Boots has a proud history of championing women and today we continue to drive inclusion, champion diversity and promote opportunity for everyone.
We became the first health and beauty retailer to be independently accredited as a Menopause Friendly Employer in recognition of our efforts to destigmatise the subject and to provide support for our team members experiencing menopause. We also became the first health and beauty retailer to achieve the Age Inclusive accreditation from the age diversity organisation, 55/Redefined in recognition of the inclusive culture we’ve created for women and all team members, throughout their working lives.
Through multiple forums, we have continued to listen to our team members and leaders about their day-to-day experience of working at Boots, and have introduced initiatives that they tell us can support their aspirations to develop and progress in the business.
We continue our focus on creating a menopause friendly working environment, we are also improving our policies and guidance on baby loss and fertility to better support our team members who experience this. We are also continuing to focus on our goal of increasing the number of women in senior leadership roles, and have introduced a learning series to help team members better understand gender equity and the steps we can take to create actionable change.
Our team members are at the very heart of Boots, and we have always sought to be a place where all our colleagues feel encouraged and supported to be themselves. We aim to cultivate an inclusive environment that makes our business a positive and enjoyable place to work and where our talented people can thrive.
This year, we have taken meaningful steps toward a more balanced gender representation in our senior leadership team, further increasing the proportion of women from 38% to 45.6%. This progress is one of the factors contributing to a more than 1.3% reduction in our mean pay gap. We recognise that while progress is being made, lasting change takes time, and we will continue working together to improve the experience of every colleague, every day.
Anthony Hemmerdinger, Managing Director, Boots UK and Ireland
