, a women's market strategy is targeted
to women business owners with a dedicated public website and
internal roles where women serve as experts for this market
segment. Additionally, an Aboriginal banking effort includes
innovative recruitment approaches, full service and remote
banking on many Aboriginal reserves, and a community action
plan around youth, education and economic development. In
the case of newcomers to Canada:
- RBC recruiters are culturally trained and recognize the
value of international credentials and experience. To attract
newcomer employees, RBC participates in bridging programs,
to provide internships to new immigrants, many of whom are
subsequently hired.
- On the client front, RBC offers advice for newcomers to
Canada wanting to start or grow a business, a dedicated
website on becoming
financially established in Canada, a Welcome
to Canada Banking Package designed for newcomers,
product and service fact sheets available in 14 languages,
and basic banking telephone service with access to communicating
in over 150 languages.
- In the community, RBC has established strong partnerships
with leading nonprofit organizations-organizations that
understand the importance of collaborating with multi stakeholders
- governments, community agencies, academia and businesses,
because that's what's needed for newcomer success. As an
example, CEO Gordon Nixon and CHRO Zabeen Hirji co-chair
the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, a nonprofit
organization which works to better integrate skilled immigrants
into the labour market.
Through this integrated approach, RBC expands the diversity
of its employees, its ability to serve clients, and helps
to raise the issue to a national level to significantly increase
its impact. Canada has the largest per capita immigration
intake in the world and much of its future population growth
will come from immigration.
"If Canada is to realize the global advantage of its
diversity and become the destination of choice for professionals,
skilled people, and entrepreneurs, we must do a better job
of helping new immigrants integrate and achieve personal success
as well as contribute to the prosperity of our country,"
said Hirji.
For Mr. Nixon, the Catalyst Award provides an opportunity
to ignite further efforts that he hopes will drive prosperity
for customers and for the bank. "I'm passionate about
it," said Nixon. "We have embedded diversity throughout
our business and for that we are a better company - a company
that can effectively serve our diverse clients and recruit
the best talent. It's one of our core values and part of what
we do at RBC."
ABOUT RBC
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) and its subsidiaries
operate under the master brand name RBC. We are Canada's largest
bank as measured by assets and market capitalization, and
among the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization.
We are one of North America's leading diversified financial
service companies, and provide personal and commercial banking,
wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment
banking and transaction processing services on a global basis.
We employ approximately 77,000 full- and part-time employees
who serve more than 18 million personal, businesses, public
sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada,
the U.S. and 53 other countries. For more information, please
visit www.rbc.com.
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Media contact:
Gillian McArdle, RBC Media Relations, (416) 974-5506
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