As we approach International Women's Day on March 8, we are reminded of the incredible strides wāhine have made in Aotearoa from gaining the right to vote in 1893 to having our first female Prime Minister in 1997. The talent amongst our wāhine spans across all disciplines, including sports, arts, culture, and beyond.
At Clarus, we’re making strides too. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made while continuing to hire the best people for the role regardless of their backgrounds. We have great examples with our Gender Pay Gap and creating early career pathways – for the first time our summer intern cohort was an all-female affair, and our first three wāhine apprentices fully qualified as field technicians in 2024/2025! We have also enhanced our parental leave benefits to provide top-up salary payments for the first 26 weeks, continued KiwiSaver contributions, and comprehensive return-to-work support.
Closing the Gap
Over the past few years, we have made significant strides in closing this gap and increasing female representation in our workforce.
Our journey began in Financial Year 2020 (FY20) when we started measuring the Gender Pay Gap (GPG) at Firstgas Group (as it was then), which gave us a baseline for this work of 14.1% on average and a 26.1% median. We are happy to share that since then we have reduced the gender pay gap to 6.7% on average and 10.1% median in FY24.
We have also done a number of checks looking at gender pay by role, group and salary band, and are pleased to see no underlying issues in the data. This reassures us that people with similar levels of experience and skills are being paid the same rates for the same types of work.
Instead, the main factor behind our Gender Pay Gap comes from the representation of males and females both across the business and within senior roles. While we have made great strides in both these areas, a more balanced ratio of genders is the key to eliminating the Gender Pay Gap.
One of the key factors contributing to our relative success has been the implementation of several diversity-focused measures. For example, we strive for representation of females on interview panels, created starting salary guidelines for recruiting managers, and introduced relevant checks into the annual remuneration review analysis. Additionally, in 2023 we joined the 'Mind the Gap' GPG reporting register to hold ourselves accountable and stay committed to our goals.
Our efforts have not been limited to gender diversity alone. Since May 2023, we have started tracking ethnicity and disability in our payroll reporting system, now with 89% of staff providing this data. This has enabled us to begin analysing ethnic pay gaps and understand any issues or gaps that may exist. While we are not yet reporting on ethnic pay gaps, we plan to start in the near future.
As we celebrate International Women's Day 2025, let's remember that fostering a sense of belonging is important for all of us. When we ensure that everyone feels valued and included, we pave the way for not only gender equality but belonging for all of us.
Be you, Be seen, Be heard. Belonging begins here, Nō te whenua tonu.