Zurich UK has become the first insurer in the country to publish its disability pay gap data.
The company – which for the second time secured ‘leader’ status, the highest possible accreditation level in the government’s Disability Confident scheme – said its mean and median disability pay gap in hourly pay for the April 2019 to April 2020 period are 17.6% and 14.6%, respectively.
Qualifying the numbers, though, the insurer noted: “To put these figures into context, 65% of Zurich’s employees declare this information. This means that over a third of the current pay data is missing and therefore does not provide a comprehensive picture of employees’ experiences.
“To help address this, work is underway to increase levels of self-declaration to make employees aware of why it’s so important to share this information.”
The release of the data is in celebration of International Day of People with Disabilities, which is today (December 03).
“Over the past three years, we have been leading the way in promoting awareness of disabilities and inclusion and creating a more inclusive workforce,” said Zurich’s UK chief compliance officer Richard Peden, who also serves as executive sponsor and working group chair of the firm’s Accessibility and Inclusion Network (AIN).
“This also includes our focus on doing everything we can to best support our customers with disabilities.”
The 120-member AIN was set up to promote the inclusion of employees with disabilities and mental health challenges. The network is now in its sixth year.
Peden added: “We are incredibly proud of our track record of being the first insurer to be awarded Disability Confident Leader status, as well as being first to sign up to the Valuable 500 and publishing our disability pay gap information.”
He explained that collating and publishing the figures will enable Zurich UK to monitor trends so the necessary actions can be put in place.
The Valuable 500, meanwhile, is a movement whose signatories commit to putting disability inclusion on their business leadership agenda. Zurich UK’s other initiatives include its work skills programme, vulnerable customer network, flexible working practices, and the Inclusive Behaviours Pledge.
