Schroders has become the first FTSE 100 company to publish details of its gender pay gap as pressure mounts on the financial services industry to stamp out imbalances in how much men and women earn.
Schroders found that fixed pay for its female staff was 33 per cent less on average when compared to salaries for male employees at Europe’s second largest listed asset manager. It also found bonuses for female staff were 66 per cent less on average than bonuses for male staff at the company.
But the company said these figures “may be misleading” as men account for 71 per cent of its senior staff, so male employees are more likely to be in roles that carry higher pay.
“Our analysis of comparable roles shows we reward men and women fairly for similar work and that the gap reflects the lower representation of women at senior levels within the organisation,” Schroders said.
The London-headquartered fund company disclosed the figures voluntarily in its latest annual report ahead of the introduction of new UK rules in April that will force businesses with more than 250 employees to disclose these statistics.
A spokesperson for Schroders said: “We are committed to striving for gender equality across our business. Our decision to publish this data is a tangible demonstration of this commitment.”
The UK government last year published research highlighting industries with the biggest gender pay gaps. It showed the financial services and construction sectors have the biggest imbalances in terms of how much men and women are paid.
Schroders said last year it was aiming to ensure at least 30 per cent of its senior staff were women. Since the target was set, the level of female representation in senior roles has increased from 25 per cent to 29 per cent.
Schroders, which employees 4,020 staff, is now aiming for at least 33 per cent of its senior employees to be women by 2019. Three quarters of its highest earners are male.
Virgin Money, the FTSE 250-listed financial services business founded by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, also published its gender pay gap data in its annual report earlier this month.
The company found women in its workforce on average earned 36 per cent less than men, which it also attributed to the underrepresentation of women in senior positions.
The gender pay gap across the UK for both full- and part-time roles was 18.1 per cent in 2016. Financial services has the largest pay gap, according to PwC, at 34 per cent.
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