Quilter has published its second gender pay report and, while there are still concerning levels of inequality, it shows an improvement from last year’s figures.
The firm’s mean pay gap has reduced to 35% in 2018 from 39% in 2017; and the median bonus gap dropped to 39% from 41%.
However, both the median pay gap and average mean bonus gap remained the same at 29% and 70%, respectively.
Junior women but senior men
When it published its first report in 2017, Quilter pledged to have at least 35% (ideally 40%, the business said) of women in its senior management roles by the end of 2020.
The latest figures show that work has been done to achieve that goal, as now 34% of its senior management community are women and Quilter’s executive committee is now 21% female (compared to 8% in 2017).
Quilter acknowledged that it “has identified the leading causes for why there continues to be a gender pay gap in the business”.
“More men occupy senior management and revenue-generating roles, whilst more women occupy junior roles and more women are in part-time roles.”
Going forward
The firm has made several changes, including introducing a diverse shortlist policy, where all senior vacancies must have a diverse shortlist of candidates before the recruitment process. It has also started actively recruiting women into Quilter’s Financial Adviser School – who currently make up 30% of the student population.
Additionally, the business is now a member of the Diversity Project and a signatory of HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter.
In an interview with International Adviser in June 2018 Quilter chief executive Paul Feeney acknowledged the imbalance in the company’s management team. “In our senior leadership 33% are women, which is nowhere near good enough. Quite frankly, we’re behind the eight-ball.”
He said he had personally taken up the role of diversity champion across the business, “because it isn’t good enough”.
“Expect to see change,” he told IA. “One of my goals is to create the environment where our people can thrive, not the environment where 50-year-old bald blokes can thrive. We’ve already got that.”
Translate commitments into results
Building on those comments, Feeney said about the recent gender pay gap figures: “Creating an inclusive culture is key to creating a business which excels in an increasingly competitive environment.
“While we have made some improvements over the last year, there is still significant work to be done to close the gender pay gap both within our organisation and across the industry. We now need to translate our commitments into tangible results, which truly turn the dial.
“I am pleased that we now have more gender diversity on our board and executive committee but am under no illusions that there isn’t more that needs to be done to make sure that the leaders of this company better reflect its workforce and client base.”
