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It starts with us

Diversity and inclusion

Together we are building a more inclusive business and fairer society. Diversity of thought, paired with a culture of inclusion, is vital when working with clients and customers who face increasingly complex challenges. It helps our business address society’s big concerns and makes abrdn a great place to be, where people are valued for who they are.

Our diversity and inclusion framework sets out our priorities:

• Part of our purpose
• Inclusive ways of working
• Attracting and developing diverse talent
• Feel included and valued everyday

You can read more about our diversity and inclusion progress, including our priority areas, annual report and policy document on our Diversity and Inclusion page.

Gender targets for the end of 2025:

Ethnicity target for end of 2025 (as at 31 December 2021):

We aim to have a minimum of one plc Board member who identifies as from a minority ethnic background. We achieved this target in 2021.

As part of our strategy to enable our clients to be better investors, we recognise that customers need access to products and services that meet specific needs. It is essential for us to recognise where elements of our traditional offering are not inclusive and that our conduct fairly represents the opportunities and outcomes available. Our governance framework reflects our focus on supporting all our customers, including those dealing with vulnerabilities.

We have invested in bespoke training to ensure that our colleagues are equipped to support and identify requirements for priority care, with specific focus on colleagues in customer facing or customer supporting roles. Our focus extends further into our recruitment processes, as we look to ensure our future colleagues are prepared to provide inclusive services to all our customers. It is also essential that all our communications are transparent, and we have controls in place to ensure that everything we say about our products fairly represents the reality.

All of our colleagues are paid above the minimum wage, and we are committed to acting on modern slavery and human rights as an investor.

Across the UK, we have been Living Wage accredited since 2014 and were one of the first two companies to receive a Living Hours accreditation, as an employer.

Enabling our colleagues, and partners, to plan ahead with secure and clear work patterns is a key element of fair work. Living Hours means providing a minimum of four weeks’ notice for shift work and guaranteed payment if shifts are cancelled within that window. This is something we ensure for suppliers working on our UK premises.

Investing with purpose

We take part in external indices to enable comparison and benchmarking across industry groups and encourage others to do the same. In 2021 we submitted to the Workforce Disclosure Initiative for the first time, and featured as a returning participant to the Social Mobility Employer Index.

Diversity and inclusion is a standing agenda item as part of our engagement with companies, specifically in relation to Board and Executive level representation, and how this is translated within the business. As an escalation measure, we use our clients’ votes to push for greater diversity by taking action on resolutions, aligned to our established regional expectations.

More on our investing approach

Our human rights statement summarises our approach to identifying and upholding the human rights of our people, clients and customers, community and those impacted by our suppliers, partners and the companies we invest in.

Our modern slavery statement outlines our approach to tackling human trafficking, forced labour, bonded labour and child slavery.

At a time when people are having to take greater responsibility for their own finances, there is also an increasing demand for trusted advice and support to meet their needs. By supporting financial education – through initiatives such as KickStart Money and First Nations Foundation - developing solutions that make saving easier, and helping people access financial advice, we aim to help more people obtain the security and confidence to achieve their savings goals.

Our colleagues work in low-risk physical environments. Health and safety risk assessments are conducted for all work activities and regular audits are conducted by an external party on our UK premises. We aim for zero reportable accidents and 95% of risks to be controlled at the point of audit. All accidents and incidents are investigated.

The pandemic has imposed a new challenge, with our return to offices requiring us to update our policies and spaces to be safe and secure in line with local requirements.

We have implemented a blended approach to working and recognise that the home working environment differs significantly from our offices. We have also empowered our people managers to work with their teams and devise flexible solutions to balance the needs of clients with personal needs.

We aim to give all our colleagues the tools and resources they need to take control of their development, and to make a valuable contribution to our strategy. Our 2021 story reflects increased engagement across abrdn, as our colleagues took advantage of newly launched Data, and Digital, academies. These academies help colleagues develop the skills and mind-set needed to ensure we are equipped to support our clients in a digital world, and help colleagues to harness data to make better decisions, regardless of their roles.

In 2021 we tracked an increase of 50% in our virtual and digital learning usage, and our virtual learning programmes are highly recommended with a net promoter score of 51.

We continue to run learning modules aligned with our regulatory commitments. All our colleagues are provided with mandatory learning linked to the financial sector. We run annual training in line with regulations and 98% of our colleagues completed our code of conduct training in 2021.