Great if you're ex Aldermore, not so great if you're not - Operations Manager Gatehouse Bank Employee Review

Dear Operations Manager, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. It is a concerning review to read, especially as there are some factual inaccuracies. I wanted to take the opportunity to provide an accurate update on the positive work the bank has completed to enhance practices over the past 12+ months. Internally, we provide a number of platforms for employees to openly raise concerns relating to any area of the bank’s culture, whether via anonymous internal email, town hall meetings, pulse surveys or simply inviting people to ask the executive team any questions they may have. We strive to ensure we are equal and supportive of all whether it be through dignity at work policies, diversity and inclusion initiatives or overall bank procedures. Open discussion is encouraged and welcomed from all. As an organisation, we agree that all employees must be held accountable for their actions and that we must always communicate with accuracy and transparency. We encourage staff via a candidate referral system to put forward professionals from personal networks when we advertise positions within the bank, so that the business and our customers (as a result) will benefit from the skills and experience of others. As a matter of course, this may mean that employee referrals do sometimes come from similar organisations or individual networks which is to be expected. Our hiring practices are fair, transparent and consistent so that only those with the requisite experience, attitudes and commitment to our shared values are hired. The impact of Covid-19 has been felt by everyone and wellbeing support mentors were put in place by the bank to support all of our colleagues through this difficult pandemic. The wellbeing mentors are a mixture of senior leaders and individuals who have personal experience of dealing with similar issues in order to ensure we support colleagues with emotional intelligence applied and professionalism. Given their roles and seniority, they are well placed to escalate situations internally without delay for colleagues meaning decisive, timely action is taken to provide meaningful support. We have also offered employees courses with external providers, enhanced our internal learning library and hosted various initiatives such as a bank wide quiz, truffle making sessions and a bake off challenge to help colleagues manage wellbeing and feelings of isolation. Granted, these will not be appealing to all but the intention was made with clear internal communication as to intent. We have enhanced our employee benefit services to ensure colleagues have the right support to hand, including the removal of critical illness cover to make way for more meaningful, early detection benefits such as enhanced medical screening. We believe our role is to help our colleagues prevent and detect illness early on in order to preserve families and long term health prospects. As a bank, we have an equal balance of male and female colleagues, though it is correct we have less diversity in senior roles than we would like. This is a challenge many firms face and one we are mindful of and working towards addressing, to ensure there is diversity of voice and opinion in senior levels. These initiatives take time to show dividends and our Board is supportive of our efforts to improve inclusivity and diversity at Gatehouse. We have undertaken significant work to evaluate gender pay as well as staff pay more broadly over the last 7 months with the input of senior leaders. Our staff are rewarded in line with market data and calibration occurs to ensure all awards are consistent and in line with equality obligations. We openly share data with our internal diversity and inclusion committee to encourage them to provide honest feedback to us on how we can improve pay and rewards within the bank. The feedback has been utilised and shared with colleagues in recent pay and reward discussions. Lastly, it is very concerning to read the statement that bullying is tolerated. Each colleague at Gatehouse Bank has a responsibility to call out any such behaviours as part of our internal values to ensure we preserve a productive and positive culture. Please be part of the solution by calling out any situations you are aware of via anonymous email or direct conversation to support our values and enhance our culture. Alternatively, please contact hrqueries@gatehousebank.com should you wish to take ownership of your views and engage in transparent, effective conversation.