Citigroup continues to lead on gender wage gap shrinkage

Following Citigroup’s recent assessment of its pay gap analysis, disclosing a 27% shortfall in the average pay of its female employees, the multinational bank has announced appropriate measures for compensation and set goals for equal representation for 2021. 

This disclosure and announcement confirms Citigroup’s global commitment to narrowing the gender pay gap, with the banking group one of very companies worldwide to embrace the transparent assessment of the difference in the wages it pays to men and women. 

Citigroup pioneering in pay gap disclosure

Not only was Citigroup is the first bank to disclose its adjusted pay gap results, four years ago, it was one of the first companies worldwide to disclose its unadjusted or ‘raw’ pay gaps for both women and US minorities, the following year. 

While many of Citi’s competitors and other large companies also now reveal adjusted pay gap results, which compares compensation when taking into account the employee’s role, level and location, very few like Citi actually disclose the unadjusted or ‘raw’ pay gap, which is the difference in median total compensation without any adjustments. 

Such disclosures “hold us accountable for the progress we want to make in being a diverse and inclusive company”, stated Sara Wechter, Head of Human Resources, in a recent corporate blog post. “They also send an important signal to our colleagues, clients and partners about how we are continuously working to get this right.”

Latest analysis reveals slight improvement

Citigroup’s recent assessment of raw gap analysis for 2021 found that female employees made 26% less than male employees, while minorities still earn 6% less than non-minorities. This analysis shows a slight improvement by Citigroup to narrow the male female gender gap, an improvement from 27% a year ago and 29% two years ago. 

Following the review, Citi made appropriate pay adjustments as part of this year’s compensation cycle and committed to increasing representation of women at the highest level across the globe. 

“Continuing to reduce our raw pay gap requires that we make progress on our representation goals,” stated Wechter, adding that these are “to increase representation at the Assistant Vice President through Managing Director levels to at least 40% for women globally and 8% for Black employees in the US by the end of 2021, which we are committed to doing”. 

Wechtel states that Citi is committed to continuing to innovate how the company recruits and develops talent and to using data more effectively “to help us increase diversity at more senior levels at Citi”. 

The work that Citigroup is doing to understand pay equity extends beyond Citi’s walls, and the company has collaborated with The Female Quotient, a female-owned business advancing equality in the workplace through the power of collaboration, to develop a free digital tool that provides all companies with a snapshot of their raw pay gap.

“We view it as a way to further equality across all types of companies, and using it as a concrete measure to increase diversity efforts more broadly.