Air NZ, Meridian among 27 global firms with no gender pay gap

Friday, 5 October 2018

Air New Zealand has no gender pay gap across all levels of staff, according to the report.

Air New Zealand has been hailed as an international leader in pay equity - and two electricity firms are in the top 200 in the world for gender equality.

Social enterprise and gender equality advocate Equileap has released its 2018 report, scoring publicly-listed companies around the world on their efforts to support gender diversity in their workplaces.

The companies are ranked first against criteria such as gender balance at executive, senior management and workforce level, promotion and career development opportunities and other policies that promote equal treatment and opportunities for men and women.

From there, the top 1000 are subjected to more in-depth analysis of their parental leave policies, flexible work schedules, equal pay, sexual harassment policies and supplier diversity.

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Meridian received the highest ranking of any New Zealand company.

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General Motors claimed the number one spot this year, followed by L'Oreal and Kering.

Only two New Zealand companies ranked in the top 200 - Meridian Energy at 86 and Mercury at 174.

Some Australian firms with a New Zealand presence featured highly: Westpac was at seven, and National Australia Bank, which runs BNZ, at eight.

Equileap said General Motors was the only company among the biggest 20 in the United States that had both a female chief executive and an equal number of women and men on its board of directors.

Air New Zealand has been hailed as an international leader in pay equity

It was one of only two global businesses with pay equality in the top, middle and bottom pay bands als well as no overall gender pay gap across the company.

Equileap chief executive Diana van Maasdijk said this year's report showed positive changes.

'We need to celebrate these 200 companies leading the way. They really are setting a blue print for others to follow,' she said.

'However, more businesses should view providing equal opportunities to all employees as an essential part of their work and a business advantage that can lead to higher financial returns and lower volatility.'

The highest-scoring companies in the world increased their grade against Equileap's criteria to a B+ from a B last year.

It also looked at the gender pay gap in listed companies, both at different pay bands through the company and overall.

Twenty-seven companies, including Air New Zealand and Meridian, revealed no overall pay gap.

Another five - among which there were no New Zealand firms - had no differences at different pay bands.

Equileap said Norway and Israel offered the most workplace gender equality. New Zealand was grouped with the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and France as regions that had improved but had further to go.

On average, New Zealand listed companies achieved a score of 33 per cent.