Inclusive organization

The Bank applies the Policy of Gender Equality and Diversity with Respect to Members of the Supervisory Board, Members of the Management Board and Key Function Holders at Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna (Gender Equality and Diversity Policy) which defines the strategy for managing the diversity of the Bank’s employees, including diversification with regard to the selection of members of the Supervisory Board, members of the Management Board and Key Functions Holders at the Bank. The Gender Equality and Diversity Policy defines guidelines aimed at ensuring that the Bank’s employees are able to manage their careers, achieve success and assess their work on the basis of individual achievements, regardless of gender. The aim of the Bank’s diversity strategy referred to in the Gender Equality and Diversity Policy is to ensure high quality performance of tasks by the Bank’s employees, including the selection of competent persons to perform their functions in the Supervisory Board, Management Board and Key Functions at the Bank, applying first and foremost objective substantive criteria and taking into account the benefits of diversity.

The Gender Equality and Diversity Policy, in accordance with the legislative process in force at the Bank, was adopted by the Management Board of the Bank and approved by the Supervisory Board. The gender equality and diversity policy also applies to eight subsidiaries: Pekao Direct Sp. z o.o., Centrum Kart S.A., Pekao Bank Hipoteczny S.A., Pekao Financial Services Sp. z o.o., Pekao Investment Banking S.A., Pekao Leasing Sp. z o.o., Pekao TFI S.A. and Pekao Faktoring Sp. z o.o.

The Pekao Group and the Bank are implementing numerous initiatives offering support for diversity addressed to all employees, including reporting their initiatives and active use of existing projects. The primary goal of these activities is to:

• fully exploit the potential of all employees in the process of managing the company’s intellectual capital and building an organizational culture based on sharing knowledge and experience,
• fully exploit the potential of all employees in the process of managing the company’s intellectual capital and building an organizational culture based on sharing knowledge and experience,
• improve HR management strategy by developing leadership,
• develop an employee-friendly organization.

The Bank’s employees may participate in the following initiatives:

• workshops promoting the diversity of operation and communication styles among employees, which include a discussion on the types of personality and corresponding differences in the process of communication and relations development, as well as preferred methods of operation, based on Insight Discovery methodology,
• “Insight Discovery-based Team Management” training for managers. The purpose of those workshops is to educate managers in diversity management, turn their attention to diversified needs and methods used to motivate employees depending on their age, experience, skills and competences. At the training, issues related to diversity management, challenges faced by managers of diversified teams, including generational differences, diversified experience of employees, and their individual needs and motivators, are discussed.

The Bank also has initiatives to strengthen diverse leadership and develop women in managerial positions. On the Bank’s website there is a separate section “Women Leaders at the Bank” devoted to this topic, which presents, among others, stories of women being Bank managers who succeeded in achieving their professional goals.

An important measure taken by the Bank in favor of open dialogue with women and discussion of the needs of this group of employees (women make up nearly 70% of the Bank’s workforce), was the launch of the “No Sugar” program in 2020 under the auspices of Vice President Magdalena Zmitrowicz. In 2022, it included weekly meetings and webinars on the development of personal and professional competencies on the following topics: job crafting*, communication, creativity training, leadership awareness, relationship psychology. A separate stream consisted of meetings on child-rearing and parenting challenges. A total of 35 webinars were held, attended by more than 4,000 people. The webinars were positively evaluated in evaluation surveys, with an NPS score as high as 87.

* Job crafting – self-performed job modelling/transformation by employees, which is aimed at activities directed at tailoring the work to their own needs and preferences, thereby helping employees build job satisfaction and increase commitment.

In addition, the “No Sugar” program has joined Microsoft’s “emPower Women” development project with partner Avanade. Nearly 90 applications were received during the recruitment process. In the end, five ladies were selected to be among 50 women from the top 10 organizations working with Microsoft tools. The main goal of “emPower Woman” was to strengthen the technological competence of women with a focus on cloud solutions. The program began in September, and for the next seven months the participants had the opportunity to take part in Microsoft training, soft skills development sessions, as well as project work on a selected innovation for the Bank.

The program is not indifferent to the topics of ecology, which is why it has organized an independent competition within the framework of the “Ecology at the Bank” action titled “Let’s be #EKO together. Challenge for #EKOvacation.” There were 44 entries in the competition, which attracted a lot of interest among employees. Participants in the competition demonstrated not only creativity in their submissions, but above all a willingness to promote environmentally friendly attitudes.

There were also publications in the media and press, where women working at Bank Pekao were promoted. The industry magazine “My Company Polska” published an article “Why the world needs women’s leadership” and a report “Women in IT. We do impossible things right away.”

The Bank says it will develop networking activities and mentoring programs for women, while continuing to narrow the gender pay gap. Pekao’s priority will be to maintain a balanced level of men and women in managerial positions. Providing flexible work arrangements and supporting work-life balance will remain important.

In fulfilling the obligation referred to in Article 9ca (5)(1) of the Banking Law of August 29, 1997, the Bank provides information to the PFSA for the year 2022 on the gender pay gap, using the ratio of the average pay of women to the average pay of men based on the GRI 405-2 reporting standard as of December 31, 2022, based on total compensation as of December 31, 2022, and including those classified as active and employed more than 0.1 full-time equivalent as of December 31, 2022:

1. the gender pay gap ratio for the Bank as a whole, understood as the ratio of the average pay of women to the average pay of men working at the Bank, is 35.9% for total pay;
2. the gender pay gap ratio, calculated as a weighted average for subgroups of employees taking into account job levels, business lines, and performance at the Bank’s headquarters or in the network, is 7.7% for total pay;
3. the share of women in the workforce is 69.3%.