BusinessLive reports that financial services group Absa says it is throwing a lot of resources into closing the gender pay gap and representation of women at management level in the company.
Some shareholders used last week’s AGM to take the company to task over pay discrepancies between men and women. Shareholder activist Just Share chided Absa for not voluntarily disclosing the gender pay gap in the 2023 financial year as it had previously done. The chair of the bank’s remuneration committee, Rose Keanly, told investors the group was attending to the pay gap. Absa added that its commitment to gender pay parity was but one of the focus areas in its overall gender ambitions, which extended beyond legislative requirements. “For example, in 2023, we directed over R369m of R608m, or 61% of total investment, to the development of women to create a diverse talent pipeline. In terms of pay parity, Absa’s Group Remuneration Committee focuses on reviewing pay differentials across a range of dimensions, including gender,” an Absa spokesperson advised. In 2023, 47% of new hires at senior and middle management were women, while 77% of new hires at junior management were women. Some of the action taken include targeted adjustments to the remuneration of individuals situated lower in the pay ranges where this “cannot be justified based on objective criteria such as seniority, role content, experience and performance”. While Absa did not disclose its gender pay gap, it did reveal its highest to lowest pay ratio: “Absa reports its highest to lowest pay ratio as 144:1, but the figure for the highest paid employees used to calculate this ratio is lower than the figure it reports as the CEO’s total remuneration. Using the total remuneration figure of the CEO yields a ratio of 175:1.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nompilo Goba & Kabelo Khumalo at BusinessLive
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