Robeco is committed to promoting diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion amongst its employees. We consider this to be a core value in the way we build our strategy, how we operate, how we recruit and how we shape our culture.
We strive to create a workplace that reflects our diverse communities, and where everyone feels seen, heard, valued, and empowered to succeed – regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, family responsibility, sexual orientation, social origin, age or experience. We are an inclusive workplace where best practice includes fair treatment, equal access to opportunity, collaboration and empowerment, and an emphasis on innovation.
Under the guidance of the DE&I Committee, managers at the most senior level are held accountable for fostering a culture of diversity, equal opportunities and inclusiveness, and of accelerating the pace of change.
The advancement of women into senior positions is a particular focus alongside the increase in representation and advancement of underrepresented minorities.
Robeco’s DE&I Committee is responsible for developing and evolving our overall strategy and policy for diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion, working with colleagues worldwide to establish and balance appropriate priorities, and to facilitate the various diversity initiatives around Robeco.
Furthermore, the DE&I Committee operates on the principle of acknowledging and tackling diversity, equal opportunities and inclusivity issues head-on. It aims to drive employee programs to empower inclusive talent and promote a sense of belonging and work-life balance.
Source: Robeco, 2021
Source: Robeco, 2021
We realize that we need to set clear, ambitious targets supported by actions to ensure we move in the right direction and achieve our long-term ambition. Global targets are the beacons that guide us to our overall ambition. We therefore set the following gender diversity targets:
We strive for a broad diversity, in multiple ways, but we only set specific global targets for gender diversity as we can measure it and make it visible. It doesn’t exclude other relevant goals at lower and local level for other types of diversity. We believe that setting up targets for one minority creates the right ground to achieve diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion for other minorities.
Robeco has used engagement to seek ESG improvements at companies since 2005. New engagement themes are launched every year, each one with a specific focus. Robeco believes that a large impact can be made on advancing diversity by actively engaging investee companies on this topic.
Robeco regularly encourages investee companies to improve their practices related to ESG issues. In the Stewardship Policy, more information can be found on what we expect from investee companies, and how we perform proxy voting and engagement to drive progress on diversity.
We believe that companies whose employees are happy and healthy achieve stronger operational and financial performance in the long term. Throughout our engagement efforts focused on social topics, we encourage companies to develop a human capital management policy which should cover how they attract and retain talent, provide training and courses, and establish workforce diversity.