Leading online pension provider, PensionBee, has today announced it has become both an investor signatory and disclosing survey participant of the Workforce Disclosure Initiative.
The Workforce Disclosure Initiative (WDI) aims to improve corporate transparency and accountability on workforce issues, provide companies and investors with comprehensive and comparable data and help increase the provision of good jobs worldwide.
PensionBee joins the Investor Coalition as an asset owner, alongside 53 other institutions, with a combined $7.5 trillion in assets under management. In addition to becoming an investor signatory, PensionBee is proud to announce that it will also be a survey participant, sharing its own workforce and diversity and inclusion data. Reporting includes data on gender and ethnicity pay gaps, rate of promotions by gender and ethnicity, CEO to median worker pay ratio, training and development opportunities, parental leave policies and rights of association.
Transparency on business practices is very important to PensionBee customers. In a 2021 survey on investment views, treatment of workers in core business and supply chains was ranked as the number one priority for voting. Additionally, 83% respondents were clear that they expect companies in their pension to pay the Living Wage and the majority expect companies to publish their ethnicity and gender pay gaps.
As an accredited Living Wage employer and a signatory of the Women in Finance Charter, the Race at Work Charter, and the Social Mobility Pledge, PensionBee strives to be a good corporate citizen and role model in financial services.
Clare Reilly, Chief Engagement Officer of PensionBee, commented: “Workforce Disclosure Initiative data is how we ensure that every company in the world treats its workforce and supply chain fairly and is a critical accountability tool to measure progress in driving ethnicity and gender diversity at the highest levels. We are exceptionally proud to be part of this global movement for change and call on our peers to do the same”.
Áine Clarke, Investor Engagement Manager of Workforce Disclosure Initiative, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have PensionBee not only join the WDI coalition, but also lead by example in completing the survey. As one of our smaller asset owners, it shows what can be done with fewer resources but huge dedication and pioneering to workforce and human rights due diligence – not only in their investment processes, but inside their own organisation”.
Appendix
Table 1: “I expect companies in my pension to publish pay gaps”
| Strongly Agree | Agree | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender Pay Gap | 30% | 31% | 61% |
| Ethnicty Pay Gap | 26% | 31% | 57% |
Source: PensionBee annual survey on customer investment views, March 2021. Total question respondents: 1,666 gender pay gap and 1,665 ethnicity pay gap.
Table 2: Rank priority for voting 1 - 4
| Women | Men | Total by % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poor treatment of workforce | Poor treatment of workforce | Poor treatment of workforce |
| 2 | Poor climate risk management | Tax avoidance | Tax avoidance |
| 3 | Tax avoidance | Poor climate risk management | Poor climate risk management |
| 4 | Excessive executive pay | Excessive executive pay | Excessive executive pay |
Source: PensionBee annual survey on customer investment views, March 2021. Total question respondents: 1,504.
