Colleagues in the community
Barclays’ employees are an important part of how we deliver our Sustainability and Citizenship Commitments as we strive to play a positive role in society.
Throughout the year, thousands of colleagues around the world give their time, skills and expertise to help people develop new skills to get into work, or by supporting businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive. In October, colleagues come together to volunteer in support of Barclays annual Make a Difference campaign.
Barclays also supports colleagues to help the causes they care about through our volunteering, fundraising and giving programmes.
Going above and beyond
The Citizenship and Diversity Awards shine a light on colleagues whose commitment to citizenship and diversity is helping customers, clients, colleagues and society to rise.
Whether it’s helping people gain the skills to get into work, creating a workplace where everyone feels included, strengthening the local community or the environment, or supporting diverse colleagues to grow, the awards are a celebration of our extraordinary colleagues.
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A female colleague supporting Barclays to become a more diverse and inclusive workplace, along with a track record of delivering business success.
Sonali Shelke - Mumbai, India
Sonali has shown her commitment to developing others by mentoring female colleagues, acting as a Dynamic Working Champion and running monthly CV workshops for more than 200 underprivileged, local students.
Kate Horton - New York, NY, US
Kate is a strong advocate and beacon for junior women in the business, having overseen the first grassroots female mentorship programme and acting as Co-Chair for the US Junior Advisory Group for Win, the gender network.
Diane Clothier - London, UK
Diane has brought creativity and dedication to the role of London Co-Chair for Win, Barclays’ gender network, mentoring and coaching women across the business and encouraging male allies.
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Programmes and activities enhancing people’s digital, financial and employability skills or creating pathways into work.
Connect with Work ETIC Volunteer Team - Tokyo, Japan
The team have run a variety of Connect with Work programme events in Japan to help remove barriers to employment for young people on the autistic spectrum. These activities have helped to connect them with employment opportunities, resulting in 36 people getting into work.
LifeSkills Mentors - Billericay, Bradford, Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester and Norwich, UK
Colleagues took part in an intensive mentoring programme to support white working class boys – the first of its kind set up by LifeSkills and The Transformation Trust. The team mentored the boys to increase their motivation and career aspirations. The evaluation insights are being shared with the UK government as a model to help address the employability skills gap.
The HOPE Program Team - New York, NY, US
Colleagues helped The HOPE Program to draw new insights on how it is supporting unemployed and underemployed New Yorkers to secure and retain jobs, so that the programme team can clearly articulate the benefits to stakeholders and continuously improve the programmes going forward.
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A colleague or team demonstrating increased accessibility or helping to deliver disability confidence in the workplace or community.
Peter Toal - New York, NY, US
Peter launched the first mental health awareness group in the US, enabling colleagues to talk openly about mental health, leading to a 200% increase in membership of Reach, Barclays’ disability and mental health network.
German Accessibility Champions - Hamburg, Germany
With more than 150,000 people in Germany having a visual impairment, colleagues in Barclaycard redeveloped their website to exceed all accessibility requirements, leading to a 7% increase in visitors.
Elizabeth Bywood - London, UK
Liz has influenced and shaped the way inclusive design has been incorporated into Barclays’ buildings and sites, ensuring they are as accessible as possible for colleagues, customers and clients.
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Supporting entrepreneurs and businesses with our products, services or expertise, enabling them to thrive.
Fundación Tomillo Support Team - Madrid, Spain
Colleagues have partnered with non-profit Fundación Tomillo in southern Madrid to mentor and support new entrepreneurs in an area with high unemployment and high school drop-out rates. With the team’s support, the entrepreneurship programme has trained nearly 100 participants and helped create 12 new businesses and 16 new jobs.
High Growth and Entrepreneurs Team - Birmingham, London, Manchester and Preston, UK
With the aim of making the UK the best place to start and grow an innovative business, the team provide access to finance, dedicated relationship management, mentoring and networking for entrepreneurs and high-growth companies. The team have supported 25,000 growth companies and lent over £25m to enable them to scale.
Blue Ridge Labs Tech Banking Volunteers - New York, NY, US
In partnership with Blue Ridge Labs, colleagues supported early-stage social tech entrepreneurs building innovative solutions to tackle poverty in New York by coaching the entrepreneurs on their investor outreach.
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A diversity network member delivering measurable impact in achieving their network's goals and objectives in relation to Barclays’ Diversity and Inclusion strategy.
Colin Dunlop - Hong Kong
Colin has been key to introducing HR policies that are inclusive to LGBT+ colleagues across Asia Pacific, and helped to secure Barclays’ top 10 place in the Inclusion Index in Hong Kong. He was involved in a landmark Hong Kong court case, to secure immigration rights for same-sex couples.
Steve Mitchell - Henderson, NV, US
By forging strong partnerships with the local LGBT+ community, Steve has helped Barclays to become recognised as a strong and visible ally, and has grown membership of Spectrum, Barclays’ LGBT+ network, threefold in the US.
Jason Quarisa - London, UK
As a role model LGBT+ ally and active member of Spectrum, Barclays’ LGBT+ network, Jason has led many events about what it means to be an LGBT+ ally and coordinated innovative LGBT+ training for senior leaders.
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Protecting, enhancing and strengthening broader society and the environment through our core business.
Star Energy Deal Team - Singapore, Hong Kong and London, UK
Barclays acted as a joint global coordinator, ratings advisor and billing and delivery agent for the first high-yield project bond in over a decade in Asia Pacific, as well as the first corporate green bond out of Indonesia. The bond will deliver close to 400 megawatts of geothermal power and has enabled the government to scale down its coal-based electricity plan.
Ireland Sovereign Green Bond Team - London, UK
Barclays was joint lead manager for Ireland’s inaugural Sovereign Green Bond issue, which enables Ireland to play a leading role in the development of the green finance market and supports the country’s transition to an environmentally-sustainable economy. It further establishes Barclays as a leader in raising capital for clients striving to make a positive societal impact.
CMS Energy Deal Team - New York, NY, US
Barclays helped develop and execute the first US-based sustainability-linked credit facilities for CMS Energy, a leading US electric and natural gas utility provider, which enables the company to reduce its loan interest rate payable through meeting defined targets related to environmental sustainability.
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A colleague who has joined Barclays in the past two years and is making a significant and meaningful contribution to Barclays’ Diversity and Inclusion strategy.
Madhuri Varma - Pune, India
As someone early in her career at Barclays, Madhuri has implemented the Reverse Mentoring Programme for colleagues in India, which is helping to bridge the multi-generational gap between graduates and senior leaders locally.
Amanda Yellen - New York, NY, US
As a leader within Emerge, the forum supporting people early in their careers, Amanda refreshed and expanded the Reverse Mentoring programme and actively facilitated cross-generational conversations.
Matt Measor - London, UK
Matt has established himself within Barclays as a young leader raising awareness of LGBT+ issues internally and externally by helping to create a new cross-industry LGBT+ network called Wave.
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Celebrating colleagues’ commitments to strengthen their local community as a team – giving their time, money and/or expertise.
Barclays House Poole Team
The Barclays House Poole Team are playing an active role in their local community. They have fundraised and volunteered their time and skills throughout the year, collectively giving more than 5,500 hours to community projects in 2018. The Talent Hit Squad brings together top talent from local businesses to volunteer their expertise.
Christmas Angels - Hamburg, Germany
Carsten and Andrea have kept the Christmas tradition alive by mobilising the support of more than 200 colleagues in a short space of time to organise Christmas presents for more than 100 children who live with HIV. 2018 saw the biggest Christmas present distribution in more than 10 years of Barclaycard taking part.
Kay’s Kamp Team - Henderson, NV and Wilmington, DE, US
The team has supported the Kaylyn Elaine Warren Foundation since 2012 by fundraising and volunteering at Kay’s Kamp, a summer camp for more than 70 children with cancer. Last year, they raised $700,000 by organising a charity golf tournament and volunteered more than 150 hours to set up the camp and take part as camp counsellors.
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A colleague or team whose efforts have resulted in a positive impact for our global diversity campaigns (Dynamic Working, Embracing Us, HeForShe, Spectrum Allies, This is Me) or enabled measureable inclusion in the workplace.
Embrace Black Professionals Forum UK – Leadership Team - Birmingham, London and Northampton, UK
The Black Professionals Forum UK Leadership Team has helped Barclays establish itself as a great place to work by attracting, developing, retaining and enabling the promotion of talent of black origin, and have created an engaging platform for colleagues to learn, develop and network.
Win Noida Working Group - Noida, India
The Win gender network team in Noida has delivered impactful development initiatives for women and male allies, helping to achieve a top 10 place for Barclays in the ‘Best Companies for Women in India’ report.
Arturo Ortiz de Zevallos - New York, NY, US
Arturo is an influential ally for women and colleagues from minority backgrounds, who has positively impacted Barclays’ culture by raising awareness of unconscious bias and launching a mentoring programme for 100 colleagues.
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Celebrating colleagues’ commitments to strengthen their local community as individuals – giving their time, money and/or expertise.
Heather McCusker - Henderson, NV, US
Heather volunteers nearly 100 hours a year as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) to fight for the best interests of abused and neglected children in Nevada. During her nearly 10 years as a CASA, she has also taken on a leadership role to mentor other volunteers and help them advocate more effectively for children.
Harini Narayanan - Chennai, India
Harini led extensive disaster relief work in southern India after Cyclone Gaja hit. She fundraised and partnered with a non-profit organisation to help those people most affected by the crisis, using her personal social media to raise awareness and turning her own home into a collection point for relief materials for 2,000 people.
Bob Silk - London, UK
A passionate advocate for people who face barriers to work, Bob has partnered with clients to help them meet their hiring needs by opening up jobs to participants in Barclays’ employability programmes – Connect with Work and AFTER. Bob has proactively helped more than 150 people get into work.
Our 2019 ESG Report
Barclays recognises that the focus on the societal impact of businesses and performance on wider Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors has increased in recent years, with growing interest from a range of stakeholders including investors, clients, policy makers and regulators.