In February 2024, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) released its gender pay gap findings, and, for the first time, it published individual employer gender pay gaps. UniSuper’s results, aligned to the broader industry, show that there’s work to do to reduce and eliminate the gender pay gap. To summarise our results and the actions we’re taking to close the gap at UniSuper, we recently published our first Gender Pay Gap Report.
Pay equity and the gender pay gap
There are two distinct metrics when we talk about gender and pay – pay equity and the gender pay gap.
Pay equity ensures men and women are paid equally for the same or similar role, or for work of equal value. At UniSuper, we’re confident we’ve achieved pay equity, as there’s a statistically insignificant difference in our results. We conduct regular pay reviews and have systems in place to make sure we maintain this position.
The other metric is the gender pay gap, which is the difference in median or average total earnings between men and women, regardless of their role.
UniSuper’s gender pay gap
At UniSuper, our median gender pay gap is 21.7%. This is based on total remuneration (base salary + superannuation + incentive + allowances) calculated on 31 March 2023. This result doesn’t include the CEO’s remuneration, as WGEA didn’t include CEO remuneration data this year.
The data showed that women occupy 29% of roles in the upper pay quartile and 37% of roles in the upper middle pay quartile at UniSuper. This highlights a disparity in the representation of women in leadership positions, where a higher percentage of men work in senior, higher-paying roles.
We have several large business units with historically male-dominated cohorts, including investments, financial advice, and technology. The historic work patterns across these industries are likely to have exacerbated our results. We recognise the need to uplift gender balance in these areas, and more broadly across the Fund, to increase the representation of women in roles that are paid in the upper quartiles.
Our focus moving forward
Gender equity is the key priority of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy, as we look to build on the progress we’ve already made over the last two years. We’re striving to have 40% of leadership roles at UniSuper filled by women by 2025. Not only will this mean women have stronger representation in roles that are paid more, but it will also result in more diversity in leadership, helping to deliver better outcomes for our people and members. We measure how we’re tracking against this goal each quarter to ensure we’re increasing the representation of women in leadership.
We’re also focussed on removing any systemic issues that may contribute to gender biases. We’ve recently made significant updates to our parental leave policy to support all genders with caring responsibilities. Along with our approach to flexible working, we hope these changes will help remove barriers for all genders.
We’ve also recently conducted a culture review to uncover barriers to gender equity. As a result of the review, we’ve started delivering inclusive leadership training for all people leaders to support a culture of inclusion. Moving forward, we’ll also provide more mentoring opportunities for women so they can connect with experienced leaders and experts from across the business.
We’re confident that our investment in gender equity will lead to significant improvements at UniSuper and help close the pay gap. You can find more details about what we’ve achieved so far and our key focus areas in our Gender Pay Gap Report.