Case study: The power of employee networks in driving change

6th February, 2025

TSB, one of the UK’s leading retail banks, has long been a champion for good business practices. An early adopter of the Good Business Charter, TSB became the first high-street bank to be accredited in 2020.

The Good Business Charter components feature prominently throughout TSB’s responsible business approach – the Do What Matters Plan. Employee Representation is a key factor within this, particularly when it comes to empowering colleague voice.

Ariam Enraght-Moony, Chief People Officer at TSB describes the power of employee networks: 

“It is our view at TSB that it’s Good Business to build inclusive teams. That’s why creating an inclusive culture that prioritises diversity of thinking and enables all colleagues to share their views without negative consequence is at the heart of our ‘Do What Matters’ plan. The secret to getting that right is in how we choose to listen. We want our colleagues to tell us what they experience day to day so we can respond to it and improve the customer and colleague experience. Enabling every one of our colleagues to thrive is good for them, good for the business, and good for our customers.”  

Responding to colleague feedback 

TSB has several key channels for listening to colleague feedback and seeking colleague inputs. Our employee network groups provide us with a unique perspective as part of this listening strategy, by focussing their insights on the specific experiences, challenges and barriers faced by those from marginalised groups. This ensures that feedback that might otherwise be missed from diverse groups, is heard and addressed.  

Our networks all have an Executive Sponsor and have direct access to our Executive Committee several times during the year. They are encouraged to share their individual challenges and contexts, and to seek support and commitments from senior leadership. 

Moving the Dial 

A fantastic example of a network driving change at TSB, is the systematic work of our LGBTQ+ network who have been vocal champions for the trans and non-binary communities over the past few years.  

Having worked hard to deepen their own understanding of the needs of this community and creating a safe space for trans and non-binary folk to share their challenges and experiences, they committed to a long-term goal to influence TSB to deepen it’s inclusivity agenda and foster a trans-inclusive environment.  

Through their efforts they gained commitment to a series of improvements, all of which are now embedded and continuously refined as trans and non-binary colleagues engage with them and provide feedback. These improvements include:  

  • Creating customer facing support and guidance  
  • Introducing the use of pronouns across our business, including in customer facing teams, where pronoun badges were introduced in 2022 
  • Building guidance for colleagues transitioning at work and their managers 
  • Upskilling HR teams on trans-inclusive practises and manager training 
  • Inviting trans customers to talk to a mix of leaders and HR teams in 2023 to break down barriers and raise awareness of the challenges trans people face when banking 
  • Expanding our Reward proposition last year, to include trans health care within our private medical insurance offer, available to all colleagues. 

Having real impact  

We know from listening to colleagues and customers from these marginalised groups, that the changes we are making are starting to have positive effects. Our initial experiences with colleagues coming out or transitioning, provided critical opportunities to see the processes working in real-life, allowing us to make further improvements.  

We also know the number of trans and non-binary colleagues who self-describe at TSB, whilst still small, has grown, indicating an improvement in their sense of safety and visibility.    

Since our network partnered with us to drive this focus on this dimension of inclusivity, we’ve been placed in the Stonewall Top 100 Index for inclusive employers each time we’ve submitted since 2022, and received both Gold and Silver recognition for LGBTQ+ inclusivity.  

This is a significant indicator of the progress we are making and underscores the invaluable focus and feedback our network has provided. Their insights have been instrumental in refining and enhancing our initiatives, ensuring that we continue to create a more inclusive and supportive environment for all colleagues. 

At the Good Business Charter, we believe empowering employees is key to building a better, more inclusive workplace. To learn more about the employee representation component of the GBC and discover practical resources for your organisation, visit our Employee Representation component page. 

Let’s work together to ensure every voice is heard and every organisation thrives.