Canadian firms have work to do on reducing gender pay gap, says U.K. report
MONTREAL — Some of Canada’s largest banks, engineering firms, retailers and other companies pay their female British employees substantially less than their male counterparts and give out lower bonuses, according to gender pay disclosures filed in the United Kingdom.
The Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and Toronto-Dominion said the mean hourly rate for their U.K.-based female workers was between 35 and 44 per cent lower than men’s rate. On average, women’s bonuses were between 64 and 72 per cent lower than their male counterparts.
Speaking at Royal Bank’s annual general meeting Friday, days after the submission deadline in the U.K., chief executive Dave McKay told reporters that the discrepancy is largely due to the challenge of getting more women in senior roles and positions in capital markets, wealth management and brokers where compensation is greatest.
According to the Equality Act, all U.K. employers with 250 or more employees must submit facts about the salary and bonuses they paid to employees, including the proportions of men and women who receive bonuses and the proportions of each sex in each quartile pay band.
BlueBay Asset Management, a London-based money manager owned by Royal Bank, had a 19 per cent hourly pay gap and 56 per cent difference for bonuses. F&C Asset Management, which is owned by the Bank of Montreal, reported a wage gap of 34 per cent and an 82 per cent gap in bonuses paid. Scotiabank said its 44 per cent wage gap and 72 per cent difference in bonuses primarily results from an uneven distribution of women across the business and some departments and roles with few or no women.
The best performers among Canadian companies were Cott Beverages Ltd. and Bombardier Transportation. Bombardier’s rail division had a 2.8 per cent gap on hourly wages, but paid 14 per cent higher bonuses to women. Managing director Richard Hunter noted the company’s gap was narrower than the national average.
Montreal-based engineering firms WSP Global and SNC-Lavalin reported large gaps in wages and bonuses. WSP’s hourly wage gap was 25 per cent while its women received 55 per cent lower bonuses, while SNC-Lavalin said its wage gap was 38 per cent and the bonus gap was 67 per cent.
But similar pay gaps were also reflected at companies where most employees are women.
At Lululemon Athletica UK Ltd. women earned 21 per cent less than men, a wider gap than the 17.4 per cent U.K. average, while bonuses were 59 per cent lower. The Vancouver-based company ,which operates 13 retail locations across England and Scotland, said it has achieved total pay equity as of this month. However, its wage gap is skewed by the compensation of one male executive with global responsibilities.