HSBC | Tackling Inequality and Building Futures

The Sky’s the Limit: Tackling Inequality and Building Futures with HSBC

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted, and often perpetuated, the inequalities within our society. The most important question businesses would ask themselves in 2020?  “How can we organise to tackle these challenges head on?”

During the UK’s first lockdown, it became clear to the Emerging Talent team at HSBC, that Black And Minority Ethnic graduates’ prospects within the organisation were being negatively impacted. Among other things, graduates could no longer rotate to other departments, which meant less exposure and impeded career progression.

HSBC needed a solution and came to UpSkill Digital for help. 

Following thorough needs analysis with the Emerging Talent team, UpSkill Digital planned a pilot workshop designed to empower members of the BAME Graduates Network to shape their own futures at the bank. We started by engaging with the graduates through a survey, allowing us to focus in and create a tailored, blended content plan of interactive learning to replace the face-to-face encounters that were no longer possible.

The workshop would prioritise development – helping the graduates to evaluate their skills and forge a career plan. And, in order to ensure attendees received this key training in an environment of relevant lived experience, UpSkill Digital delivered this one hour workshop with specialist diversity and inclusion champions.

To demonstrate the importance of setting multiple career goals, attendees were exposed to a range of career opportunities across the bank. They were then encouraged to define their goals for both the short, and long term. 

It’s one thing to conceptualise, but how could the graduates actually move forward? They’d need practical tools and an actionable framework. UpSkill Digital and their BAME delivery training experts were able to provide this framework, along with expert guidance on how to align their vision with their goals. The course also took graduates through the strategic steps necessary to build relationships within their wider network, and gain mentors that could ultimately assist them on the road to success. 

100% of attendees said they would both recommend the workshop, and implement what they’d learnt. We’re calling that a win. 

“The session was very helpful in terms of directing your focus and getting you to really think about where you are at and where you want to go.”

Session Attendee