Financial Services, Technology and the Media and Telecommunications sectors command the highest gender pay gaps in Ireland, according to an analysis by Deloitte.
The study was based on information supplied by 350 organisations across six sectors in their Gender Pay Gap reports.
Firms of all sizes are being mandated to produce a report outlining the differential in pay and bonuses between their male and female employees over the coming years.
Companies with 250 or more employees were asked to select a date in June last year as their ‘relevant date’ on which to base their reports.
They were then given six months to publish their findings with the first of the companies reporting from December 1st last year.
The start date for the next ‘snapshot’ falls next week from June 1st.
The obligation will extend to employers with 150 or more staff in June of next year and to those that employ 50 or more in June 2025.
According to Deloitte’s study of 350 firms, Government departments and Consumer sectors command lower pay gaps than the other sectors examined.
The overall analysis found a 13.3% mean pay gap and a median pay gap of 10.2%.
“The median figure excludes outliers, such as males being in top paying positions. Therefore, the median may be a more accurate and fair representation of the Gender Pay Gap in Ireland,” the report explains.
The mean bonus pay gap comes out at 24.2% while the median bonus gap comes out at 6.4%, the study concludes.
The main reasons driving a gap in pay in organisations included more males commanding more senior and higher paid roles, women being over-represented at more junior grades and in administrative and support roles and more male colleagues working shifts at times that pay premiums.
The report also pointed to an under-representation of women in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in education as a factor that continues to hinder gender representation.
The analysis coincides with the recent publication of a global report by Deloitte on Women at Work.
It concluded that women who have higher levels of flexibility tend to stay longer with their employers
“97% believe that requesting or taking advantage of flexible working would affect the likelihood of promotion in their company and 95% believe it is unlikely that their workload would be adjusted if they moved to a flexible working arrangement,” the report states.
It shows that lack of flexible working arrangements is driving women to leave their organisations.
More women worldwide left their jobs in the last 12 months than in 2021 and 2020 combined, the report concluded, with lack of flexibility cited as a top reason.
“The only thing I would say about flexibility is that it’s important that it’s seen to be open for all genders and role modeled from the top because what we don’t want to see is that it’s only females taking over flexible type working which tends to be part-time or job sharing or even associated with lower paid jobs,” Anne Kelleher, Director, Reward Services at Deloitte Ireland told Morning Ireland.
She said the next ‘snapshot’, which will start to be published by companies from next week, will provide valuable insights.
“The interesting that about 2023 reporting is that companies will have a comparison to 2022 so they will be able to show where they’re making progress or, if they’re not, explain why,” she pointed out.
“It’s a good opportunity for companies to do that,” Ms Kelleher added.