Since you seem to have missed all the discussions and explanation over the past few years, in a range of media and outlets, about the inherent structural and cultural biases that discriminate against or discourage women from participating in certain industries, here’s a website that will allow you to explore this topic in full:
Hi all, it should go without saying that diversity and inclusion are really important to us here at Monzo. And this isn’t the place to debate its pros and cons - there are plenty of other places online for that discussion.
Here’s a good statement of where we stand:
We’re happy to keep this thread open to discuss the approach we’re taking to tackling this at Monzo, particularly in response to our Women in Finance charter commitments. But we won’t welcome any kind of discussion around whether this is worth purusing in the first place.
As a reminder, our Code of Conduct states that on the Monzo community you agree to uphold inlcusivity:
We want everyone to feel included in our community. In particular, nobody should ever feel excluded on the basis of their:
Gender, gender identity, or gender expression
Sexual orientation
We’ll close the thread if it veers off-topic or becomes non-constructive.
Thank you for this update and promise to continue striving for more representation. I love reading Monzo’s blogs about issues like this and then I come onto the forum to read the related thread… and realise why I don’t look forward to them as much anymore, since it will inevitably need to be shut down.
Nothing anyone has said here should lead to anything being shut down. All the posts so far have been overall happiness for improving accessibility to the work place along with some concerns about how it’s being done.
There’s nothing wrong with voicing concerns, there definitely are some when a company is explicitly wanting to discriminate when hireing people.
Overall it’s good to see that it is an area that they are paying attention to. The concern to me is Monzos discrimination in hiring and the lack of effort to show people and encourage people to look at positions they might not have before (unless I’m missing that? They seem to be targeting their effort to close to home)
Yes, but you also need to recognise the structural inequalities in society which means that people who aren’t white and male are often under-represented.
Of course you shouldn’t say “we need a woman to balance the board so we’ll bin all applications from men”. But you should for example, consider how accessible the application process is for under represented groups, and how accessible the work place and company is for under represented groups.
We only ever hire people who are the best person to do the job. However, if we can make our jobs desirable to all kinds of different people it means we have a wider pool to select from and then can truly choose the best talent.
It’s important to think about how the choices we make as a business might exclude people or stop them from progressing so that we can create an environment where the best people can achieve their best work.
As we’re a bank trying to - in time - serve the world, it’s important to have different points of view and life experience in the room as we make decisions so we can make sure we build a product that is useful for all.
Of course any job should go to the person most suitable for the position. But of course this “thing” is still “a thing”. Stop to consider why Monzo still sees it as a thing. Stop to wonder why banking is still mostly white, able–bodied, males.
I’m glad to see Monzo taking seriously their responsibility, as everyone should, to create an industry, and society, which gives everyone, regardless of gender, disability, sexual orientation, colour or belief equal chances in life so that when that interview room door opens, outside are sitting candidates who truly encompass our world.
I can 100% assure you we do not discriminate in our hiring process. The best candidate is chosen from the pool who apply. We do not set out with a specific kind of person to fill a role, we just want to make sure that we have the best people. Having diverse experiences inside Monzo means we are able to come up with creative ideas that help us make money work for everyone. This isn’t only about gender but a person who has had an affluent background will have very different ideas about money and overdrafts than someone who has not always been financially secure. Being able to have those different view points in the room means we can create an inclusive product. Hope this reassures you!