Equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion

3i is an equal opportunities employer and prohibits unfair discrimination.

Our workforce is very international and our 249 employees at the end of March 2023 were of 26 different nationalities. We value highly the diversity of perspectives and experiences this brings.

3i’s Equal Opportunities and Diversity, and Global Recruitment and Selection policies establish that all 3i employees (temporary and permanent), contract workers and job applicants are treated fairly and are offered equal opportunity in selection, training, career development, promotion and remuneration. We cultivate an inclusive environment for existing and prospective employees which respects, involves and leverages diverse talent for greater organisational good.

To reinforce our commitment to equal opportunities, our line managers have received training on unconscious bias, focused on raising awareness of the attitude and behaviours associated with a range of important line manager activities, such as performance management, team leadership and, where relevant, recruitment activity.

In FY2022 we engaged a specialist Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (‘DE&I’) consultancy, which supported us in building upon our DE&I practices. As a result of this work, in FY2023 we launched a number of practical initiatives to improve our practices further, including:

• the Leading with Impact Programme, which encourages leaders to reflect on personal and group biases and the possible impact of these on their everyday behaviours and decision making. This programme was rolled out initially to partners and directors in our Private Equity and Infrastructure investment teams, and will be rolled out to functional heads and directors in the course of FY2024; and
• an internal mentoring programme open to all employees across all geographies and levels of seniority, which contributes to our DE&I efforts by ensuring that mentees are nurtured based on their diverse needs and individual career aspirations. All mentors are trained in bias awareness and inclusion, building their DE&I knowledge, skills and confidence, which contributes to our wider goals of creating a diverse pipeline of talent based on the principles of fairness and equity.

Since the end of FY2023 we have set up a DE&I steering group chaired by our Chief Human Resources Officer and with members drawn from diverse functions across the organisation. This steering group will drive the DE&I agenda by monitoring progress against our objectives, ensuring alignment and collaboration across the group, and by enabling each business area to have a voice and bring forward ideas for review and approval and to be put forward to our Executive Committee.

We continue to take part in a number of initiatives to improve DE&I at 3i and within our industry more broadly. These initiatives, which focus on gender, ethnic and social diversity, are described in our Gender, ethnic and social diversity section.