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We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. We strive to intentionally create and maintain inclusive and unbiased hiring practices that are grounded in analytics and research, and continuously aim to foster a respectful and inclusive workplace that helps empower high performing teams to make better decisions.
We also acknowledge the need to provide equal opportunity for promotion and development to help retain and advance top talent and support our employees in their pursuit of a meaningful career.
Our Priorities
Enhancing hiring and recruitment programs
Driving equitable opportunities for pay, promotion and development
Improving leadership representation at all levels
“Investing in a diverse workforce will continue to position RBC for success, thanks to the diversity of thought, ideas and innovation that is naturally derived. We believe diversity and inclusion is an engine for innovation and economic resilience, supporting better workplaces and communities.”
Kelly Bradley, Chief Human Resources Officer
How RBC is Advancing Diversity
Our Leadership Representation in Canada
43%
of all executive positions are held by womenlegal bug 1,legal bug 2
27%
of all executive positions are held by BIPOClegal bug 1,legal bug 2
40%
of all senior management positions are held by womenlegal bug 1,legal bug 3
40%
of all senior management positions are held by BIPOClegal bug 1,legal bug 3
1 Metrics presented are governed by the Employment Equity Act (Canada).
2 Executives include enterprise level Vice-President, Senior Vice-President, Executive Vice-President and Group Executives as measured by Global Grades (e.g., position level).
3 Senior management refers to roles up to two levels below executives as measured by Global Grades (e.g., position level), which includes roles that are titled Senior Director and Director; however, titles vary depending on the business segment or function.
Enhancing hiring and recruitment programs
At RBC, we take a forward-thinking approach which aims to discover, attract and retain talent by planning for the future needs and the goals of the business, building recruitment strategies to attract high-performing talent. We will continue to strive to expand and build new pipelines of talent that reflect the diverse client segments, markets and communities we serve.
We are committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace where we embrace a wide range of qualities and fresh perspectives that candidates bring to RBC. As part of our goal of continuing to provide fair and inclusive opportunitieslegal bug 4 for all employees, we aim to recruit from a range of backgrounds with the intention of creating access for under-served populationslegal bug 5.
For more information on our representation performance, please see our Sustainability Report.
4 An opportunity that allows for those with the same level of talent and ability, and the same willingness to use them, to participate in ways where they have the same prospects of success. It involves removing barriers and biases that hinder one’s ability to participate and contribute.
5 Groups who have been denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life. These groups may include, but are not limited to, people who are socio-economically disadvantaged, geographically isolated, educationally disenfranchised, or those who have been historically excluded due to race, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, or other identity-based factors.
Partnerships and recruitment initiatives
Across Canada, the US, and the UK we partner with the following organizations advance our outreach to historically underrepresented groups which provide opportunities to add to our diverse talent pipelines, shortlists and prospective hires:
- Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
- Career Edge
- The Bennett Edge
- Specialisterne
- Spinal Cord Injury Ontario
- The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA)
- Ready
- Willing&Able
- Abilocity
- Prosper•US
- Association of African American Advisors (AAAA)
- SEO
- SEO London
- Big City Bright Future Programme
- Bright Network
- upReach
- Out for Undergrad
- Out Leadership
- Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals
- Onyx Initiative
- Women in Capital Markets (WCM)
- POC Career Fair, Rae McKenzie Group
- QUAD-A (Association of African American Financial Advisors)
- Fairygodboss
- Diversity Woman Media: Business Leaders in Tech
- FARE (Financial Alliance for Racial Equity)
- Geneysy Works
Recruitment and pipeline development is a key pillar of our recruitment strategy for RBC Capital Markets®. Our initiatives include the following:
Global
- RBC Women’s Advisory Program (Canada, US, UK): A multi-month early identification pipeline for university women involving events, mentor matches, and interviews for summer internships.
- RBC Spring Insights and Discovery Programs (Canada, US, UK): 1-2 day events for select first-year university students to learn about RBC culture, values, business areas, and student opportunities to help prepare students for their recruitment with RBC.
- RBC Pathways Diversity Award Program (Canada, US, AUS): $10,000 (CA)/$15,000 (US)/ $10,000 (AUS) dual internship-financial award program for undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds featuring executive sponsorship and internship placements in Investment Banking and Global Markets.
- RBC ERG connectivity (Canada, US, UK, AUS): Connecting students and interns to regional ERG networks.
Canada
- Canada sponsorships and partnerships include: Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals (annual Youth Summit), The Onyx Initiative (supporting Black students in their recruitment), Start Proud (annual LGBTQ+ student conference), and Women in Capital Markets (network supporting women in in the Canadian capital markets industry).
UK
- UK sponsorships and partnerships include: Big City Bright Future Programme (annual three-week paid work experience for high school leavers interested in Global Markets), Bright Network (hosting targeted student events i.e. Black Heritage Future Leaders, Women in Leadership, Women in Tech), National Student Pride (the UK’s largest LGBTQ+ student conference), SEO London (providing coaching to students from underserved communities), upReach (support for students from low socio-economic backgrounds).
US
- RBC Investment Banking MBA Women’s Immersion Program: Early insight program with coaching for MBA women recruiting for the Global Investment Banking Summer Associate Program.
- RBC LGBTQ+ Sophomore Insights Program: A multi-month early identification pipeline for Sophomores involving events, mentor matches, and interviews for summer internships.
- RBC MBA Diversity Fellowship: Dual internship-financial award for MBA students from underrepresented backgrounds featuring placements in the GIB Summer Associate Program
- RBC Veteran Symposium: Event for undergraduate and MBA students with U.S. military service backgrounds recruiting for Summer Analyst and Associate Programs.
- US sponsorships and partnerships include: Out for Undergrad Business Conference (annual conference for LGBTQ+ finance undergraduate students), SEO USA (providing coaching to undergrads from underserved communities).
Driving inclusive opportunities for Pay, Promotion and Development
We believe that providing fair and inclusive opportunitieslegal bug 4 for all employees is a central tenet to success at RBC, which in turn can help broaden economic opportunity in the communities we serve.
Pay transparency
RBC is committed to the principles of pay equity. Over the years, we have evolved our practices to support transparency and promote pay equity. We have established robust compensation review processes to help identify and strive to rectify any pay disparities among employee groups performing equal or comparable work. We proactively analyze compensation across gender, race and ethnicity and consider a range of additional factors including position level, tenure, specialized skills, business or function, and geography.
For more information on our commitment to pay equity, please see our Sustainability Report and Gender Pay Gap Annual Reports
Promotion Rateslegal bug 2
53%
of promotions were women
48%
of promotions were BIPOC
2 Promotions are defined as an upward change in Global Grade (e.g., position level). The metrics are based on employee self-identification and the calculation excludes students, summer interns and co-ops as well as City National Bank and RBC Brewin Dolphin as these subsidiaries have not been integrated onto our primary HR platform.
Improving leadership representation at all levels
With the goal of enabling a high-performance culture and delivering value to our clients, RBC is dedicated to creating an environment where employees can grow and reach their career potential. We remain dedicated to building a strong and diverse pipeline of leaders with the experiences and abilities to help support the financial wellbeinglegal bug 6 of our clients and strengthen the resiliencelegal bug 7 of the communities we operate in.
6 Refers to the extent to which individuals can cover their current and ongoing financial commitments, build enough savings to feel comfortable in the future and make the money choices that allow them to live a fulfilling life. To enable financial wellbeing, RBC strives to simplify finances, help clients to achieve their financial aspirations, create better relationships with money, and help provide fair and inclusive access to financial services.
7 The capacity to anticipate, cope with, recover from, or adapt to shock, disruption, stress or changing factors in the external environment. In the context of climate, this refers to the resilience of the economy to the effects of climate change. In the context of skills, this refers to the capacity of an individual to adapt to industry shifts, technological advancements in the workplace, organizational changes, and career pivots. In the context of communities, this refers to communities being resilient to a wide range of risks while maintaining an acceptable level of functioning without compromising long-term prospects of sustainability development, peace and security, human rights, and wellbeing for all.
New executive appointmentslegal bug 6
44%
of new executive appointments were women
35%
of new executive appointments were BIPOC
6 Represents fiscal year 2024 data. A new executive appointment is the appointment of an internal employee or external hire as a first-time Vice President, Senior Vice President or Executive Vice President. HSBC Canada executives who joined RBC at the acquisition date are not included in executive appointments.
UK Women in Finance Charter CommitmentRoyal Bank of Canada (RBC)Disclaimer1 is committed to building a diverse, inclusive workplace, where individuals may strive to reach their full potential, regardless of, among other things, age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion or background. We believe embracing diversity and inclusion is not only the right thing to do for our employees, clients and the broader community, but that it is also the smart thing to do to support needs of the clients and communities we serve.
When we updated out commitment to the Charter in 2019, we had 19.7% senior female representation (defined by RBC as Director level or higher), and our target was to reach 25% by 28 February 2025. Over the last four years, we have made steady progress in the improvement of female representation, meeting each annual goal of increasing representation by 1% per annum over the five-year period. As of 31 July 2024, we have 25.2% female representation in senior management. We have therefore met our Charter target of 25% before our deadline of 28 February 2025. We will review our commitment later this year.
While we have made progress against our goals, we know we have more work to do.
We take our responsibility to increase representation of women in senior-level roles seriously, and are committed to attracting, retaining, supporting, enabling, and developing women. Our commitment to the UK government’s Women in Finance Charter, which RBC in the British Isles signed up to in 2017, is a key component of holding ourselves accountable for the progress we make.
We remain committed to recruiting more women into the industry and to RBC at the entry level through our intern and graduate programmes. We continue to focus on initiatives that provide access to advancement opportunities for interns and graduates into our Capital Markets teams, an area at RBC that typically remains male-dominated.
Over time, as these new recruits are retained and promoted through the firm, we expect to see more women represented in senior-level roles.
At the same time, we remain committed to attracting industry-leading professionals at the senior level.
Over the last year we have:
- Continued to strengthen employee support and resources, designed to raise awareness of employee support available and prepare employees and people managers, as well as providing external support for current and future talent through partnerships with Rising Stars, Women in the City Afro-Caribbean Network (WCAN) and City Women’s Network. In addition, access to support (e.g. for fertility, neurodiversity and menopause) has increased via benefit enhancements and wellbeing tool access.
- Facilitated a number of internal events in support of women with both internal and external speakers, with the support of employee resource groups RWomen and iCare on a range of topics including International Women’s Day, understanding the gender pay gap, financial wellbeing, women’s health, fertility support, neurodiversity and wellness.
- Continuation of talent initiatives with a diversity and inclusion lens including diverse hiring panels, promotion panels, mentoring and sponsorship and employee listening exercises. This includes a focus on attracting gender balanced graduate and intern cohorts. Of the 2024 graduate intake of permanent hires, 38% self-identified as women, 53% self-identified as men, 2% as non-binary and 7% did not specify. The number of women in the intake is 8% lower than 2023. Of the 2024 intern class, 44% self-identified as women, representing a 4% increase from 2023, 31.5% as men and 24.5% did not specify. These stats are both measured as at the intake date. The relatively high ‘not specified’ intern number are hires recruited outside of our application system via specific community investment partners: SEO London, 10K Black Interns and GAIN (Girls Are Investors).
We are committed to providing women with opportunities in hiring and promotion; and continue to support untapped external pools of talent through our partnerships with We are The City, City Women’s Network and WCAN, which also help keep us apprised of industry best practice regarding support for women professionals.
For the 12 months ending 31 July 2024, women across the British IslesDisclaimer1 accounted for 42.9% of all new hires and received 49.1% of promotions. The number of new hires is a slight increase on 2023, however promotions for women have increased significantly from 32%. These actions demonstrate the impact of our efforts within the organisation and how we track recruitment, promotion and retention rates for women to measure progress against our commitment.
At RBC, diversity and inclusion is a value that is core to our purpose of helping clients thrive and communities prosper, and a fundamental strength of our organisation. We are focused on continuing to create a work environment for employees to succeed. Continually advancing women into leadership roles remains a focus as we strive to attract and retain talented women, and to support and enable their development and advancement in the workplace.
This Women in Finance Charter Annual Update Submission Form includes information about Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”, “we”, “our” or “us”) operations in the British Isles (excluding RBC Brewin Dolphin).