Financial services organisation Redington has reduced its mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay by 21.4%.
In 2017, the firm’s mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay was 21.6%, and the median gender pay gap was 30.8%. Over the course of the last year, the mean gender pay gap has dropped to 0.2% for fixed hourly pay, and the median gender pay gap is now 5.3% in favour of women.
Redington, which has 170 employees, attributes the decrease in its gender pay gap in part to a 12-week return-to-work programme that the organisation initially implemented in January 2017.
Delivered in conjunction with executive search organisation The Return Hub, the programme has been designed to help female professionals, former military personnel and retirees re-join the financial services sector after a career break. In its first year, four out of the five women who enrolled in the scheme continued on to full-time jobs at Redington, while three personnel have stayed with the firm during the programme’s second operating year.
In addition to the return-to-work programme, Redington further believes its gender pay gap has fallen due to its revised remuneration process, which seeks to remove unconscious bias among managers when deciding employee bonuses and pay rises.
The firm has also widened its recruitment pool to include school leavers and graduates who have studied subjects not typically associated with a career in financial services.
Mitesh Sheth, chief executive officer at Redington, said: “When I became [chief executive officer] two years ago, I wanted to lead [an organisation] that was inclusive, diverse and fair. As part of that, we thought it was incredibly important to close the gender pay gap and remove any unconscious bias we had within the firm. This isn’t about positive discrimination; it is about making sure both women and men have an equal opportunity here at Redington.
“Not only do I believe this is the right thing to do, I also think it will help us make better decisions and allows us to better represent and understand our clients. While we are incredibly proud of the huge progress we’ve taken over the past year, we are continually striving for better. We are still on a journey to ensure full equality across all diversities, eliminating biases and prejudices that may influence that. We are not there yet but we’ll keep looking to improve until we are.”