TORONTO, June 1, 2022 /CNW/ - Scotiabank is proud to announce new diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in celebration of Pride month, to foster greater opportunities and advance inclusion and belonging of LGBT+ communities globally.

As part of the Bank's renewed Diversity and Inclusion Goals, developed to increase the diversity of its employee population over the next five years, Scotiabank is introducing a new goal to increase representation in Canada of employees who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another diverse sexual orientation to 7% or greater by 2025. We also foster the inclusion for trans and non-binary employees, and current representation of employees in Canada who identified their gender as a diverse gender identity surpasses the Canadian Census data on the representation of trans and non-binary people.

To further support the communities in which it operates, Scotiabank is launching a new community engagement platform, Spark by Benevity, designed to empower employees to demonstrate allyship and giving by connecting them directly with opportunities to give back in their local communities and around the globe. Through Spark, employees can search and engage with more than two million charities worldwide for all their personal giving, volunteering, and corporate matching programs including organizations supporting LGBT+ people like The 519, Rainbow Railroad and Outright Action International. Over the past year, Scotiabank employees dedicated 129,000 volunteer hours globally across various causes and not-for-profit organizations in their local communities.

"We believe that diverse backgrounds, identities, and perspectives makes us stronger, as a team within Scotiabank and for the diverse communities we serve every day," said Barb Mason, Group Head and Chief Human Resources Officer, Scotiabank. "By increasing representation and empowering employees with new ways to be active allies to LGBT+ people in their local communities, we're striving to create a culture of inclusion and belonging where everyone can show up as their whole selves and thrive at work and in their communities."

During Pride month, and every month of the year, Scotiabank's commitment to building inclusive workplaces, fostering opportunities for LGBT+ communities, and building a culture of belonging for LGBT+ employees, customers and communities across the diverse communities it serves include:

• Scotiabank set a new global standard for parental leave, which includes 8 fully paid weeks for all parents with a new child and 8 additional fully paid weeks for parents who have given birth, going into effect into 2023. This new standard will be introduced in 24 countries across the Bank's footprint including Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and more. In addition, new family planning coverage in Canada went into effect on April 1 of this year for fertility treatment, adoption, and surrogacy with a lifetime value of $10,000 each.
  
  
  
• Scotiabank enhanced coverage for gender affirming procedures and benefits for all employees in Canada and the United States, as well as their dependents. In addition, Scotiabank has expanded its health care benefits to include the same-sex partners of employees in Trinidad and Tobago, joining Canada, United States, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay. 
  
  
  
• Through ScotiaRISE, Scotiabank's 10-year, $500 million initiative to promote economic resilience among underrepresented groups and our ongoing community partnerships, Scotiabank works with several organizations focused on supporting the LGBT+ community. These include: The 519 Church Street Community Centre, Outright Action International, Rainbow Railroad, and Friends of Ruby.
  
  
  
• Following a successful pilot in 2021, Scotiabank launched an LGBT+ employee Sponsorship program for employees this year. The program focuses on high-potential LGBT+ talent and provides clear targets and KPIs to measure success. Participants in the program are provided with coaching, education, career mapping and more in a structured curriculum over the year.
  
  
  
• Over the past year, the Bank continues to be recognized globally for gender equity efforts, including ranking on the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) for the fifth year in a row. Scotiabank U.S., Scotiabank Mexico and Scotiabank Chile achieved a perfect 100 percent score on the HRC's most recent Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a benchmarking report on corporate policies and practices in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) workplace equality. Scotiabank was also recognized by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation as Triple Winner and one of the "Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality". In addition, Scotiabank's appeared on the 2021 Aequales PAR Rankings, which measures corporations in Latin America progress towards gender equality and named one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers.

For more information on Scotiabank's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, visit: https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/about/our-company/diversity-and-inclusion.html

Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of over 90,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.3 trillion (as at April 30, 2022), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank