Diversity and Inclusion

www.rbs.com Make it happen

Diversity and Inclusion
Introduction
At RBS, we know it is important to have employees with diverse
talents and backgrounds. We employ over 136,000 people in 27
countries. Their understanding of the differing needs of our 35
million customers is the key to our success.
As we grow, we will continue to embrace
people from different countries and
backgrounds. We must therefore ensure we
are providing an environment where all our
employees feel included and valued.
We are committed to operating as a
meritocracy, where all employees can
develop their full potential - irrespective
of their race, gender, marital status, age,
disability, religious belief, political opinion or
sexual orientation.
Here we show how our diversity strategy
influences the way we engage with our
customers and our employees.
Strategy
Our diversity strategy is more than just
words. It shapes the way we interact with
employees and customers at every level.
RBS fully accesses talent from the widest
possible human capital. We aim to create an
equal, inclusive environment where current
talent is engaged and future talent attracted
by:
• Engaging people whatever their
background and progressing
them on merit.
• Ensuring that our behaviour does
not discriminate or disadvantage
that talent.
• Seeking out and removing barriers
to achievement.
We recognise and respond to changing
demographics, social values and attitudes
that impact business by:
• Recognising UK demographics have
changed and continue to change rapidly
and that this has implications for our
workforce.
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executives from the divisions. Progress
is reported quarterly to the General
Executive Management Committee.
• The hosting of employee focus groups,
to date with female and ethnic minority
employees, to discuss their experiences
• As a global organisation, seeking to of working in RBS.
recognise demographics throughout the
world and developing a workforce that
understands and reflects local culture
and responds appropriately.
RBS will provide access to and engage in
diverse markets by:
• Welcoming customers of all backgrounds.
• Making our products and services
accessible.
• Seeking to become a leading provider of
services to diverse markets.
Two factors underpin our strategy:
Business Case
There is a clear moral case for diversity. But
“At RBS, it is our people who
there is also a compelling Business Case for
Diversity.
deliver our success and
through them we operate an
Endorsement at Board and Senior equal, inclusive environment
Executive level
where current talent is
Our Chief Executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, has
demonstrated his personal commitment to
engaged and future talent
diversity through: attracted.”
• The appointment of Gordon Pell, Sir Fred Goodwin 28th April 2005
Executive Chairman, Retail Markets, as
the main board director accountable
for the delivery of the Group’s strategic
diversity programme. He holds a number
of external posts that complement his
role within RBS, including that of a Board
member of Race for Opportunity. He is
also a member of the National Employers
Panel.
• The approval of a Diversity Management
Information Report and Strategic
Action Plan which is endorsed by each
divisional Human Resources Director,
and supported by senior business
Diversity and Inclusion
Ways of Working
Having a diversity strategy is only the starting point. Here we
show how we turn it into practice.
Our Policies
Diversity values at RBS are embedded in a
set of policies, detailed below, and in our
global Code of Conduct. Both are available
to all employees via our internal intranet or
in paper format.
Managing Diversity
We are committed to valuing and promoting
diversity in all areas of recruitment,
employment, training and promotion. We
aim to operate in an environment that is
based on meritocracy and inclusiveness,
where all employees can develop their full
potential - irrespective of their race,
gender, marital status, age, disability,
religious belief, political opinion, or sexual
orientation.
Dignity at Work
We aim to encourage creativity and
productivity - and allow employees
to achieve their full potential. All our
employees have the right to be treated
with consideration and respect. Unwanted
behaviour in the form of bullying or
harassment affects the dignity of everyone
subjected to it. In serious cases, it may
result in dismissal and criminal prosecution.
We expect employees to behave in a
professional manner towards colleagues,
customers and suppliers at all times, both in
the course of employment and socially.
Code of Conduct
A global Code of Conduct, explaining
the behaviour and practice expected
of employees, is being produced to
complement the Group’s diversity policies.
Available in nine languages, it will be
distributed to every employee in the Group
by the end of 2005.
Diversity Training
To make our employees aware of how
important inclusion is, we have developed
a diversity training programme that uses
drama, video, online and other media to get
its messages across. It features:
• Respect in the Workplace.
This is an interactive training initiative in
which participants observe scenarios
involving issues of work-life balance,
bullying, ethnic, gender or sexual
orientation. They then question the actors
and suggest ways of dealing with the
issue. Some 1,500 of our most senior
people have already participated in the
initiative, which is now being extended
across the Group during 2005.
• An online diversity training module.
This will be made available shortly to all
employees in the UK and Ireland.
• Dignity at Work video.
An updated version will be shown to all
employees in 2005.
• In-house Diversity Masterclasses.
These are designed to keep our Human
Resources consultants thoroughly skilled
in this area.
Diversity is also covered in our core
development programmes.
Employee Opinion Survey
Listening to our employees is a vital way of
learning about their needs and aspirations.
Every year, we conduct a global employee
opinion survey, called Yourfeedback. The
survey was developed in conjunction with
ISR, the employee research company.
In 2004, 110,000 people – 84% of our
employees - responded, giving us an
excellent platform on which to base our
thinking on a wide range of issues.
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86% said the workshop had
raised their awareness of
diversity in general, and in
particular of behaviour outside
the office.
93% said they had understood
the impact of not dealing with
diversity issues effectively.
90% said they had found the
workshop effective in building
a higher level of awareness
and an understanding of their
accountability. Respect in the
Workplace participant feedback
The survey was translated into nine
languages, and there were 50 questionnaire
versions, including online and paper
formats, with slight variations in each
country’s survey to take account of
local cultural preferences and legislative
requirements.
Following presentations to top
management, the survey results are
distributed to employees at every level.
Progress against divisional action plans
is tracked and reported quarterly to the
General Executive Management Committee.
As well as helping us identify the
changing make-up of our workforce,
the survey also enables us to determine
the needs and perspectives of different
employee groups in areas such as
performance management, training,
communication and engagement. Questions
also cover Respect and Diversity.
In 2004, RBS survey results were more
positive than the ISR Global Financial
Diversity and Inclusion
Ways of Working
Services Norm in all but one category; and
they were above, on, or close to the Global
High Performance Norm in most categories.
Steve Young, ISR’s Project Director,
commented that RBS has an ‘enviable
people culture’.
Resourcing
Our continuing success relies on attracting
and retaining motivated and highly skilled
employees. Recognising that skills and
ability are not the preserve of any one
ethnic group or gender, we seek both
to widen our recruitment talent pool and
maximise the potential of our existing
employees. This is vital given rapidly
changing global demographics. While we
search widely for new talent, we employ
our staff in and from the communities and
countries in which we operate, and have
opted not to transfer jobs offshore.
Sources & Methods
We use a variety of methods to find the best
talent. For example, we
• Retain recruitment advisers, to give us
tactical advice in order to identify the
local market.
• Advertise in specialised press, targeted
lifestyle websites and at recruitment fairs
• Display ads in religious centres and
places of worship.
• Combine with Job Centre Plus to
promote our vacancies in community
centres.
• Design our graduate ads and brochures
to reflect the diverse mix of backgrounds
sought by the Group.
• Provide translations of ads, depending
on location, into Welsh, Urdu and Hindi.
Skilled Interviewers
An interview skills training programme was
launched in the UK and Ireland in 2004.
It makes certain that recruiters are aware
of the moral and legal issues surrounding
interviewing and includes a session on
“Perceiving and Judging Others”.
The programme is accredited by the
Institute of Financial Services. No employee
is allowed to interview if they fail this
training, and they must receive coaching
before they are able to resit the test.
As an added assurance that the
training programme is effective, all course
participants sit the end-of-course test both
before and after attending the workshop.
Figures show interviewers achieve much
higher scores after attending the course
than before.
Recruitment Initiatives
We maintain a number of successful
recruitment initiatives targeting different
people in the community:
• Sponsors for Educational Opportunity
This offers black and ethnic minority
students banking experience in the
City of London. Our Corporate Banking
and Financial Markets division recruited
four interns in 2004, two of whom
are now employed on an RBS Graduate
Development Programme.
• Capital Chances RBS sponsors and
takes part in a collaborative event with
other leading investment banks to offer
a 24-hour insight into banking for ethnic
minority, disabled and female students.
Its purpose is to encourage people
to learn about and apply for career
opportunities.
• Remploy Two of our divisions are
currently working on a recruitment
initiative with Remploy to expand
employment opportunities for disabled
people.
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Reward & Benefits
RBS is recognised as having one of
the most innovative and flexible reward
schemes in the financial services sector.
Called Total Reward, it focuses on the
overall content and value of the pay and
benefits package, seeking to tailor it to the
needs of the employee.
We understand that not all people are
the same. In keeping with our desire to
include and motivate our diverse employee
population, our award-winning benefits
choice programme, RBSelect, offers a range
of benefits to suit the individual’s lifestyle.
As a best practice employer, we are
also committed to supporting Equal Pay
principles throughout the Group.
Total Reward
Our award-winning pay and benefits
package rewards employees for their
contribution to the business. But it does
more. It enables each person to tailor his or
her package to suit their needs.
Core benefits include a competitive
salary, which takes account of the individual
markets in which our diverse businesses
operate, bonus opportunity and Group profit
sharing – a means for all our employees to
share in the broader success of the Group.
RBSelect
In addition to offering an ever-expanding
choice of discounted retail and financial
services products, RBSelect supports a
range of flexible working options.
RBSelect offers childcare vouchers
providing a 10% saving on the costs of
a nanny, registered childminder, private
nursery, day-care play group or holiday play
scheme, etc. They can be used in respect
of children up to the age of 18.
In addition, employees can change
certain RBSelect benefit choices upon the
occurrence of a significant event in their
life. These “Lifestyle Events” include:
• Birth or adoption of a child
Diversity and Inclusion
Ways of Working
• Death of a dependant
• Change from full-time to part-time
(defined as a reduction in working hours
to less than 21 hours per week)
• Change in salary as a result of long-term
disability
• Maternity/adoption Leave -
commencement and return
Further information is detailed in Working for
the Group.
Equal Pay
In order to ensure we comply with equal
pay legislation and good practice, we
have carried out a detailed assessment
of how we match up against the Equal
Opportunities Commission Equal Pay
criteria. As a result, we have enhanced our
pay modelling toolkit, which is designed to
assess fairness and parity. We now carry
out regular reviews of our policies and
practices in this area.
Pay guidelines for managers are also
intended to support Equal Pay principles
Talent Management and
Development
We have worked to ensure our training and
development programmes are open to all
with material that reflects the diversity of our
employees and customers alike.
Development
Our suite of management training modules,
Management Essentials, has been reviewed
to ensure that the appropriate messages on
diversity and inclusion form a core element
of the learning process.
All training materials are checked to
ensure the language and images used
in them reflect the diverse nature of our
employees and customers, and every effort
is made to accommodate the specific needs
of our disabled employees. We offer a
deliberately wide range of training options,
such as open learning, computer-based
training, regional seminars and external
courses, to ensure all employees have equal
access to training - irrespective of location,
working hours or preferred learning style.
We operate an internal job market with
a dedicated intranet site, @ppointments, to
offer equality of access and opportunity for
everyone.
Talent Management
We recognise that our business objectives
cannot be delivered effectively without
identifying talent and managing it within
the organisation. We have ensured that
our tailored development programmes are
fully inclusive both in terms of content and
participant composition.
The programmes that support our
Leadership Excellence Profile courses
are specifically designed to have global
applicability and be appropriate for
individuals of any geographic or ethnic
background. For 2005, we have added
an additional case study to the Executive
Development programme intended to
prompt discussion on the business case for
diversity.
Work-Life Balance
At RBS, we believe that giving employees
the chance to balance their work and home
lives effectively helps us attract and retain
the best people. Throughout the Group we
encourage flexible working initiatives. All
our employees have the right to ask to work
flexibly. Currently, 21% choose to work on a
part-time basis
Our award-winning Yourtime programme
enables our employees and managers
to manage their time more effectively by
providing a closer link between business
needs and individual preferences. A wide
range of policy options is contained in
the programme and increasing numbers
of employees are now benefiting from
our flexible working policies. The use
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of compressed or variable hours within
teams can also give business areas more
flexibility, allowing them to make better use
of property and equipment and improving
customer service by extending operating
hours.
All policies and application procedures
can be easily accessed online by employees
and management, and there is a telephone
helpline in place for individual queries.
What Yourtime offers:
Time Away From Work
• Adoption Leave
• Dependants Leave
• Holidays
• Long Term Employment Break
• Short Term Employment Break
• Maternity
• Parental Leave
• Paternity Leave
• Sickness and Absence
• Special Leave
• Winding Down to Retirement
Time At Work
• Compressed Hours
• Homeworking
• Job Sharing (register being piloted)
• Maternity/Adoption Phase back to Work
• Part-time Working
• Term Time Working
• Variable Hours
• Flexible Working Practices
In recognition of the real business benefits
that Yourtime brings, the Department of
Trade and Industry features Yourtime as an
example of best practice in its handbook
for employers, “Flexible Working – The
Business Case”
Diversity and Inclusion 6
Employees

At RBS, we are committed to operating as a meritocracy, where

all employees can develop their full potential, irrespective of
their race, gender, marital status, age, disability, religious belief,
political opinion or sexual orientation. The following sections
illustrate how we make that commitment a reality.

Age
RBS is fully committed to promoting age
diversity. We assess our employees on the
basis of their skills, ability and potential,
not their age, and we seek to eliminate age
‘stereotyping’. Employment and personal/
career development opportunities are
available, irrespective of a person’s age,
as are the flexible working options offered
in our Yourtime programme. We recognise
there are different times in an individual’s
working life when they may wish to take a
short break in their career in order to pursue
personal interests or merely reduce their
hours to have more free time. We aim to
consider these requests in order to retain
skill, knowledge and experience.
We play an active role as members of
Age Positive and the Employers Forum on
Age (EFA). For example, we sponsored
the EFA Age Toolkit, a diagnostic tool for
profiling age within an organisation and
identifying age-related issues.
We also co-sponsored the EFA’s “Age at
Work Decades Research” survey. Based on
around 1,600 interviews with people across
the UK, this is designed to help develop
an understanding of age at work. The
Executive Summary quotes “people of all
ages are motivated to change and develop
but are being held back by an outdated
idea of careers where young people start at
the bottom and retirement is a cliff edge at
the peak.”
We regularly review our policies and
practices to ensure they comply with the
principle of age diversity, and for employees
who wish to work beyond retirement, we
have introduced a flexible retirement policy.
Ageism at work is a bigger
problem for people in their
late teens than those in their
50s: 25% of school leavers
have faced age discrimination
compared with 21% of those
over 50 and 18% of those
over 60.
Although people in their
30s are at the ‘peak’ of their
Working beyond retirement
career they’re under the most
Sheila Topsfield, age 60, works for
pressure at work and least Credit Card Operations, Southend-on-
want to be there. Just 54% of Sea. Sheila continues to work as she
enjoys her team and the work she is
those in their 30s are happy doing for the Group. Sheila and her
with their work-life balance husband are saving for a trip of a
lifetime to New Zealand in 2006.
and just 17% are happy to
work until they’re 70 - the
lowest numbers among all age
groups.
People in their 50s and 60s
aren’t all rushing to retire:
30% of people are happy to
work until they’re 70 and 13%
dread retirement, a feeling that
increases with age.
Age at Work Decades Research survey
Diversity and Inclusion 7
Employees

Disability
We are committed to eliminating
discrimination on the grounds of disability by:
• Interviewing all disabled job applicants
who meet the minimum selection criteria
for a job vacancy and considering each
on his or her ability.
• Ensuring that all disabled employees are
smoothly and effectively inducted into the
Group.
• Working in partnership with employees
to develop reasonable and practicable
workplace adjustments to allow
them to perform their jobs effectively.
We have arranged for workplace
assessment and advice to be provided
to line managers through our external
occupational health supplier, Capita
Health Solutions, where necessary. In
addition, all of our employee intranet
sites are fully compliant with the Disability
Discrimination Act (DDA).
• Making every effort to retain employees
who become disabled while in the
employment of the Group.
• Introducing our Online Disability
Awareness training programme which is
mandatory for all of our employees in the
UK and Ireland. This programme ensures
that employees develop an understanding
and awareness of disability. There is an
additional module for line managers.
There are approximately 8.6
million disabled people in the
UK covered by the Disability
Discrimination Act, which
represents around 15 percent
of the population.
Most disabled people acquire
their disability during their
working life or later. By the
year 2010, 40% of the UK
population will be over 45 - the Disabled access in the workplace
Rosa Cavedaschi, 33 years old,
age at which the incidence of works part time for Enfield Customer
disability begins to increase Telephony Centre. She has worked for
the Group for 15 years. In 1997 Rosa
significantly. was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
She feels that the “all-access” level
Of the 2.8 million disabled facilities, including disabled toilets,
people on state benefits and at the Centre meet the needs of an
employee such as herself operating in
not in work nearly a million
a wheelchair.
would like to work.
Employers' Forum on Disability website

In the wider community, RBS is a Gold

Card member of the Employers’ Forum on
Disability.
Ulster Bank won three Awards for
Excellence at the O2 Ability Awards 2005
- for Career Development, Leadership,
and Recruitment & Selection. Examining
all aspects of employment, the awards
recognise progressive attitudes in
organisations that see disability and
diversity as a corporate opportunity and key
to success.
Diversity and Inclusion
Employees
Ethnicity, Religion and Belief
RBS operates in 27 countries worldwide,
representing a multicultural society of
customers, employees and shareholders.
We have created a working environment
and people culture which is accepting and
welcoming of difference in all our divisions,
and we support this through equality of
opportunity for all. When it comes to our
employees, we feel especially strongly about
ensuring equality of access to opportunities
for progression, reward and development in
the organisation, irrespective of individual
ethnic background.
To help us achieve the business benefits
of an effective race and diversity action
plan, RBS is a Race for Opportunity
Champion and we participate in the RfO’s
benchmarking programme to help us
measure our performance in this area. We
have been awarded Gold Standard for our
2005 submission.
Data
• At the end of 2004, 10% of our
employees told us through our annual
Employee Opinion Survey that they were
from an ethnic minority background.
However, as 23% of our employees
opted not to complete this question,
we acknowledge this is an area where
we must further engage our black and
minority ethnic (BME) population to
understand fully their aspirations.
• In the UK, the BME workforce within
RBS at 8.3% is comparable to the BME
working population at large.
• Campaigns to attract BME students
to careers in RBS resulted in 28%
of applications for our Graduate
Development Programmes in 2003/4
coming from BME students. Some 11%
of them were successful. So far in 2005,
29% of applications have come from BME
students and 47% of them have been
successful.
Feedback
• In all, 79% of our BME population
responded to the 2004 Employee
Opinion Survey. That compares with
84% overall. However, the feedback we
received from our BME respondents was
generally positive.
• 79% agreed the training and
development they had received
had helped them improve business
performance. That marks an increase
of 11% over 2003 and is a higher
percentage than for the Group as a
whole.
• 70% believed they had the opportunity
to develop. That was an increase of 10%
over 2003 and, again, a more positive
figure than for the Group as a whole.
• 51% agreed with the statement “It would
take a lot to get me to leave the RBS
Group”. That was an increase of 13%
over 2003, which demonstrates the
effectiveness of the action taken to follow
up the previous survey.
As part of that follow-up activity, our Group
Chief Executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, held a
focus group in 2004 for BME employees
to listen to their experience of working in
the Group. Following that meeting, action
was taken in areas such as our diversity
awareness training, our recruitment
advertising, our approach to career
progression opportunities and the sharing
of divisional best practice.
Religion and Belief
With a diverse employee population comes
a diversity of religious and cultural beliefs
and traditions. RBS is committed to making
adjustments to the working environment to
help employees balance their personal and
working lives. Examples of that flexibility
include:
• Providing appropriate and ‘fit for
purpose’ garments as part of the
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corporate wardrobe available for
employees in our retail branches.
• Giving sympathetic consideration to
requests for early start or finish times to
comply with religious laws.
• Providing short-term career breaks or
extended holidays to allow for marriage
or return to native countries as required
by religion.
These last two adjustments have been
facilitated by the introduction of flexible
working practices that are open to all
our employees through our Yourtime
programme.
In addition, RBS is a founder member
of the Employers Forum for Belief, set
up by employers to establish and share
good practice on religion and belief in the
workplace.
6.7% of people of working
age are from ethnic minorities.
Between 1999 and 2009, they
will account for half the growth
in the working age population.
By 2030, 8% of the workforce
will be from ethnic minorities.
Half of all new jobs over
the next 10 years will go to
members of ethnic minorities.
RfO website
Diversity and Inclusion
Employees
Gender
Promoting gender equality is not only
the right thing to do, it makes business
sense. It allows us to draw on the widest
possible pool of talent and use it effectively.
Despite the fact that women account for
60% of our employees, they make up 72%
of our clerical employees and are under-
represented at senior management and
executive levels. To change that, a series of
initiatives has been put in place:
Feedback
Our Group Chief Executive, Sir Fred
Goodwin, held a focus group for female
employees in which he committed to take
action to address the challenges women
face in climbing the corporate ladder.
Equal Pay
We carry out regular pay reviews in
accordance with the Equal Opportunities
Commission Equal Pay criteria. Rigorous
checks are in place to compare male/female
bonuses for full-time/part-time employees
at different levels of seniority and across
different ethnic backgrounds. Any
discrepancies are rectified.
Development
Women are now equally represented in all
full-time promotions and account for 85% of
all part-time promotions, including 87% of
part time senior management and executive
promotions.
Work-Life Balance
The range of flexible working practices
open to all our employees through our
Yourtime programme can prove particularly
useful for those balancing a career with their
responsibilities as carers for children or the
elderly.
9
Specifically in relation to childcare
responsibilities, we have developed 58% of RBS employees in the
generous maternity, paternity and adoption UK are female.
policies to further support work-life balance
and to reinforce our position as an employer 17% of our senior managerial
of choice.
and executive roles are held
Sponsorship by women.
• Opportunity Now:
92% of our part-time
We participate in Opportunity Now, employees are female.
a business-led campaign that works RBS group, August 2005
with employers to realise the economic
potential and business benefits that
women at all levels contribute to the
workforce.
Opportunity Now conducts the UK’s
single largest benchmarking survey on
gender equality and diversity activity in
the workplace. RBS in the UK and Ulster
Bank in Ireland were awarded Gold
Standard for 2004.
In addition, RBS sponsors the annual
awards programme which recognises
exceptional progress in organisations
working towards gender equality and
diversity.
• Women in Banking and Finance:
Flexible working
RBS is a Platinum Sponsor of WIBF,
Juliet Winsor, a part-time employee from
a non-profit making professional
Credit Card Operations, Southend-on-
organisation committed to empowering Sea, works three days a week in order
its members in the banking and finance to have time to look after her three-year-
industry to realise their full potential. old daughter Darcy.
RBS employees are represented at We continue to encourage flexible
all levels of the WIBF management working and 21% of our employees
structures in the UK and are now work part-time.
involved in setting up the new branch
in Ireland. The Group publicises WIBF
events internally to employees and
provides meeting facilities in RBS
buildings.
Diversity and Inclusion 10
Employees

Sexual Orientation
We have a culture at RBS that accepts
employees regardless of their sexual
orientation. This is borne out by the 2004
Employee Opinion Survey in which 82% of
respondents group-wide agreed with the
statement: “The Division provides a working
environment that is accepting of sexual
orientation of employees.”
In keeping with our commitment to
equality, the provision of benefits at RBS
is identical for all our employees and their
partners, regardless of sexuality, ethnicity,
disability or gender. However, we are
also undertaking an audit to ensure all
our processes and procedures for both
customers and employees conform with the
impending Civil Partnership legislation.
In addition, to help us better understand
the needs and aspirations of our lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender employees,
we have signed up as a Diversity Champion
with Stonewall.
Diversity and Inclusion
Customers
At RBS, we seek to serve as wide a range of customers as
possible.
While we recognise the diversity of our
customer base, our research indicates
that people want to be treated equally,
rather than differently, when it comes to the
provision of financial services.
To that end, we seek to be fully inclusive
in our approach to customers. However,
understanding their differing needs enables
us to deliver our products and services
more effectively to them.
Access
Here are some of the ways in which we
help different groups of customers get full
access to our services:
Disability
Details of the specific technology and face-
to-face services we provide for our disabled
customers can be found on our Royal Bank
of Scotland and NatWest websites under
the Accessibility menu.
Ethnicity
• We provide ethnic minority language
signage in certain retail branches in
London and the Midlands.
• Brochures and advertising are produced
in Welsh for NatWest branches located in
Wales.
• An introductory NatWest leaflet - “Your
New Bank Account” - written in eight
languages, is available for asylum
seekers wishing to open a bank account.
It explains the alternative forms of
acceptable identification.
• A Shariah-compliant commercial finance
product has been developed for our
Muslim customers.
• Asian Entrepreneurs Units, with specialist
Islamic law expertise, have been set up to
represent the local communities in Slough,
Berkshire and parts of the Midlands.
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Gender
More women are going into business for
themselves than ever before, yet research
indicates that raising finance can still be a
difficult experience for many of them. RBS
is playing its part to change that.
NatWest has joined up with
Everywoman, the UK’s leading network
for female business owners, delivering a
comprehensive package of online advice
and support for existing and potential
female business owners. Sponsorship
of the NatWest Everywoman Awards
celebrates the achievements of existing
female business owners and creates more
identifiable role models for future women in
Physical access
business.
Physical access ramps being fitted
RBS and NatWest are active members outside our NatWest branch in Harrow,
of PROWESS, a UK-wide advocacy London.
network that supports the growth of
women’s business ownership through
the development of an effective women-
friendly business support infrastructure and Mobile banking
enterprise culture. The new mobile banking van is
fully DDA compliant, incorporating
a wheelchair lift, low level counter
At least one in four customers position, and induction loops.
either has a disability or is
close to someone who is.
The estimated annual
purchasing power of people
with disabilities is £40-£50
billion.
EfD website
Diversity and Inclusion 12
Customers

BME communities account for There are now more than

7.9% of the UK’s population
- more than 4.6 million people,
all of whom are potential
customers. This figure is set to
double over the next 25 years.
Members of the ethnic
minorities are responsible for
9% of new business start-ups.
One in ten UK businesses is
BME-owned. It is estimated
that there are 15,000 such
businesses in greater London
alone.
one million female-owned
businesses in the UK. If the
number of women starting up
businesses matched that of
men, there would be an extra
150,000 start-ups each year.
Government statistic
Joseph Koutoua
One of 13 staff employed at Green-
Works’ warehouse, Silvertown,
London. Green-Works have re-used
or recycled 876 tonnes of RBS group
furniture.

RfO website

Women start up one-third of NatWest Everywoman Award

Face 2 Face
In 2004 over 5,000 lessons in personal
finance and budgeting were delivered
in 500 schools across the UK through
the Face 2 Face with Finance
programme.
new businesses and own 13%
of all businesses.
Women and Equality Unit, Women and
Work, 2004
Opportunity Now website
The rate of female self-
employment has more than
doubled over the last 20 years.
Women and Equality Unit, Does sex make a
difference? updated 2004
Opportunity Now website
NatWest Everywoman Award winner
Sharon Hilditch, Crystal Clear
International Ltd, with Karen Gill &
Maxine Benson of everywoman.
Sharon stood out as having achieved
the most outstanding business
success having overcome tremendous
challenges. Sharon’s company
manufactures skincare treatment
machines and products and has a
large celebrity following in Hollywood.
Diversity and Inclusion
External Partnerships
At RBS, we recognise we can learn from working with
organisations that champion diversity.
At the same time, we play a role in the
wider business community promoting best
practice in this area through sponsorship
and award programmes.
Partners
Listed are the main diversity organisations
we partner, together with the role we play in
them:
Age Positive: Champion, and member of the
Age Positive Steering Group in Scotland
Employers Forum on Age: Core Member
Employers Forum for Belief: Founder
Member
Employers Forum on Disability: Core Funder
– Gold Card
Race for Opportunity: Champion, and Board
Member (Gordon Pell,Executive Chairman,
Retail Marketsand RBS main Board Diversity
Champion)
Opportunity Now: Member, and Sponsor of
the Opportunity Now Awards 2005
Stonewall: Diversity Champion
Women in Banking and Finance: Platinum
Sponsor
Benchmarking
These are the main diversity benchmarking
activities in the UK and Ireland in which we
participate:
Opportunity Now Benchmarking Process:
Opportunity Now conducts the UK’s
single largest benchmarking survey on
gender equality and diversity activity in
the workplace. Both RBS in the UK and
Ulster Bank in Ireland were awarded Gold
Standard in 2004.
The RfO Benchmark:
Race for Opportunity benchmarking is a
unique tool that enables an organisation
to evaluate how it matches up against a
range of criteria. It gives organisations
the opportunity to both measure and
demonstrate the effectiveness of their race/
diversity strategy. We were awarded Gold
Standard in 2005.
13
We also participate in broader corporate
responsibility surveys, some of which
contain an element relating to diversity.
They include:
Great Place to Work:
Employees in 24 countries are surveyed
annually about the level of trust and the
quality of the relationships that exist
between themselves and management.
The UK and EU Best Workplaces lists are
published in the UK by the Financial Times.
Best Company to Work For:
The Sunday Times Best Companies surveys
the opinion of more than 130,000 UK
employees to find out which companies
are the best to work for. The findings are
published annually in a Sunday Times
Supplement each spring.
Business in the Community:
Membership of Business in the Community
(BITC) commits a company continually to
improve its impact on society. Members
commit to:
• Manage, measure and integrate
responsible business practice throughout
their business.
• Impact through collaborative action to
tackle disadvantage.
• Inspire, innovate, and lead by sharing
learning and experience.
Diversity and Inclusion 14
External Partnerships

Sponsorship
These are some of diversity events and
organisations we sponsor:
Opportunity Now Awards 2005:
Opportunity Now is a business-led
campaign that works with employers to
realise the economic potential and business
benefits that women at all levels contribute
to the workforce. RBS sponsors the annual
awards programme which recognises
exceptional progress in organisations
working towards gender equality and
diversity.
Everywoman:
This is the leading online network and
resource provider for women business
owners. NatWest provides financial
guidance on the site. It also sponsors
the NatWest Everywoman Awards and
co-sponsors the Everywoman Grow Your
Business national and regional conferences.
Age at Work Decades Research Project:
RBS co-sponsored the Employers Forum
on Age “Age at Work Decades Research”
project. Based on around 1,600 interviews
with people across the UK, this was a
survey designed to help develop an
understanding of age at work. O2 Ability Awards 2005
Ray Gammell, HR Director Ulster Bank
and Eimear Berwick, HR, with Roy
Diversity Conference 2005:
Keane, footballer, at the presentation
RBS was one of the headline sponsors at
of the O2 Ability Awards on 2nd
the inaugural DTI Conference on Diversity, February 2005.
a two-day event bringing together many of
the UK’s leading employers to explore and
exchange best practice ideas.

Awards
We are proud to have won the following
recent awards:

Opportunity Now Awards 2005 O2 Ability Awards 2005:

Clara Freeman, previous chairman of
Opportunity Now, Baroness Howe of
Idlicote, winner of the special 10th
anniversary award for Individual
Achievement and Commitment to
Gender Equality and Diversity and
Carolyn McCall, current Chair of
Opportunity Now at the Opportunity
Now Awards dinner, 28th April 2005.
Examining all aspects of employment, the
awards recognise progressive attitudes
in organisations that see disability and
diversity as a corporate opportunity and
key to success. Ulster Bank won the Award
for Excellence in three categories: Career
Development, Leadership, and Recruitment
& Selection.
HR Excellence Award 2004 for the ‘Most
Effective Use of Flexibility in the Workplace’:
Our entry was based on the Yourtime suite
of flexible working policies and specifically
the implementation of compressed hours
working across our manufacturing division.
The judges were most impressed by the mix
of benefits for both the employees and the
business.