stuck or leave the sector. joint council for qualifications, 2017 gcse and a - level results, available at : https : / / www. jcq. org. uk / examinationresults / gcses / 2017 / gcse - full - course - results - summer - 2017 / gcse - full - course - results - summer - 2017. he student enrolments by subject of study 2016 / 17 available at : https : / / www. hesa. ac. uk / data - and - analysis / students / table - 9. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches once the right people are through the door they need to be developed and the culture needs to be supportive. for the bank that means identifying a pipeline of future leaders with a diverse and broad set of experiences and pushing them in order to prepare themselves for bigger roles. last year for internal appointments, the bank introduced pooled ( or co - ordinated ) recruitment for senior appointments. governors and executive directors come together to assess the roles available with the candidates that have applied to try and find the best fit for each team, and for the institution as a whole. this allows us to take a birds - eye view of diversity, rather than appointing in isolation, which risks reinforcing homogeneity in our senior appointments. pooling our appointments makes everyone realise how their decision impacts the diversity of the whole organisation and helps to highlight the characteristics and skills that may be missing or overrepresented in the senior leadership. and it provides real time feedback if someone ’ s career is being held back by gaps in their experience or training. pooled recruitment catalyses the creation of essential development plans that prepare colleagues for future roles. since its inception, over half of the 15 promotions to head of division level between may 2018 and february 2019 using this pooled recruitment were women. an important aspect of successful job applications and interviews is being able to demonstrate personal development. for too long at the bank, the opportunities to broaden skills and experience were granted on an informal basis to those who either knew about the opportunity or were recommended by a colleague. this tended to further reinforce homogeneity in senior leadership. in 2017, to level the playing field we launched an internal “ opportunities ” board. this connects people who need help with a short - term project to those able to offer it. since we launched the site two years

the bank addresses each of these in turn. first, the bank has implemented a performance management process that promotes objectivity. colleagues are invited to have conversations with managers ahead of performance evaluation meetings. the bank has also disposed of fixed distribution curves for performance ratings, making the process less adversarial. we also published clear guidelines internally on what is used to assess and reach a judgement on performance and how pay is awarded against different measures. second, an inclusive culture recognises that work can be done in many ways ; and that our best ideas can occur at any time and in any place. 14 % of our staff are employed on a formalised flexible working arrangement, including remote working. and more men and senior management ( almost one in five ) than ever before have taken up flexible working arrangements at the bank. we have also recently completed a technology update to enable more ad - hoc flexible working arrangements for all colleagues. this approach has proved its worth as two thirds of colleagues at the bank agreed in our survey last year that there was a good balance between their work and personal life, five percentage points higher than the national average. this is especially important as nearly two fifths of university graduate cite good work life balance as the main thing they look for in an employer. third, the bank encourages shared paternity leave and over the last year, 59 colleagues took up the offer, compared to 187 people on maternity leave. we have a generous pay package of six months at full pay and all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches three at statutory pay. colleagues are given ten keep in touch ( kit ) days and are offered it equipment to take home during maternity leave to enable them to maintain contact with the bank and ease their eventual return to work. the bank has been successful in retaining female talent, with the bank ’ s maternity returner rate at almost 90 % over the past few years. what gets measured gets managed : be transparent about progress building an inclusive culture is impossible without transparency. 10 in recent years, important strides have been made on transparency around the gender pay gap. transparency delivers accountability and in making this information public, the sector must acknowledge the work it has to do to close the gap. in the financial sector, the average mean pay gap at banks and building societies is 35 % and 31 % in insurance companies. for the bank, the mean gender pay gap is better than the industry average at 20 %. the gap is driven