Focusing on inclusion and belonging in the workplace gives our people a safe space to bring their whole selves to work which means they can give their best to securing the future of our customers each and every single day.
We strive to achieve equal opportunities and outcomes for our women and men. This is evidenced in the obtainment of our Workplace Gender Equality Agency (‘WGEA’) Compliance Certificate, our accreditation at an accelerated level for the EDGE Certification and the focus from our local NEO Committee.
One important aspect of achieving workplace gender equality, and one that is reported to WGEA, is gender pay gap. This shows the difference between the average and median pay of women and men across organisations, industries and the workforce.
According to the analysis conducted by WGEA, our gender pay gap is 21.4%. This is 2.6% behind the industry benchmark. Our ongoing efforts to address this outcome have seen our gender pay gap decrease by 5.5% since 2020, however we recognise we have more work to do to close the gap entirely.
It’s important to reiterate we don’t pay people differently based on gender. Our data indicates we have a disproportionate concentration of men in the upper quartile and women in the lower quartile, there is a skew of females in non-management roles and a gender imbalance in key management roles. This is what is driving a positive gender pay gap where men are paid on average more than women.
We have identified the need to set a formal policy that supports the promotion of gender equality. We recognise the importance of increasing the representation of women in leadership roles and men in non-leadership roles, as well as encouraging more men to take primary parental leave and improving support for employees experiencing family and domestic violence.
To further support gender equality, we conduct a gender pay gap review twice a year. We act on the results from the gender pay gap review as this is an important step in achieving equality and workforce participation as well as broader economic growth.
We acknowledge that overcoming barriers standing in the way of a more equivalent workplace will take time and persistence and requires cultural change. We will continue to strengthen and build on our efforts and will focus on other key strategies to ensure we are delivering on, and are recognised for, gender equality, inclusion and belonging within our company.