Supporting diversity and inclusion

Baillie Gifford takes all aspects of diversity and inclusion seriously. Our Diversity and Inclusion Group comprises six individuals, including four partners and acts as an advisory body to the rest of the firm, supporting initiatives that we believe will further improve diversity and inclusion within Baillie Gifford and the wider community.

The broad objectives of the Diversity and Inclusion Group are:

• To consult widely, continually improving our approach to all aspects of diversity and inclusion
• To effectively communicate our priorities and progress
• To foster an inclusive and welcoming culture for anyone who comes into contact with the firm.

We strive to deliver excellence to our clients and that makes Baillie Gifford a challenging, stimulating and enjoyable place to work. We recognise the importance of balancing work with personal time and safeguarding the health and well-being of our employees. With this in mind, our priorities include:

• Developing flexible employment policies which promote the family, health and well-being of our employees, while maintaining high levels of investment performance and service to our clients
• Fostering supportive networks where employees are empowered to promote improvement within the business
• Transparent and clear communication of progress on diversity and inclusion issues and initiatives
• Maintaining access to high quality training for all employees.

Baillie Gifford is a significant employer in Edinburgh and has a responsibility to the wider community. We recognise that the financial sector has particular challenges with respect to diversity, most notably a lack of gender equality and social mobility. To improve this, we work alongside the Baillie Gifford Sponsorship Committee – which is responsible for the firm’s corporate philanthropy efforts – and external bodies focused on diversity within the community. Through these relationships, we are working to:

• Research, promote and fund initiatives that further social mobility and combat the effects of poverty. This includes improving access to educational resources, mental health services, sports and the arts. To help us achieve our aspirations in this area, we work closely with Foundation Scotland, the Women’s Fund for Scotland and many other initiatives.
• Promote opportunities for employees to volunteer for and donate to charitable causes within our community. This includes support for the employee nominated Charity of the Year where annual employee donations are matched by the Partnership, and various other initiatives.
• Partner with and promote organisations focused on diversity and inclusion issues. This involves supporting their work within the community while ensuring that employees gain access to their specialised knowledge and support. Organisations we have worked with include Stonewall Scotland, Samaritans, Place 2 Be and Streetwork, to name just a few.

We are at an early stage in our diversity and inclusion journey and recognise that there is still much for us to do.  We encourage all staff to help create an inclusive workplace for everyone.  We have reviewed and broadened our approach to recruitment, which has led to a strong and more diverse pipeline of talent. Now almost half of our investors in the 0-10 year cohort are women and, given the emphasis we place on internal promotion, we are optimistic that the number of women in senior roles will improve further over the next decade. This will undoubtedly help to narrow our gender pay gap and ensure that Baillie Gifford remains an engaging and progressive place to work, where our employees feel valued and able to achieve their potential.