AIG, Travelers report UK gender pay gaps

Insurers American International Group Inc. and Travelers Cos. Inc., brokers Willis Towers Watson P.L.C. and Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., and a string of other insurance industry firms last week published details on the differences in pay between their male and female workers in the United Kingdom.

The announcements come as a deadline for mandatory disclosure nears.

AIG reported a mean hourly rate gender pay gap at its U.K. operations of 29% lower for women and a median gap of 34%; women’s mean bonus pay is 57% lower and their median bonus pay is 53% lower.

Like several other insurance industry companies that have published their gender pay gaps, AIG said the difference reflects the fact that more men than women are in senior positions at the insurer, rather than men being paid more for doing the same job as women.

“The pay and bonus gap stems from the higher proportion of men in senior positions,” an AIG statement said. “The bonus gap is wider because senior employees tend to receive a larger proportion of their compensation through a bonus, as this can be adjusted in line with performance. We can address this gap by increasing the proportion of women in senior positions.”

The insurer said 79% of employees in its upper pay quartile are men, while 55% of employees in its lowest pay quartile are women.

AIG said it is taking various steps to narrow the pay gap between men and women, including: implementing a mentoring program for high-potential women, training managers on unconscious bias, aiming to have a diverse slate of candidates when hiring and encouraging flexible work arrangements.

U.K. organizations with 250 or more employees are required to publish specific data about their gender pay gaps and a written statement, and report their data to the government online, beginning from 2017. The requirement was enshrined in the Equality Act of 2010, with the regulations coming into effect on April 5, 2017. The deadline to publish is April 4, 2018.

Travelers said its U.K. mean gender pay gap is 30.8% lower for women and the median gap is 20.3% lower; women’s mean bonus pay is 68.8% lower and median bonus pay is 28.1% lower.

Travelers also said the gap reflects that men are in higher-level positions at the insurer. The figures “also reflect that we have a higher proportion of women than men who work part-time, where hourly rates tend to be lower and bonus awards are typically lower and less common,” a Travelers statement said.

Travelers said 78.7% of employees in its upper pay quartile are men and 53.2% of employees in its lowest pay quartile are women.

To address the gap, the insurer said last year it added an “inclusive leadership” objective to all managers’ performance objectives and requires all employees to participate in diversity training, among other things.

Willis Towers Watson reported a mean U.K. gender pay gap of 38.9% lower for women and a median gap of 31.7% lower; women’s mean bonus pay was 68.8% lower, and their median bonus pay was 60.9% lower. The brokerage said 79% of employees in its upper pay quartile were men and 54% of employees in its lowest pay quartile were women.

Willis Towers Watson said it is starting senior mentoring and coaching, introducing structured sponsorship initiatives for women and moving potential leaders into stretch assignments, among other things to address the pay gap.

Gallagher reported a mean U.K. gender pay gap of 51% lower for women and a median gap of 38.4% lower; women’s mean bonus pay is 82.2% lower, and median bonus pay is 67.3% lower.

In a statement, Gallagher said: “We see the greatest proportion of bonus awarded at senior leadership levels and within our wholesale and reinsurance division — areas that have a higher proportion of senior broker positions. These positions currently have more men than women working in them.”

Gallagher reported that 80.7% of employees in its top pay quartile are men and 65.1% of employees in its lowest pay quartile are women.

The broker said it has committed to ensuring greater gender balance in job candidates, establishing a formal mentoring program for women, and measuring and monitoring gender mix of all internal succession plans, among other things.

To see details on the U.K. gender pay gap of other commercial insurance industry companies, click here.