Euroclear publishes information on its gender pay gap for 2023, in line with the regulation for gender pay gap reporting for UK companies.
Euroclear UK gender pay gap report, Euroclear UK & International
This year Euroclear UK and International (EUI) is reporting a positive shift in both its mean and median pay gap. Both the mean and median pay gaps were the lowest ever reported, the median pay gap having decreased by 16.7% to 13.5% and the mean pay gap decreasing by 9.5% to 19.2%. The median bonus pay gap at EUI increased by 5% to 40% whereas the mean bonus pay gap decreased by 6.2% to 37.9%.
It is important to note that the EUI population is relatively small (164 employees in this data set), and this means that small changes in factors such as the gender composition at organisational levels and in the gender mix and timing of joiners and leavers can influence the numbers quite significantly. Mean pay and bonus gaps are especially sensitive to outliers in the data and our focus is on the median as a more stable measure.
Positive changes in the pay gap for EUI have largely been driven by improvements in the proportion of women in the higher pay quartiles and the gender mix of joiners and leavers during the reporting year. Whilst there has been a slight decrease in the proportion of women working in EUI (from 39% to 37%) the proportion of women in the two highest pay quartiles has continued to increase with a corresponding reduction in the proportion of women in the two lowest pay quartiles. Our analysis also shows that this had a positive impact on the median gender pay gap.
Factors such as maternity leave, part-time employment, performance ratings, timing of employee turnover and the higher representation of men at senior levels have impacted the median bonus pay gap.
We are pleased to note that we have maintained gender parity on the EUI Board and as of January 2023 the EUI Management Committee is made up of 40% women.
Euroclear's remuneration philosophy is based on the principle of equal pay for equivalent jobs. We have a series of controls to ensure that performance ratings, bonus and salary decisions are fairly and consistently applied during the annual compensation review process.
Whilst there has been some positive movement to report for both of our legal entities when taken separately and for Euroclear in the UK as a whole, our gender pay gap reporting highlights that women continue to be underrepresented in senior roles.
In the year since we last reported on our gender pay gap results, we have focussed on embedding the work done to date, including refining our inclusive recruitment process, coaching line managers, analysing and discussing gender equity in performance calibration meetings, making improvements to diversity data collection, and promoting awareness on a wide variety of D&I topics through training, seminars, and events. We have seen a step change in the conversations around key people processes such as recruitment and talent management on matters of inclusion and representation.
We continue to see a high level of engagement on D&I topics both with the EUI Board and senior managers in the UK. Our D&I Council and employee networks work closely with the D&I team at Group level and a number of the UK Council members sit on Group D&I working groups and networks. They continue to advocate and raise awareness around LGBT+, ethnicity, physical ability, mental health, neurodivergence, gender and culture matters.
We remain committed to our hybrid working model to improve flexibility and work life balance for all employees and taking a proactive approach to managing flexible working requests in particular to support people returning from family leave.
We aspire to carry out the same level of reporting on different diversity dimensions as we are able to for gender. We have now implemented the facility for employees to input details of their ethnicity and any disability or neurodivergence directly into our HR system and can now request that applicants provide us with gender and ethnicity data. All such data capture being on a voluntary basis. We are working to encourage employees to improve the level of data provided, so that we have a meaningful data set to analyse.
As is the case for firms across our industry, action is required over a sustained period in order to effect change in this important area. Euroclear Group is committed to a programme of D&I activities across a broad range of diversity dimensions. The Group has strengthened its Social Impact team, and a refreshed D&I strategy is being implemented. The strategy will focus on creating behavioural change and will locate the accountability for change with those who possess the power to drive it. There will be a focus on inclusive day-to-day behaviours and decision-making which does not seek to ‘fix’ groups that are under-represented in senior roles. The strategy will also redesign the use of data, reporting and targets. Its aim is to continue to create an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and fully engaged and support us to attract, retain and develop the right skills to face current and future strategic objectives.
