Free to be who you are

A white and a colored hand hold each other. Displayed is "moving forward together"
A white and a colored hand hold each other. Displayed is "moving forward together"
Article tags:
  • Diversity and inclusion

Who you are and who you're attracted to – that defines you as an individual. There are many ways to feel free. But being completely able to be yourself and live how you want, is probably the most important of all. That’s exactly the kind of culture ABN AMRO wants to see. Within the bank and society as a whole. A culture where everyone can be themselves. And where you can openly show who you find attractive. Below you can read how we work hard at this. Every single day.

Believing and doing

'Change the world, starting with yourself.' We take that saying very seriously at ABN AMRO. First, by making the culture within the bank more LGBTIQ+* friendly. As a bank with a social role, we do this by having a clear policy on this topic.

For example, we support the (inter)national LGBTIQ+ community. We've also signed the Amsterdam Declaration, drawn up by the international LGBTIQ+ platform Workplace Pride. This organization wasn't founded to make money. It was founded to make sure LGBTIQ+ people are welcome in the workplace. And treated exactly like all other colleagues.

We've been a supporter of the United Nations (UN) Standards of Conduct since 2018. That same year, we signed the LGBTIQ+ Manifesto for the Sustainable Development Goals, also established by the UN.

Additionally, ABN AMRO was a sponsor again this year of the Pink Film Days in Amsterdam: with 152 films from forty countries, the largest LGBTIQ+ film festival in the Netherlands. We're also a (main) sponsor of the Amsterdam Dinner and the Pink Zuidas Drinks. At these events, employees from different companies come together to celebrate diversity and inclusion.

By doing all these things, ABN AMRO doesn’t just talk about diversity and inclusion. We show how important we find these topics.

* including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer

PRIDE+ network

ABN AMRO employees have organized themselves into multiple networks. One of them is PRIDE+. This network has about four hundred colleagues. Just like ABN AMRO, they believe our bank should be an organization where everyone can be completely themselves. Whoever you're attracted to or however you identify. PRIDE+ organizes all kinds of events within the bank. For example, around International Coming Out Day, Queer & Pride Amsterdam and the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Measuring success

As an employer, we want to know if our employees get the space to be themselves. And if they think we're taking enough steps toward this. That's why we research this every five years. We also ask LGBTIQ+ colleagues several questions. For example, whether they've ever experienced something unpleasant, because of who they are and find attractive. Naturally, these colleagues decide for themselves whether they answer these questions or not.

We research ourselves, but other organizations also do research into ABN AMRO. The results show that we're an LGBTIQ+ friendly organization. But we don't think that's enough. That's why we also regularly check our LGBTIQ+ policy through the Workplace Pride Global Benchmark. This is an online tool that helps employers measure and improve their LGBTIQ+ policy and actions. This way, we find out how we score as a company on this topic and what more we can do. Or can do differently.

Read more about our diversity and inclusion policy