TAL tackles gender inequality – pay gap closed

Australia’s largest life insurer TAL has closed the pay gap between male and female employees to provide almost 100% equal pay for both genders throughout the organisation.

Closing the pay gap has been part of a coordinated initiative endorsed by the TAL Board and Executive to redress female inequality in all areas.

In terms of remuneration, women are currently paid 98% of male salaries out of almost 1500 employees. A year ago the ratio of female to male pay was 82%, which was then around the national average of pay inequality.

The Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency released in March 2014 figures showing the current national gender pay gap for women is currently 17.1%. This means that women on average are being paid 17.1% less than men for the same job.

TAL Chief People and Culture Officer Andy Moffat said: “Addressing gender pay equity is not about simply applying a single solution but requires a multi-faceted approach.”

This includes:

· Manager education and awareness.

· Clear guidelines when reviewing remuneration.

· Hiring at the market rate for skills rather than simply offering an improvement to the existing base salary.

· Direct action where the gap for specific roles is clearly inequitable.

· Consistent reporting to Executive management and the Board.

While closing the pay gap has been important at TAL, the company has been working to ensure equity is achieved in other areas, too.

TAL requires both genders to be equally represented on the shortlist for every job opportunity, and access to job promotions across the organisation is now split 50/50 across the genders.

Mr Moffat said: “TAL is determined to ensure it makes lasting change to reflect both its own and the community’s expectations when it comes to equality. While the overall number of female employees at TAL represents 47% of all workers compared to 53% for men, a range of initiatives are underway to ensure a better balance in senior roles.

Other key activities in the broader gender equality program include:

· Flexible work arrangements

· Maternity (and paternity) support

· Hiring both genders on equal pay for the same roles

· Management training – to educate about gender equity

· Gender equity targets in Executive performance plans

· Monitoring and measuring results

· Reporting results all the way to the TAL Board.

Mr Moffat said: “Commercially, we need to make lasting change to be a sustainable and responsible business long term. This is not about taking one-off actions. Customers and society expect corporate institutions to do the right thing and our employees see this as being of high importance. Our most recent employee engagement survey listed diversity as the number one reason for staff wanting to stay with TAL as an employer.”