Insurance provider Zurich has reported a 22.8% mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay as at 5 April 2018; this is a decrease from 27.3%, as reported in 2017.
The organisation reported gender pay gap data across its two legal entities, Zurich Employment Services and Zurich UK General Services, in line with the government’s reporting regulations and in time for the private sector submission deadline of 4 April 2019.
The 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 for men and women, the proportions of male and female employees awarded bonus pay, and the proportions of male and female full-time employees in the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper quartile pay bands.
Zurich’s 2018 median gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay is 22.6%; this is a reduction from the 27.4% it reported in 2017.
The organisation’s mean gender pay gap for bonuses paid in the 12 months up to 5 April 2018, which does not take into account part-time employees, is 51.9%; this is higher than last year’s figure of 47.2% The median gender pay gap for bonus payments is 44.9%, compared to 34.2% in 2017. Over the current reporting period, 95% of both male and female employees received bonus payments.
Approximately three in 10 (31%) employees in the highest pay quartile at Zurich are female, compared to 33.3% in the second quartile, 44.3% in the third quartile and 62.7% in the lowest pay quartile. In total, 46% of the organisation’s workforce is female.
Tulsi Naidu, UK chief executive officer at Zurich, said: “I am pleased to announce our gender pay gap has reduced to 22.8%. While this is a great step forward, there is clearly more to do to reduce both the hourly pay gap as well as the bonus gap.”
Zurich attributes its gender pay gap to the fact that it continues to have fewer women employed in senior and technical roles. Zurich posited that fewer women than men apply for its senior roles in part because flexibility needs to be made more clearly available across all levels of the business.
The organisation's stated that its gender pay gap for bonuses is influenced by its number of female part-time employees; the majority (93%) are women, but the calculation for the bonus gender pay gap does not consider pro-rated bonus payments. Furthermore, the number of one-off payments for talent attraction or retention was higher in 2018 than 2017, which also contributed to Zurich’s increased bonus gap.
To address these issues, Zurich will continue to promote its flexible working programme, FlexWork, operate intern, apprentice and graduate career entry routes, with 50% of 2018’s intake being female, and provide a youth skills programme, to encourage school students to take up a career in insurance.
Zurich has been running a gender-focused employee group, Women’s Innovation Network (WIN), for the past five years. This now has 800 members in the UK, a quarter of whom are men. WIN has three focus areas: networking, cultural change and career development.
The organisation has also looked to its recruitment practices, challenging its partners to deliver diverse shortlists for all management vacancies, using screening software to ensure adverts appeal to a wide range of applicants, and ensuring that all interviews are conducted by at least two managers, ideally with a mix of gender and ethnicity.
Furthermore, Zurich’s UK executive team is measured on diversity and inclusion as part of their performance management objectives and required to sponsor at least one employee network group and mentor at least three employees.
Naidu added: “We are confident that we will continue reducing our gender pay gap year on year. Not only is this simply the right thing to do, it is critical to our business performance. It enables us to attract and retain the best talent and makes us more representative of our customers.
"Everyone should be able to succeed at Zurich, regardless of their background, and we are committed to ensuring this is the case.”
