Financial and platform provider Zurich has revealed a UK staff gender pay gap of 28% and pledged to do more to help it achieve gender equality.

Publishing is gender pay figures today, Zurich says its mean and median gender pay gaps are both 27%. Its mean bonus pay gap is 47% and its median bonus pay gap is 34%. It says its figures are in line with industry averages.

The company says Zurich’s UK gender pay gap is driven by three main factors: more men than women in senior UK roles; more men than women in highly paid technical and specialist roles such as actuarial and underwriting; fewer men (1%) choosing to work part time than women (27%) or taking career breaks.

It plans to do more to attract, develop and retain women within Zurich so that there is more progress to senior leadership or technical roles. It will also focus on encouraging more men to take full advantage of flexible working and the opportunity to work part-time and take career breaks.

Zurich’s UK CEO Tulsi Naidu said: “The gender pay gap is not the same thing as having equal pay and we are confident that men and women in our organisation are paid equally for the same and similar jobs.

“We’ve calculated the figures in line with Government regulations and, like many others in our industry, we have found that differences in average pay are down to several different factors.

Explaining the gap, she said: “Generally speaking across financial services and in insurance specifically, women are under-represented in senior UK leadership roles and also in more highly paid technical and specialist roles such as actuarial and underwriting. This has certainly had an impact on our results here.

“We also see a greater proportion of women choosing to work part-time and taking career breaks – this also affects our gap results."

Zurich’s three commitments to improve gender parity are:

1.        Making the industry and Zurich more appealing to women.
2.       Committing to “continuing to create a truly diverse and inclusive workplace. “
3.        Improving opportunities for career progression for women and more flexible working for all employees in the organisation

Other initiatives to improve gender equality at Zurich include: Zurich’s Women’s Innovation Network (WIN), an Early Careers programme encouraging more young women to consider a career with Zurich and inspiring more women into the insurance industry generally. Zurich has also signed up to the Treasury-backed Women in Finance Charter to improve gender diversity in senior positions.

Zurich has also added “Embracing Diversity & Inclusion” training for managers and participates in the 30% Club Mentoring Scheme – a cross-company, cross-sector scheme which offers mentoring to women at all career levels.