An Post: committed to positive change

An Post has reduced its Gender Pay to 1.41% from 3.7% over the past 12 months.  In its second annual Gender Pay Report published today, An Post also shows significant improvement in female representation across all management and staff groupings and outlines what actions it has taken to drive change during 2020.

It also sets out its updated Gender Pay Gap and Gender Balance action plan to maintain momentum for change and ensure progress in the year ahead.

Announcing the company’s 2020 Gender Pay Report Chief Executive David McRedmond said: “I am delighted that at An Post we have closed the Gender Pay Gap from 3.7% in 2019 to 1.41% in 2020. Fairer recruitment, visible change, and public commitment all played their part.  While we’ve taken some big steps in the past year, we have more work to do in increasing the number of women across the general management group.

“The Covid pandemic has shown how quickly management practices and ways of working can change and the biggest benefit from our drive for gender equality has been the emergence of great talent and specific expertise.  I want to thank all my colleagues and An Post’s Unions for making this happen: this is our journey to be a force for good, in An Post and in our world”, he concluded.

 

The Gender Pay Report details the current gender balance at An Post:

	Female	Male
Management Board	50%  (50% 2019)	50%  (50% 2019)
Senior Management Group	35%  (33% 2019)	65%  (67% 2019)
An Post Management Group	29%  (27% 2019)	71%   (73% 2019)
An Post Graduate Programme 2020	53%  (50% in 2019)	47% (50% in 2019)
An Post Staff	26%  (25% 2019)	74%  (75% 2019)
An Post Board	33%  (31% 2019)	67%  (69% 2019)

 

Eleanor Nash, Chief People Officer, An Post said “An Post is committed to positive change, holding ourselves accountable and ensuring we create an inclusive workplace for all our employees.   We want everyone at An Post to thrive with us”.

An Post set out an action plan with its inaugural 2019 Report.   A number of initiatives have successfully helped to reduce the gender pay gap and improve gender balance by encouraging and better supporting all employees in developing their careers including:

·       specialised software which removes any gender bias from job profiles – An Post identified and removed gender bias from 37 job profiles during 2020.

·       a new interviewing skills programme available to all employees to support them when preparing for interviews.

·       Commitment to gender balanced shortlists for our management positions and reporting on this to our Management Board.

Eleanor Nash also emphasised the importance of reviewing, updating and evaluating the Action Plan to drive change.   The Action Plan for the year ahead includes:

·       A Female Talent Acceleration Programme to identify and support women in advancing their careers;

·       A Mentoring Programme to help women identify opportunities and focus their skills for advancement

·       The expansion of an IMI Strategic Leadership Programme already underway for Senior Managers

·       A new Human Resources system which will support identification of talent and ensuring learning and development are accessible to everyone at An Post.

·       Clearer, more engaging language in job descriptions and role profiles

 

The most recent official figures available (2019) show the Gender Pay Gap at 20% globally, 17.9% in the United Kingdom, 16% in the European Union and 13.9% in Ireland.