Gender pay position in 2023

Wesleyan is a mutual society that puts our caring values and the needs of our members ahead of short-term gain. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse organisation as we recognise that genuine diversity of thought leads to better decision-making and makes us more reflective of our customers.

This is the seventh year we have reported our gender pay gap, which measures the difference between the earnings of men and women across the organisation.

Our gender pay gap has decreased slightly, which is due to our ongoing commitment to better understand the factors driving our pay gap and continuing to review and introduce new initiatives to address the gap.

Wesleyan gender pay gap results

As of April 2023, Wesleyan's average mean gender pay gap was 26.61% (2022: 28.54%) and the median gender pay gap was 32.00% (2022: 34.61%). This is a Group position that includes our subsidiary companies.

Wesleyan bonus pay gap results

As of April 2023, the mean bonus pay gap was 42.11% (2022: 48%).

Over 89% of colleagues received a bonus payment. The bonus pay gap is larger than the gender pay gap because we have a significantly higher percentage of women employed on a part-time basis compared with men.

Most bonus payments at Wesleyan are calculated as a percentage of annual salary. Therefore, even though the basis for awarding a bonus is the same, the bonus pay gap is larger because we have more women working part-time than men.

Our data in detail

Two factors that contributed to the decrease in our pay gap are changes that we made to our annual pay review last year.

We spent an additional proportion of the salary budget to increase our minimum salary along with moving employees to a higher percentage of our Market Anchor Pay Points. These decisions impacted more women than men. 

Women in Senior Leadership

Another factor we attribute to us reducing the gap is the higher proportion of women employed in senior positions.

Over the past few years, we have put several initiatives in place to address this imbalance. By the end of 2023, we had increased our representation of women at senior leadership level to 41.32%. This meant we exceeded our target of 35% for 2023.

We will aim to continue this trajectory to meet our target gender equity within our business over the forthcoming years.

The initiatives used to address our senior leadership imbalance are also reflected at all job grades. We aim for diverse shortlists for all our vacancies and use diverse panels at interviews.

In addition to our work within recruitment, we also include a gender lens in our pay review process to ensure that no pay inequalities are introduced at this stage.

How are we working to close the gap?

During 2023, we enhanced our employee value proposition and put further actions in place to support the development of women.

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve gender balance at Wesleyan, we are taking steps to drive meaningful change and create a more equitable environment for all.

Fair pay decisions: We evolved our approach to annual pay decisions, ensuring that they are rooted in fairness and transparency. By aligning pay decisions with an individual's position to Market Anchor Point and their performance, we are committed in our resolve to achieve pay equity across all levels of the organisation.

Onboarding excellence: Getting pay right from day one is paramount. To achieve this, we are giving our line managers the tools and knowledge needed to treat new employees fairly, including conducting comprehensive reviews of team pay structures.

Enhanced data insights: We are enhancing our data capabilities to gain deeper insights into leaver reasons and attrition, allowing us to identify and address any disparities effectively.

Benchmarking for progress: We gauge our performance against external benchmarks. By aligning our dashboards more closely with these benchmarks, we can better understand our representation from a customer perspective and drive meaningful change.

Supporting working parents: We are proud to support working parents by enhancing our maternity/adoption pay and increasing paternity leave. These enhancements, coupled with a reduction in the length of service required, aim to make these benefits more accessible to all colleagues.

Embracing flexibility: We have embraced the ABI #MakingFlexibleWork Charter and are committed to being "Happy to Talk Flexible." All our job roles are advertised as flexible, and colleagues are encouraged to request flexible working arrangements from their first day.

Championing inclusion: Our employee networks play a vital role in championing issues close to our colleagues' hearts, including addressing barriers faced by women at work. In response to their feedback, we introduced line manager training and guidance on supporting colleagues through the menopause transition.

As part of our 2024 salary review process, we have increased our minimum salary that we offer to £22,632 and have used our pay budget to move salaries to a more competitive position in the market.

Our commitment

Although it is positive that we have seen a decrease in our pay gap, we remain committed to continue to analyse our data and have effective measures in place to close the gap.

We are committed to fostering a workplace where every individual feels valued, respected, and empowered to succeed. Together, we are building a brighter, more inclusive future for all.