According to a report released by Arden University, the median gender pay gap within the organisation has closed by an incredible 11.2% in 2022 and now sits at 10.9%.
Having been committed to addressing the issue of gender pay disparity, the report also outlines Arden’s significant diversity goals, designed to completely close their Gender Pay Gap before 2025.
In terms of equal pay, Arden has ensured it pays fairly for equivalent roles, while several grading structure framework changes made in early 2020 have now been fully embedded into the University. This allows Arden to operate with the knowledge that men and women are treated equally for jobs of equal worth.
Arden is also committed to increasing the representation of women in the upper levels of the grade system and senior leadership roles. It has seen a rise in the number of women in senior roles and is committed to supporting career development, internal promotions, and supporting all colleagues to ensure that they reach their potential.
‘Our commitment to closing the gender pay gap has resulted in a real focus on career pathways, succession planning, taking positive action and implementing initiatives that really have a tangible impact on our people and ultimately our business,’ said Tracie Greenhalgh, Chief People Officer at Arden University.
‘I am so proud of the huge strides we have made in reducing our gender pay gap over our three years of reporting. Whilst we will take a moment to celebrate the distance travelled, we still have our eyes set fully on the horizon and the further work we need to do to ensure that our gender pay gap is eradicated by 2025.’
‘All of our people matter here at Arden and we are already starting to look beyond the headline numbers on the gender pay gap and are also committed to embedding a culture that wraps around our values together with equity, diversity, inclusion & belonging.’
Arden's investment in Organisational Design and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives in 2022 has also made a significant impact in accelerating its progress to achieve all of its gender pay and diversity goals by 2025.
This includes the establishment of colleague network groups, as well as the recruitment of an EDI lead to drive improvements in this area. Additionally, Arden has created a set of gender and equality key performance indicators (KPI) to measure progress and has launched an EDI Council and EDI Action Groups to address colleague concerns and drive initiatives.
Arden has also signed up to major EDI-focused organisations, including Stonewall Diversity Champions and the Race at Work Charter Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (ENEI).
In future years, as the university grows, it hopes to expand the scope of its report even further to include and show true transparency across all areas of EDI.
