RBC publishes its first report on gender pay

RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, has published its first report on gender pay covering the 12 months to April 2020.

The business said it had shared the information as a demonstration of its commitment to supporting the advancement of women into leadership positions as an issue across industries.

It was also fully committed to equal pay – paying the same wage for work of equal value – and regularly reviews remuneration against internal and external benchmarks to ensure pay is fair and competitive.

The report highlighted the difference between the average earnings of men and women at the business, although it did not identify differences in pay at the individual level.

The findings revealed that for the period covered the median salary for women was 17% less than the median salary for men in Jersey and 22% less in Guernsey.

While men and women with similar roles, skills and experiences were paid the same, the report still showed a difference because women and men were not represented proportionally across different levels of the organisation.

While women made up 59% of the total workforce in the Channel Islands, they were under-represented in the upper pay quartile – RBC’s most senior executives. At this level, bonuses are a larger proportion of total remuneration, which resulted in a more pronounced bonus pay gap.

The representation of women in the other pay quartiles was well aligned with the overall representation of women at RBC in the Channel Islands, but this higher representation also generated a greater gender pay difference.

‘Diversity and inclusion is an evolving journey and by publishing data, action plans and intent in reports like this, we hold ourselves collectively responsible for making continuous improvements,’ said David Bailey, chief operating officer for RBC Wealth Management in the British Isles.

‘Having a diverse workforce drives better, faster decision making. It enables us to attract and retain talented individuals, and better understand and serve our clients and communities. We are making progress and see the positive results of our actions every day, but we know there is always more we can do to address these challenges in our industry.’

As well as internal diversity and inclusion measures, policies and programmes implemented locally, the bank has publicly committed to increasing the representation of women in senior roles (director level and above) through a goal of 25% by 2025.