Insurance organisation Zurich has reduced its mean pay gap from 22.8% to 20.7% in 2018, and has seen its median gap also reduce from 22.6% to 20.2% in 2019.
The gender pay gap reporting regulations require organisations with 250 or more employees to publish the differences in mean and median hourly rates of pay for male and female full-time employees, the gap in mean and median bonus pay, the proportions of male and female employees awarded bonus pay, and the proportions of male and female staff in the lower, lower middle, upper-middle and upper quartile pay bands.
Zurich's mean bonus gap also reduced from 51.9% in 2018 to 48.4% in 2019, while its median bonus gap reduced from 44.9% to 34.6% in 2019.
To make further attempts to reduce the gender gap within the business in 2019, Zurich offered new part-time or job-share roles, encouraging more women with family responsibilities to apply for more senior roles. Additionally, the organisation also changed the wording of job advertisements to attract a wider range of applicants.
Nine months into this new initiative, applications from females increased by 14%, with 50% of women being hired into senior roles.
In September 2019, Zurich offered 16 weeks paid parental leave to all new parents, with extra support for carers, those who have had premature babies or have gone through IVF. The employer is prioritising development existing talent through training programmes, mentoring, and senior sponsorship.
It is also encouraging more young women to apply to its intern, apprentice, and graduate entry roles.
Tulsi Naidu, chief executive at Zurich, said: “Despite the government suspending gender pay gap reporting in light of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have taken the decision to publish our data. We think it is important we continue to operate as usual, this is an important topic, our data is ready and we are active on new initiatives to reduce the gap further.
“Our figures show progress and a definite step in the right direction, though we know more work is needed. We’re confident that we’ll make greater strides when we publish next year’s data that should reflect the measures put in place to attract more women into senior roles. We’re looking at how we can tackle pay gaps from every angle, and this will include ethnicity, disability and LGBT in the months ahead. This is part of our aim to make Zurich an attractive place to work, presenting opportunities to the widest possible range of people.”
