Alpha Bank confirms its firm commitment to women’s empowerment, the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship and the elimination of inequalities, through its cooperation with the Urban Non-Profit Organization “Women Do Business” with the aim of supporting women from all over Greece who wish to be active in the business sector.
As part of a tour of the Bank’s Management in Crete, Alpha Bank Group CEO Vassilis Psaltis and Chief Human Resource Officer Fragiski Melissa met with the co-founders of “Women Do Business” Eri Pavlaki and Natasa Grigoraki, during It was stressed that the Bank will continue to actively support the promotion of women entrepreneurship and gender equality in the workplace, strengthening the academies and the work of the non-profit organization in general, both in the region of Crete and in other parts of the country. Alpha Bank, after all, is a pioneer through the creation and implementation of programs for women throughout their lives, having built a very valuable and fruitful collaboration with “Women Do Business” to support and empower women, among them and former Bank Employees, to take their first business steps.
“Alpha Bank supports the empowerment of women and the participation of women in the labor market. We do this by supporting women entrepreneurship and our own Employees, in order to achieve their professional goals and to successfully balance between their multiple roles at work. , family and society Our collaboration with Women Do Business, a women’s social enterprise from Crete, is not limited to Alpha Bank’s women’s mentoring programs, but we actively support their efforts through an ecosystem of the Bank, with the aim of non-standard access to the labor market and professional success.All our actions begin and end with a compass “Together”. Because we believe that this is the only road that leads to Progress “, said Vassilis Psaltis, CEO of the Alpha Bank Group.
Chief Human Resource Officer Frangiski Melissa said: “Initiatives to strengthen the position of women are at the core of Alpha Bank’s operations.
For the first time, an organization in Greece designs women’s empowerment programs that start with adolescent women, giving them the opportunity to get in touch with the banking industry for the first time, continue with the ongoing support of our Executives for their professional and personal development, and reach out to provide support and counseling to our former Employees for their next professional steps, proving in practice that they are by the side of every employee but also of every woman “.
For her part, the co-founder of “Women Do Business” Natasa Grigoraki said: “The empowerment of women is the springboard to achieve their personal and professional goals, to strengthen their participation in the labor market and entrepreneurship.
Our goal is, with pioneering collaborations, such as that of the “Grow aware” program for former employees of Alpha Bank, to support women in a successful career in whatever they choose. It is crucial for an organization from the Region, such as Women Do Business, to have a partner in its work, a partner like Alpha Bank ”
Grow Aware Academy and synergies with Women Do Business
The issue of unequal representation of women in positions of responsibility and the phenomenon of the “glass ceiling” have led many women, especially in the Greek region, to the lack of knowledge to set up their own business, while it is characteristic that only 25 , 8% of businesses in our country are run by women, according to a survey by Icap in 2021.
Alpha Bank, through its programs, policies and partnerships seeks to help reduce this phenomenon. As part of the empowerment initiatives it develops and implements for women inside and outside the Bank, it designed together with “Women Do Business” the three-month online Academy Grow Aware Academy, with the aim of advising and educating women over 40, who have left voluntarily from the Bank and want to establish their own social enterprise.At the same time, a similar action is planned for current Employees of the Bank.
The Grow Aware Academy started in March 2022 and includes lectures, workshops and seminars on the main topics of skills development, balancing professional and personal life, cultivating entrepreneurship and informing about stereotypes and limiting beliefs with the aim of their final abolition. .
In addition to the Grow Aware Academy, Alpha Bank fully supports the work of “Women Do Business” for the promotion of women entrepreneurship, empowerment and gender equality, in the region of Crete and the rest of Greece. Under the guidance of the Small Business Banking Department, the Bank’s participation as a “mentor” in the academies of the non-profit organization is planned, by providing useful, practical advice for starting new women businesses, in partnership with the Alpha Bank partner ecosystem.
Innovative mentoring and empowerment programs for Alpha Bank Employees
At the same time, Alpha Bank is a pioneer, creating empowerment and mentoring programs for women Executives, which cover the entire cycle of their work. Indicatively, during 2021, with the programs “TAB (Trading Alpha Brains)” and “She for He”, the Bank inspired women, but also encouraged them to share positive practices while building their personal branding.
In addition, in the wider context of actions with a social footprint, pioneering job shadowing programs (Bankers & Daughters) were completed, aimed at the professional orientation of adolescent women, who had the opportunity to meet Bank Managements where the percentage of men is higher than that of women.
Work culture of integration and strengthening the position of women
In addition to the above, Alpha Bank is a leader in initiatives that encourage women’s empowerment in the work environment, supporting its employees to achieve their professional goals, based on meritocracy and equal opportunities, a fact that has made it a leading employer in Greece in matters gender equality, through its inclusion for the 4th consecutive year this year in the international Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI).
Guided by a work culture that promotes integration, Alpha Bank adopts policies and practices that ensure equal pay, equal opportunities for personal and professional development, equal evaluation and reward. Indicatively, it is noteworthy that 56% of the total staff of the Bank are women, while special emphasis is given to the access of women to senior management positions, with a percentage that reaches 37%, while, at the same time, for the year 2021, 60% of the promotions given concerned women. In addition, the Bank applies a special provision on adequate gender representation (diversity policy) in its Board of Directors, resulting in a significant increase in the percentage of women in it (from 8% in 2019 to 23.1% in early 2022).
It is also noteworthy that in March 2022, the Bank’s Management signed a Special Business Collective Bargaining Agreement, the first in the Greek financial sector, which strengthens the policy of the Alpha Bank Group to prevent, deal with and combat violent and harassing behaviors.
Source: Capital
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