When it comes to bonuses, Hermes’ female employees are 63.1% worse off than their male counterparts.
The firm’s gender pay report was published in accordance with UK Government Equalities Office reporting regulation, requiring companies with more than 250 employees to disclose annually the pay gap.
Nusseibeh said Hermes’ pay gap was likely to be on par with the rest of the asset management industry, but that was “simply not good enough”.
Standard Life Aberdeen has revealed Standard Life had a pay gap of 42% and Aberdeen Asset Management had a pay gap of 34% before their merger last year. It said 73% of senior roles were held by men. Franklin Templeton Investments revealed a gender pay gap of 28% and 75% of its top-quartile earners were men.
“We need to change this imbalance across Hermes as well as the rest of the industry. It is imperative that the industry starts to widen the pool of people from which we recruit,” Nusseibeh said.
Men account for 84.1% of the top quartile pay band at Hermes. Across the company they represent 62% of employees.
Bev Shah, chief executive and founder of City Hive, a networking group for women in the asset management industry, said Hermes had led the charge on ESG and that the publication of the latest report should spur them into leading the industry on the gender pay gap too. “They now have to show they mean what they have always said,” Shah said.
The Hermes report revealed it is working in the areas of recruitment, workplace flexibility and professional development to improve the gender pay gap and the under representation of women in the business. It is also a member of the Women in Finance Charter, 30% Club and City Parents.
Brewin confident despite pay gap
Discretionary fund manager Brewin Dolphin is among the latest from the investments industry to reveal its pay gap with women at the firm earning 38.2% lower than their male counterparts on average.
Brewin Dolphin group human resources director Richard Buxton said the firm is confident it pays pay both sexes the same for equal work, but is working towards closing the gap for the average worker. “Our gender pay gap is a reflection that we have more men in senior roles,” Buxton said.
The FTSE 250 firm has set a target of 30% female representation on its board and in senior management by 2020.
In the last 12 months Brewin has hired equal numbers of women and men.
“Our challenge now is to maintain this balance as our employees progress their careers up through our organisation, and so over time, shift the gender balance throughout the business,” Buxton said.
