Ciara Raison
Chief Technology and Product Officer, Oodle Car Finance
Companies that take a strategic approach to diversity, equity and inclusion can become fairer and better places to work — while attracting and retaining the best talent.
Women are under-represented in the world of car finance. Ciara Raison is Chief Product and Technology Officer at Oodle Car Finance, a specialist lender in the automotive sector, which has a strategic focus on diversity, equity and inclusion that is bearing fruit. For example, after committing to increasing gender diversity at its ExCo and senior leadership levels, there is now a 50/50 gender split across both groups.
“The sector is more balanced in terms of gender representation at junior levels,” explains Raison. “But at the first-stage manager in engineering, female representation starts to drop off for various reasons. It’s important to have women in senior roles because it shows younger female colleagues that it’s possible for them too.”
When DEI is done properly,
it can be transformational.
Staff development opportunities and career progression
Companies should recognise exactly where female representation begins to wane — and ask themselves what they can do about it. “Are you welcoming more women into your business at all levels?” asks Raison. “Do you offer apprenticeships and graduate programmes? Are you working with women at junior levels to build their confidence and self-belief with mentoring experiences and personal development programmes? To retain the talent you have, there must be career progression opportunities.” The gender pay gap must narrow, too. Raison notes: “Our gender pay gap was 22% in 2023,” she says. “It’s now down to 11%, which is very different to other businesses in the sector.”
DEI networks and initiatives
Meanwhile, the company’s five DEI networks (gender, mental health, neurodiversity, LGBTQ+ and race, ethnicity and cultural heritage) are sponsored by ExCo members, chaired by senior leaders and open to everyone in the organisation. “These are active networks that give our employees a strong voice in shaping and defining the future of our business,” says Raison.
She insists that to be successful, DEI must be driven from the top. “Richard Gaskin, our CEO, is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion and why we’ve made such progress,” she insists. “It’s proof that when DEI is done properly, it can be transformational.”
