Gender Pay Gap 2023

27 March 2023

Secure Trust Bank publishes sixth annual Gender Pay Gap figures

As an organisation our purpose is to 'help more consumers and businesses fulfil their ambitions'. In order to successfully achieve this, we are committed to developing a working environment where colleagues can be their authentic selves and that is representative of the diverse backgrounds, cultures, and view points of our customers, colleagues and communities.

The biggest driver of our Gender Pay Gap remains the shape of our workforce. Like many organisations we have a predominance of women at the more junior levels and fewer women in senior leadership roles. Whilst external benchmarks demonstrate that we are making significant progress on our ED&I (Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) agenda this has been slow to impact our Gender Pay Gap figures.

We continue to use the expertise of external organisations to guide us. This has helped us to make real progress on our ED&I agenda which is underlined by the external recognition we have received in this area. We have been named a UK Best Workplace for Women for four consecutive years and also maintained the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion silver standard for ED&I this year. This external recognition is also supported by feedback received from colleagues via our annual employee engagement survey which shows improving positive responses in relation to fair treatment and diversity and inclusion within our organisation.

Following the launch of a new STB Group ESG/Responsible Business strategy which highlights ED&I as a priority focus area for us, we are finalising our Group ED&I strategy which will provide a framework for future progress.

The highlights below give an overview of progress made in 2022 and what is coming up in 2023. Whilst this shows positive momentum, we remain committed to improving our workforce diversity at all levels over the long term and achieving our ambition of becoming a fully inclusive workplace.

What are we doing to improve our GPG?

Key highlights

Signed HMT's Women in Finance Charter and published headline gender diversity targets
Established a new ED& I Steering Group formed of Executive Committee members, supported by an Advisory Committee of subject matter experts
Established a group of voluntary 'Inclusioneer' workforce champions with representatives for each protected characteristic
Maintained partnerships with BITC (Business in the Community), Everywoman and ENEI (Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion) to measure and understand our progress and embed best practices to achieve our ED&I vision
Established a staff inclusion calendar that includes key faith festivals and awareness events, including National Inclusion Week
Launched an ED&I podcast series that shares employee stories on key related topics including bisexuality, disability, and religion
Continued to develop a learning and development offering in support of our ED&I agenda which includes:
- Everyday Allyship - new mandatory training programme for all people leaders to build understanding and encourage support
- Blazing my Trail - a programme designed to help staff build their confidence to reach their full potential
- Connect & Learn - a scheme to encourage staff to learn more about the people and teams who make up our diverse businesses.
- MentorMe - a mentoring and reverse mentoring scheme to support talent progression and broaden understanding, particularly of more experienced employees
In addition to our Workwise flexible working and Absence policies, we have launched a Menopause policy which is supported by staff awareness sessions
Actions are in place to ensure gender-balanced candidate pools and shortlists which have had a positive impact on internal promotions and external recruits. This is supported by an ED&I-related personal objective linked to the reward of senior leaders

What else are we doing in 2023?

A new ED&I strategy and reporting process, aligned to the Group ESG strategy, will be published. This will provide a framework to guide our ED&I delivery groups, including our Inclusioneers, and track progress
As signatories of HMT's Women in Finance Charter we will report against targets by 30 September 2023 and will also set additional phase two targets related to our ED&I strategy
Following the launch of the new HR system, we will continue to encourage staff to disclose their personal data so that we have more robust data to provide insight and guide our progress
We have committed to becoming members of Neurodiversity in Business and will use our partnership in support of our ED&I strategy
We will continue to maintain our focus on personal development for the wider employee base and evolve our learning and development offering to support our ED&I agenda
We will continue to work in partnership with BITC (Business in the Community), Everywoman and ENEI (Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion), using their tools and expertise to drive forward our ED&I strategy and plans for 2023

What is the Gender Pay Gap?

The GPG figures look at pay in the organisation from top to bottom as a whole, removing any notion of seniority, length of service, or specialism. They are an indication of male and female representation within the hierarchy of the business rather than an indication of a difference in male and female pay in the same role.

Equal pay

Men and women being paid the same for the same work.

Equal Pay infographic

The Gender Pay Gap

The difference between total hourly earnings for all men when compared to the total hourly earnings of all women within an organisation.

Gender Pay Gap infographic

Nationally, one of the main reasons for the Gender Pay Gap is that men are more likely to be in senior roles. As with other Financial Services companies this is the case at STB.