"At LV= we recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce and see it as an essential element in maintaining a competitive advantage."
Mark Hartigan, CEO
We know that this is just the start in seeing some really positive changes and we’re encouraged by the progress we’re making.
Closing the pay gap will require commitment and action over a number of years, we have an achievable target to continue to work towards over these years. I’m looking forward to seeing what we accomplish in the next 12 months” ~ Mark Hartigan, CEO
All UK companies with at least 250 employees are legally required to report their gender pay gap on an annual basis.
Gender Pay vs Equal Pay diagram
We’re confident that pay at LV= is fair and equitable.
This is because we regularly review market pay benchmarks based on band, job and location against a large source of market data. We also continue to make improvements to our bonus and salary review processes to better ensure all employees are treated equally.
We share the ambition of the Government to see gender balance at all levels across financial services firms. As a diverse and inclusive employer it’s imperative we take steps to tackle our gender pay gap. We understand why we have a gap today, and we continue to take the steps we need in order to close the gap.
Read more on gender pay.
We’re encouraged to see our mean gender pay gap decrease by 3.1% this year to 25.5%. There is still a lot of work to do and we are committed to continuing to close the gap. Where we are seeing good progress is against our target for female representation in senior roles. We have set ourselves targets of having 33%, or above, female representation on our executive team and their direct reports and 43%, or above, representation at our senior bandings (Bands C-E.) You can read more about what we’re doing in order to reach this target in the “Gender Pay Gap – What Are We Doing?” section below.
2019/20 | 2020/21 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Median | Mean | Median | Mean | |
Gender pay gap | 27.8% | 28.6% | 25.17% | 25.5% |
Gender bonus pay gap | 35.9% | 48.2% | 35.2% | 48.4% |
2019/20 | 2020/21 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Median | Mean | Median | Mean | |
Gender pay gap | 27.8% | 28.6% | 25.17% | 25.5% |
Gender bonus pay gap | 35.9% | 48.2% | 35.2% | 48.4% |
Understanding our gender pay gap data:
The quartiles represent our employees ranked by hourly rate from highest to lowest and evenly split into quartiles. We're confident that pay at LVFS is fair and equitable and we believe that our gender pay gap is largely a result of the structure of our workforce. We have a higher representation of males in the most senior roles and a higher representation of females in more junior roles – a position we would like to see change and one we are improving on in the upper range compared with 2019/20.
2019/20 | 2020/21 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Quartile | Female | Male | Female | Male |
Upper | 36.1% | 63.9% | 38% | 62.0% |
Upper Middle | 51.5% | 48.5% | 48.1% | 51.9% |
Lower Middle | 63.8% | 36.2% | 59.3% | 40.7% |
Lower | 69.6% | 30.4% | 68.2% | 31.8% |
2019/20 | 2020/21 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Quartile | Female | Male | Female | Male |
Upper | 36.1% | 63.9% | 38% | 62.0% |
Upper Middle | 51.5% | 48.5% | 48.1% | 51.9% |
Lower Middle | 63.8% | 36.2% | 59.3% | 40.7% |
Lower | 69.6% | 30.4% | 68.2% | 31.8% |
There is a -2.3% difference between the proportion of males and females who received a bonus.
This is in line with last year’s figures.
How LVFS is tackling its gender pay gap
We believe fostering a diverse and inclusive culture is key to the successful delivery of our future strategy.
We have an understanding of our gender pay gap and have identified a number of actions.
Women in Finance Charter (WIFC)
Signing up to the Women in Finance charter in 2016 is another way we’ve shown our commitment to supporting gender diversity. This includes our executive team and board-endorsed commitment to increase the proportion of women in senior positions.
We had a target to reach 43% or above, female representation in senior roles by 2021, we hit 40.7% so whilst we didn’t meet our target, we did have a positive shift of 1% increase on last year. As a business we have been through a period of significant change over the last 12 months, so overall we are satisfied with this increase and see us moving a positive direction over the next 12 months.
Experience of developing female talent pipelines shows us that we will change our organisation ‘one appointment at a time’, and our success has been driven by a number of factors including our leadership teams’ commitment and sponsorship. An increase in female representation in our senior roles will support a reduction in our gender pay gap. We know that this is just the start to some really positive changes and we’re encouraged by the progress we’ve made.
We’re confident that as we progress towards our targets - driven by the successful implementation of our programme of activity - we'll see further improvements in our gender pay gap. We know we’re on a journey and we’re excited and committed to making real progress.