Around 200 of our colleagues studied for degrees or professional qualifications in 2016 and 670 re-skilled through internal job moves across directorates. And since new skills can also be acquired outside the day job, we are increasing our support for community volunteering and engagement. We are encouraged that at the last count, over three quarters of our staff believe that the Bank offers good opportunities for learning and development. That’s a six percentage point improvement on the previous year and 20 percent higher than the UK average. xxii  We can’t take this progress for granted, however, and need to redouble our efforts to build a more inclusive culture at the Bank. Inclusive culture  Having attracted a diverse workforce, we must enable and encourage participation. We are striving to create a more inclusive environment where different working patterns are accommodated, people can debate, challenge and present ideas, and are supported when undertaking new and innovative work. Inclusion Fortnight, with 21 events over ten days across three sites, attended by almost 1700 people is the latest example of this commitment. 6  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  6  An inclusive culture is essential to realise the benefits of our aim to be ‘One Bank’. We are working to create a more agile work environment, which encourages cross-disciplinary and cross-team working further supporting the development of new ideas and approaches.
Increasingly we are asking ourselves whether we are communicating messages in accessible language. xv  Whether we’re using the right media channels to reach the widest possible audience. And most fundamentally, whether people from different backgrounds deduce the same things from our policy messages. Diversity can help. The more homogenous an organisation the more likely it will fall foul of the ‘curse of knowledge.’ This cognitive bias occurs when people assume that their audience has the same background information and base level of understanding as themselves. xvi  It’s assuming that everyone has the same  narrow view of humanity as the representative agent at the heart of a DSGE model. 4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  4  To communicate to both the City and the country, the salon and the suburb, we need to create content that engages different audiences. The problem is that they don’t teach you this in Grad school (or at least the ones where we traditionally recruited). We need alternative perspectives to craft our messages so that they make sense and resonate with more people. The more people can recognise themselves in us, the more we can stand in their shoes and speak their language, the more likely the Bank is to be trusted. xvii  The how The Bank’s approach to increase diversity and foster inclusion is three-fold:   through inclusive recruitment,    developing an inclusive culture, and    creating inclusive communications.