Annual HR Breakfast 2015
Facts & Figures:
Based on May 2015 statistics gathered by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), the current gender pay gap is 17.9% nationally (full time employment):
This means that women need to work an additional 65 days to earn the same amount as men (referred to as Equal Pay Day – this year it falls on September 4th – 65 days after the beginning of the financial year)
For the Financial and Insurance services, the gender pay gap is the highest of all sectors – 30.5% 2015 (an increase of 0.5% on last year = 30.0% May 2014)
Male graduates earn 9.4% more than female graduates.
40% of women in Australia are the main breadwinners in the household.
Gender Pay Gap Analysis – in 2014
came into effect for businesses with over 100 employees –
Only 16.4% of organisations conducted analysis on gender pay gap within the last 12 months
50.2% of financial and insurance services conducted analysis – 46% of those organisations took action on the findings.
Women will retire with 16% less superannuation than men.
Presentation – Alex Hunter (TAL)
Background on TAL
Australia’s largest life insurer
Company is about giving back to society – not just providing life insurance
Conducted an across the board survey in 2012 and 2014 –
In 2012 was 3 separate surveys; combined to 1 survey in 2014 (1113 responses from 1800 team members).
Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Council was set up as a result of the findings:
Support from senior team is essential to the success of any strategies put in place;
Having the CEO on board is half the battle – if the CEO is not on board, it is the job of HR to raise the awareness and get the CEO on board! Sometimes it is a case of the CEO not being aware of the issue, rather than them not being accepting.
Found from the surveys that it is not just about pay equity, but about the bigger picture –
Easier to achieve a lowering of the gender pay gap in some industries over others – historically some industries are either male or female dominated.
- ‘Unconscious Bias’
TAL have closed the gap in gender pay from 82% in 2012 to 99.02% in 2014 – aim is 100% in 2020 (set as a KPI).
Found that if you rely on only who can work full time, you reduce your talent pool by 50%.
Initiatives Introduced:
Unconscious bias training;
Male Champions of Change – anyone in the business is welcome to join;
Report the results both to the market and the team (very significant as it encourages involvement within the business);
Integrated Talent Management – this is a key part of the equation;
Reverse C Mentoring – mentoring from the bottom up;
All about knowing what it is like working at the grass roots
Introduced a Working Parents Program ;
ALL roles are offered ‘flexibly’ – ie working from home or part time
Opens up a massive talent pool
MUST be set up properly within the business
No longer about being seen sitting at a desk
Job Architecture – this is a focus for Remuneration Managers
TAL pays for the role, not the individual
Helps when a person looks at moving across to a different career path
Clear benchmarks are set for each role, band, etc
This enables team members to raise concerns with their own
remuneration
TRANSPARENCY!!
Constantly measuring and reporting = visibility and transparency
AON Hewitt assisted TAL with the Job Architecture
Essential that Job Agencies know what the focus is for the business – get them on board to be your voice!
7 Themes at TAL
Support – from CEO, executive teams
Job Architecture
Changing Review process (salary, bonus, KPI’s)
Awareness
Transparency – releasing of salary bands
Great Remuneration & Benefits Leader
Recruitment Team is key in NOT continuing the imbalance.
Questions
How did TAL bridge the gap?
By preparing the managers in the teams to have the conversations – a lot of time and money went into education.
Important to know what is going on within the business – and then doing something about it.
How do you get managers on board with flexible working?
Support from the CEO is essential – CEO driven, so there was no going back on this. TAL do what they can to have team members set up properly at home.
How have the changes affected the staff attrition rates after 2014?
Attrition rates are quite stable.
Other Comments:
Johnson & Johnson – there is a tool used within the business that is used when making offers to candidates/team members.
Tool shows a range for roles – candidates brought in at the mid-point. This provides managers the opportunity to argue for remuneration over/under the midpoint.
This can sometimes also cause even more disparity between men/women, as women generally speaking, want to stay within a role until they can perform it well, whereas men have a clear career path and are happy to make changes mid-role.
AMP Capital – When the new Managing Director joined the team, the first communication sent out was across gender balance.
Flexible working conditions are currently being introduced into AMP.
Shortlist Quotas:
Parity – over the last year, 30% of roles have been female mandates
Parity aim to present 50/50 shortlists
TAL – Shortlist quotas are 50/50 (used to be 30/70)
Once a quarter the GM talks to everyone on gender within the business.
Businesses have a duty to educate the recruiter
“You want them to be your voice in the market” – Alex Hunter
“Let recruiters be your voice – educate us” – Victoria Butt
HSBC – Run calibration sessions which help with remuneration reviews
Historically, the industry is male dominated, which is the challenge.
For each function, the remuneration is relatively the same between men and women.
Board reports always include a piece around gender analysis – more focused on participation than remuneration disparity.
Essential that there is a passionate HR leader pushing the initiatives and
awareness.
Russell – had a Diversity Council, but sits on the side of the business.
Gender disparity active on the agenda.
CHANGES WILL ALL START WITH IDEA SHARING!