The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), is encouraging firms in the insurance sector to start disclosing their gender pay gaps ahead of next April’s deadline, regardless of whether or not they are required to.
In issuing the ‘call to action’ the CII is leading by example by doing so itself - five months in advance - despite the fact it is exempt by being under the 250-employee threshold.
The move coincides with the publishing of a specially-commissioned briefing paper, ‘Mind the gap’, in which the CII outlines the key factors behind, the causes of, and what can proactively be done to bring about balance where appropriate.
The CII’s mean hourly pay gap is currently 28%, compared to a sector average of 47% and national average of 14%. The median hourly rate gap is 18% compared to sector average of 37% and national average of 10%.
As one of the first signatories of the Women in Finance Charter, the CII has pledged to promote diversity and inclusion by:
- Having a senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
- Set three-year internal targets for gender diversity in our senior management including;
- 30% female representation on the CII Senior Executive Management Team
- 30% female representation on the CII Board
“The data that firms are sharing between now and April 2018 is only the start,” commented chief executive, Sian Fisher. “Our stakeholders want to see evidence of what we are doing individually and collectively to reduce the gap, and they will expect to see significant improvement in future years. “We are a strong profession, and when we behave with confidence and purpose the public will trust us to deliver. However, if we are opaque or make excuses, they will question our ability to treat customers, as well as employees, fairly. The gender pay gap is an opportunity to show that we serve the whole of society, and we should take it. “I am encouraging all businesses in the insurance sector to publish their data openly, even if like the CII, their headcount is lower than the threshold required by the rules. The public and our employees will expect to see a positive, transparent and joined-up approach to addressing it. “We see this as the first step in an ongoing process. At this stage, our focus is not on the size of the gap, but what we, as a profession, are prepared to do about it - and it must be more than the bare minimum .“Such a commitment is the foundation on which our culture is based and we are asking all those who work in our sector to join with us to tackle and resolve the gender gap.”
The full report can be accessed here.