Lloyds TSB
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| Lloyds 2004 CSR report |
2004 CSR report
As diversity becomes truly ingrained in the cultures of the most successful organisations, good companies aim to improve their appreciation of difference. The UK's best businesses are proactive in their management of equality and diversity. They are aware that valuing difference is a key factor in providing excellent customer service and helps organisations to stand apart from competitors.
At Lloyds TSB, diversity is an integral part of our business. As a large employer and service provider, we actively seek new ways to better understand the diverse communities in which we operate. We understand that our customers and employees have different needs and aspirations, and that they operate in different locations and industries. With more than 16 million customers and nearly 70,000 employees, understanding that difference is very important to us.
For us, valuing equality and diversity is about much more than ‘tick box' compliance. Our aim is to go beyond legislation in our employment and customer offers, by getting close to communities and employees, to truly understand and meet their diverse needs.
To build this understanding, we have established very strong links with several organisations active in this field, such as Business in the Community's Race for Opportunity, Opportunity Now and the Employers' Forum on Disability. We also regularly seek feedback and ideas from staff and customers.
Customers with disabilities
People with physical disabilities - such as those with poor eyesight and those using wheelchairs - need additional help to use our services. It is our legal and moral responsibility to ensure we cater for their needs, and commercially, this is also a very important market for us. Our branch staff are trained to help people with disabilities and a training video, Access included, is part of our standard customer service programme.
We offer statements in Braille, most of our cash machines include features recommended by the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB), such as audible tone prompts. We provide large cheque books and templates that make it easier to write cheques and sign credit cards. There are hearing induction loops in all our branches.
We have installed 685 ramps, over 1,500 automatic doors and lowered the counters in nearly 900 branches. In nearly 300 branches we have installed a system to allow customers to call for assistance if they find it difficult to gain access.
All our main customer-facing business units
- branch network, business banking, card, telephony team, and Group operations
- have been awarded the RNID Chartermark.
We offer a career progression programme for staff with disabilities.
Our network for staff with disabilities, called Axis, aims to enable those staff who identify themselves as disabled (1.5% in 2004) to achieve their potential and meet career aspirations, while tackling isolation and raising disability awareness throughout the organisation.
Our aim is to ensure that staff with disabilities are better represented in all grades, particularly management. Our Career Progression Programme includes elements to increase understanding of the specific issues affecting disabled staff at work so that they can clarify career/life goals and build a realistic profile of their capacities and capabilities.
We also have a comprehensive process by which we secure the appropriate workplace adjustments for our staff with disabilities. Under this process specialist workplace assessors discuss issues with members of staff and their line managers and make recommendations that encompass the whole job. By the end of 2004 over 1,800 members of staff had been referred to Churchill, Minty & Friend, (the external experts who help us run the system), for reasonable adjustments. This enabled them to be more effective at work and some to remain in work.
In 2004, Pathways (the internal department that deals with redeployment of displaced staff) became involved in providing job matching support for disabled employees who require redeployment after all reasonable adjustments had been exhausted in their existing roles.
A steering committee meets quarterly to review the programme and makes changes to improve the service for all parties. Since we began the Reasonable Adjustment Programme in 2000, other employers have emulated our scheme.
Lloyds TSB Corporate Responsibility report 2004