Global consulting organisation Mercer has reported a 32.3% mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay.
The organisation has reported its gender pay gap data in line with the government’s gender pay gap reporting regulations and ahead of the private sector submission deadline of 4 April 2018.
The gender pay gap reporting regulations require organisations with 250 or more employees to publish the difference between both the mean and median hourly rate of pay for male and female full-time employees; the difference between both the mean bonus pay and median bonus pay for male and female employees; the proportions of male and female employees who were 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.
Mercer’s median gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay is 31.1%.
Its mean gender pay gap for bonuses paid in the reporting period is 60.2%, and the median gender pay gap for bonus payments is 71.4%. Over this time, 88.3% of female employees received a bonus payment compared to 88.6% of male employees.
A third (33%) of employees in the highest pay quartile at Mercer are female, compared to 48% in the second quartile, 62% in the third quartile and 64% in the lowest pay quartile.
Mercer attributes its gender pay gap to having more male employees occupying senior, higher-paid roles. This also impacts the organisation’s bonus gender pay gap, as employees working at a more senior level achieve a bonus that is a larger percentage of their overall pay.
To address its gender pay gap, Mercer will focus on recruiting a diverse workforce and having diverse shortlists for senior hires, promoting employees equally and providing mandatory unconscious bias training for all people managers. This training is also offered to all employees.
The organisation’s Engaging Men programme offers interactive sessions with male senior leaders about creating an inclusive environment and its business resource group, The Vine, is a UK network that promotes gender equality. Mercer additionally provides positive rolemodels, showcasing a female chief executive officer, female chair of the board and a gender balanced board and executive leadership team. The organisation supports flexible working and is reviewing its parental leave return process. In 2017, more than 80% of employees who took maternity leave returned to work at Mercer.
Mercer has a target of having women in 30% of its most senior roles by 2020. The organisation will continue to monitor its progress and report regularly at board level.
Fiona Dunsire, UK chief executive officer at Mercer, said in the report: “At Mercer, we are committed to accelerating the advancement of women at work, both inside and outside our firm. We’re on a mission to ensure our [employees] reach their own full potential, through bringing their whole selves to work, having diverse rolemodels to look up to and being rewarded fairly and equally. We know that when women thrive, businesses and societies thrive.”