Today’s data from the Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) demonstrates that we must accelerate the work we are already doing to strengthen female representation at Oliver Wyman.
While it can take up to 10 years to develop a Partner, our pipeline of female talent and new hires is strong. Last year, we achieved a 100% retention rate for female managers, with women making up 46% of all new hires.
We are committed to addressing this issue.
Changes to gender pay gap reporting in 2024
In 2024, the WGEA implemented substantial changes to its reporting framework. Gender pay gap results will now be reported at both the Australian Business Number (ABN) level and the corporate group level (Marsh McLennan). This new approach enables a detailed analysis of any gender pay gaps for any ABN with 80 or more employees.
It is important to note that our legal entity structure does not align perfectly with our organizational chart. To gain deeper insights into the nuances of pay equity within our workforce, we conduct internal gender pay gap analyses, and we use our annual pay review cycle to address gender pay.
Gender diversity at Marsh McLennan Pacific
For the reporting period of 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024:
- Average gender pay gap (total remuneration): 26.6%
- Median gender pay gap (total remuneration): 23.6%
- Average gender pay gap (base salary): 20.9%
- Median gender pay gap (base salary): 21.1%
The company gender pay gap is not the same as a like-for-like pay gap, or unequal pay, which refers to paying men and women differently for performing the same work.
We know we must do much more to address the root causes of this disparity. That’s why we are working to adopt better, more sustainable working practices, which we expect will see more women, and men, join us, stay with us, and thrive with us.
Our progress to drive gender equity
Our global gender representation targets at Oliver Wyman are a vital strategic tool to help manage accountability and drive progress. We use them across levels, teams, and geographies.
While progress is being made against the targets for female representation in our firm, we know we need to do more. That’s why we have been undertaking a wide range of interventions to support gender inclusion in our firm, including:
- Providing colleagues with 26 weeks of paid parental leave for all genders
- Offering colleagues one paid day off per week for the first 8 weeks after returning from leave to support their transition back to work and help them balance their new responsibilities via our Reintegr8 program
- Extended our BOOST program, which offers a comprehensive parenthood support that provides sponsorship and tailored assistance for individuals before, during, and following parental leave, easing the transition to parenthood and fostering stronger advocacy for their needs, until their children reach the age of 18
We are proud to have achieved an equal ratio of women and men taking parental leave, reflecting the gender composition of our workforce. This highlights the importance of shared responsibilities in the early years of family life and promotes a more equitable workplace.
Our efforts to continuously improve our work environment to support gender equality have also been recognized in global workplace awards.
Oliver Wyman Australia is proudly a certified Family Inclusive Workplace by Family Friendly Workplaces since May 2022, a community of progressive organizations united in driving global and sustainable change by creating family-friendly workplaces.
We have come a long way as a firm in pursuit of the goal of gender balance and our wider goals for inclusion, diversity, and belonging at Oliver Wyman. But we know that we still have a long way to go to close our gender pay gap and achieve a gender-balanced workforce.