Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Wellbeing

At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.

Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and offer workplace adjustments to ensure you have the support you need to succeed in your role.

Role Purpose

To enhance and execute on our current strategy to foster an inclusive, diverse, and high-performing culture.

Operating within a highly regulated UK financial services environment, this role will ensure M&G plc's adherence to statutory compliance, including full ownership and responsibility for meeting legal, regulatory and reporting requirements, whilst working within our HR Centre of Expertise for Leadership, Learning and Talent to continue to embed diversity and inclusion (D&I), and wellbeing into everyday practices. This will require close collaboration with HR colleagues, business leaders, and relevant teams across the organisation.

The overall aim of this role will be to help shape a more integrated people agenda that delivers sustainable D&I and wellbeing solutions to achieve better business and performance outcomes.

Key Responsibilities Strategy & Execution

• Lead D&I and wellbeing strategy as an enabler for innovation, growth and resilience aligned to strategic priorities.
• Review infrastructure and operating model to enable effective delivery on agreed strategic priorities, leveraging wider HR centre of expertise / excellence resources and capabilities to help execute on the overall agenda.
• Provide visible leadership and subject matter expertise to further strengthen this agenda across M&G plc.
• Ensure overall approach will support an evolving workplace environment, with ongoing industry benchmarking activities to identify emerging trends that may inform new strategies or recommend improvements to practices.
• Partner with key business areas to identify opportunities that will improve customer and client outcomes.
• Enhance current dashboards and metrics reporting, maintaining clear standards, governance, and measures for D&I and wellbeing activity, ensuring progress tracked and communicated effectively.
• Keep all D&I and wellbeing information that is accessible internally or externally updated and in line with strategy.
• Manage relationships with external organisations, suppliers, and partners to ensure their contribution supports agreed D&I priorities and business outcomes.

Regulatory Compliance & Governance

• Oversee reporting, governance, and regulatory requirements for D&I and wellbeing e.g. gender pay gap, including targeted action plans to meet requirements with ongoing monitoring and reporting on progress.
• Ensure adherence to evolving legislative and regulatory requirements on D&I.
• Monitor and proactively adapt M&G policies to stay in line with employment law changes.
• Maintain core documentation for regulatory or internal audits and to support GEC and plc Board updates.

Talent Focus

• Partner within the leadership, learning and talent centre of expertise to further embed diversity, inclusion and wellbeing in our leadership, learning, performance, and talent management practices.
• Partner with our resourcing team to review external hiring, internal promotion, and career progression practices to offer advice on continuing to eliminate bias and widen talent sourcing pools for diversity.
• Promote ongoing awareness and education around key topics such as psychological safety, micro-behaviours, and systemic bias within workplaces to foster a more diverse and inclusive culture.

HR Focus

• Partner effectively across HR to guide continued integration of D&I and wellbeing into people policies, processes, change activity and all internal communications, as applicable.
• Partner with HRDs to provide advice and support to promote diversity, inclusion and wellbeing initiatives in leadership forums and business townhalls, as and when opportunities arise.
• Share external expertise and ongoing insights to strengthen D&I and wellbeing capabilities across HR.
• Work collaboratively with HR colleagues and take personal accountability for maintaining effective controls, improving outcomes for our business, and reducing operational risk.

Stakeholder Management & Networks

• Act as a trusted advisor to the HR leadership team and GEC on sensitive cultural and societal topics.
• Represent M&G in industry forums and panels where applicable e.g. Women in Finance Charter and take a lead on managing our external accreditations and initiatives e.g. NE