Redington narrows its gender pay gap in 12 months

Financial service and consulting firm Redington said it has almost entirely closed its gender pay gap within one year.

Redington said the gap has gone from 21.6% to 0.2%, compared to an industry average of 26.2% after it undertook a series of measures to reduce the pay gap between men and women at the firm. It launched a return to work programme, with the help of an executive search firm, to help experienced female professionals back into financial services after a career break. It said: “To date, the scheme has been a fantastic success, with four out of five of the women who enrolled in the first year going on to work at Redington full time.” In its second year, Redington said that the scheme has been opened up to include ex-military personnel as well as female professionals. The firm has also widened its recruitment pool to include school leavers and graduates studying subjects not typically associated with financial services. It also revamped its remuneration process to remove unconscious bias among managers when deciding on pay rises and bonuses.

Redington CEO, Mitesh Sheth, said: “When I became CEO two years ago I wanted to lead a company that was inclusive, diverse and fair. As part of that, we thought it was incredibly important to close the gender pay gap and remove any unconscious bias we had within the firm. This isn’t about positive discrimination; it is about making sure both women and men have an equal opportunity here at Redington.”

Sheth added: “Not only do I believe this is the right thing to do, I also think it will help us make better decisions and allows us to better represent and understand our clients. We are still on a journey to ensure full equality across all diversities, eliminating biases and prejudices that may influence that. We are not there yet but we’ll keep looking to improve until we are.”