Our people power our success. We aim to hire and retain the best people for the right roles to deliver for our clients, our businesses, our shareholders and the communities we serve. Our inclusive workplace that is based on meritocracy, paired with our culture of belonging, ensures that everyone at UBS can unlock their potential. Ultimately, it creates better outcomes for our employees and our clients, today and tomorrow.
Sergio P. Ermotti, UBS Group Chief Executive Officer
Our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy
We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace based on meritocracy and aim to build a culture of belonging, where all employees are recognized and valued, and where everyone can be successful and thrive. At UBS, we aim to hire and retain the best people for the right roles, to deliver for our clients, our businesses, our shareholders and the communities we serve. In order to achieve this, we have a diverse workforce with a variety of skills, experiences and backgrounds that reflects the diversity of our clients to serve them at our best. It is also critically important to us that we respect an environment where all our employees are treated fairly and able to reach their potential. In every location in which we operate, we continue to act in accordance with the current law and regulations and will monitor any changes to ensure we remain consistent.
Our workforce inclusion strategy is built on four pillars: transparency, hiring, developing and belonging. We leverage these four pillars to help support our entire workforce across a variety of personal characteristics including, but not limited to, gender, culture, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and identity, disability, family, veteran status, and generations, to create an inclusive culture for everyone.
We aim to hire the best people for the right roles with meritocracy at the forefront of any decision we make, to deliver for our clients, our businesses, our shareholders and the communities we serve. We offer a wide range of programs to attract a diverse talent slate. Our junior talent programs, such as our apprenticeship programs in Switzerland and the UK and our global internship program, prepare young talent for successful careers with us. Our UBS Career Comeback program supports candidates on career breaks who want to re-enter the corporate world.
We provide employees the visibility and opportunities to enable successful and thriving careers. Mentorship and sponsorship, embedded in (and supplemental to) talent development programs help ensure employees have a range of development opportunities. Through a mix of online and in-person training, self-directed learning and coaching, we further support our employees’ career journeys and aspirations. For example, in 2024, our Growth Alignment Experience for Associate Director- and Director-level employees in the US doubled in size to 100 participants, who had applied to be part of the program. Over a six-month period, participants worked with external coaching professionals to enhance their strategic planning skills, expand their networks and build connections. Employees in the UK and Switzerland at the Authorized Officer, Associate Director and Director levels were offered programs including Not in Your Image, a nine-month career development program for building skills and leadership readiness.
In the US, we work with the Executive Leadership Council’s Institute for Leadership Development and Research, along with organizations like the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, to support leadership-development-focused opportunities across our workforce, facilitating individual growth that in turn builds our talent pipeline.
A sense of belonging helps drive engagement and is important for overall well-being. Inclusive leadership and fair and transparent policies and practices provide organizational support for belonging, and vital to these efforts are our various employee network chapters across the firm that connect employees on a variety of employee-led topics. Our networks, which are open to all employees, also supplement members’ awareness, development and support through mentoring, reverse mentoring and allyship programs.
Transparency is the foundation framework through which we enable leaders to deliver the strategy, and everyone is held responsible. We leverage various communication channels and line manager objectives to drive awareness, benchmarking, thought leadership and feedback to inform the strategy, and data monitoring with respective characteristics, including management dashboards and toolkits, to support our entire workforce.
Our workforce inclusion strategy is reinforced by our public commitments to support all employees, including, but not limited to, the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, the Valuable 500 and the Race at Work Charter (UK).
Employee Networks
A sense of belonging helps drive engagement and is important for overall well-being. With over 60 network chapters globally, and more than 45,000 unique members, our employee networks are a key engine for creating and supporting a culture of engagement and belonging for all employees.