For the second consecutive year, Western Union has been named in Bloomberg’s Gender-Equality Index, a leading indicator of corporate gender-equality efforts.
The 2021 Bloomberg GEI measures 380 companies for gender equality across five pillars: female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, sexual harassment policies, and pro-women brand. Companies represent a variety of industries, including automotive, banking, consumer services, engineering and construction, and retail.
The GEI is seen as a leading tool for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-guided investors to find gender-related data, and for making the business case for gender inclusion consideration and transparency in securities markets.
Among the measures recognized for Western Union’s inclusion in the Index are:
- Women@WU Circles, an organized group of women employees from all levels, coming together to network, provide peer mentoring, and a safe place to discuss important topics;
- Maven, a resource where U.S. employees and their partners can obtain free access to virtual care for pregnancy, postpartum, adoption, surrogacy, and returning to work after parental leave;
- SheCares, Women@WU’s free access to the virtual SheCares Wellness Summit, devoted to giving women tools to help them take control of their mental health, reduce stress, find work-life balance and feel empowered; and
- Headspace, a library of meditations for all ages provided to employees and their families as a benefit of employment.
“Being recognized in the Bloomberg GEI for the second consecutive year is testament to Western Union’s passion for and commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion,” said Hikmet Ersek, Western Union’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “As a truly global brand and corporation with a diverse and multi-cultural stakeholder base, we have been on a journey to build a culture of inclusive innovation that we believe is critical for our company’s transformation, organizational health and, ultimately, our performance. We are excited to continue this journey.”
By disclosing gender-related metrics using the GEI framework, companies included in the 2021 GEI commit to provide a comprehensive look at their investment in gender equality in their workplaces and the communities in which they operate, raising the bar of what should be expected from other companies within the same industry. Western Union was included in this year’s index for scoring at or above a global threshold established by Bloomberg to reflect a high level of disclosure and overall performance across the framework’s five pillars. The GEI expanded in 2021 to represent 380 companies in 44 countries and regions. The index is not ranked, and is open to companies with a market capitalization of USD1 billion or more.
