Building employee awareness

Building employee awareness will ensure greater support for survivors engaging with the bank and will contribute to long-term systemic change, impacting millions of victims and survivors.

This hub aims to inspire employees to take action to prevent, detect and disrupt modern slavery. We have compiled a selection of recommended resources for use by financial institutions to learn more about modern slavery and their role in its prevention.

Themis is an award-winning technology platform seeking to reduce the global impacts of financial crime. In collaboration with the UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner and the UK Modern Slavery Training Delivery Group, Themis has created a free digital learning course aimed to educate those within the financial industry and provide the tools needed to tackle modern slavery.

ECPAT UK (Every Child Protected Against Human Trafficking) is a UK-based charity, working to protect children from child trafficking and transnational child exploitation. They have created numerous resources aimed at professionals within any industry to detect, prevent and support victims and children of human trafficking. Their resources include films, webinars, leaflets and policy guides that can guide banking policy and train employees.

Hope for Justice is a global non-profit organisation working to end modern slavery and human trafficking. They offer basic awareness training programmes as well as in-depth courses targeted at individuals working directly with survivors. For U.S. organisations, the Hope for Justice Learning Academy has a variety of courses addressing the prevalence of modern slavery in the U.S.

Slave-free Alliance, which is part of Hope for Justice, also offers modern slavery training courses aimed at larger businesses, which work to integrate anti-slavery considerations into daily practice. These courses are especially recommended for executives and senior level ‘Survivor Banking Champions’ to help inform internal modern slavery training programmes as well as tackle wider supply chain business risks.

Unseen is a leading UK-based anti-slavery charity. They offer both virtual and face-to-face training courses, as well as numerous e-learning courses, which can be taken by financial industry professionals. All funds raised from the different training approaches support the U.K. Modern Slavery and Exploitation Hotline and survivor support services, helping to create a sustainable pathway for survivor support.

STOP THE TRAFFIK is a pioneering charity fighting to end human trafficking globally. They run bespoke training courses targeted at frontline professionals as well as business consultancy services, which are tailored to the specific needs of an organisation. They have also created awareness-raising modern slavery resources such as posters and leaflets, which can be shared across your organisational networks.

HESTIA is a U.K.-based organisation providing long-term support to survivors of modern slavery, domestic abuse, young care leavers and older people. They deliver Modern Slavery Training to professionals across the U.K., offering full-day and half-day courses, both virtually and face-to-face.

1. All bank staff should be trained to understand and easily notice wider patterns of suspicious activity.
2. CEOs and senior management are encouraged to promote awareness top-down and reinforce measures against modern slavery by including the topic in agenda across the board where appropriate.