Over the past year, the $29 billion defined contribution multiemployer plan saw the median gender pay gap shrink to 9.5% from 10.9% the previous year
National Employment Savings Trust, London, is closing its employee pay gaps when it comes to gender and ethnicity, but it still has room to improve, according to a report released Monday.
Over the past year, the £24 billion ($29 billion) defined contribution multiemployer plan saw the median gender pay gap shrink to 9.5% from 10.9% the previous year, while the median ethnicity pay gap was 11.9%, compared with 13.2% over the same period.
The pay gap reporting data cover two financial years, 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Women now represent 52% of the NEST workforce, compared with 51% of the general population of England and Wales. People from an ethnic minority background represent 27%, compared with 14% of the general population of England and Wales.
NEST has slightly improved representation in higher-level positions, but women and ethnic employees are still overrepresented in lower-quartile roles, the report said. At the director level, 55% of positions are held by women.
I have said I want Nest to do much, much better, and the data shows we’re still on our journey, said Helen Dean, CEO of NEST, in a news release about the report, Ms. Dean pledged to ‘keep finding new ways to do this.’
Steps planned to close the gaps include having at least 30% of its executive team being women and at least 13% being from an ethnic minority background by 2025, when it also hopes to have at least two Black directors.
NEST responsible investment managers look at the representation of women and minorities at the companies in which it invests, and ‘we just felt it was the right thing to do, if we were calling for others to do it,’ a NEST spokeswoman said.